A few months ago I had the pleasure of “meeting” Chris Stedman on Twitter. He quickly became one of those non-believers with whom I enjoy discussing topics that tend to make everyone else a little crazy. It’s a rare and beautiful thing to find someone who you can disagree with heartily and still adore for his or her personality, intellect and ability to challenge you.

Chris recently announced that he’s working on a book based on his own transition from an Evangelical Christian to an openly gay atheist: (F)a(i)theist: How One Atheist Learned to Overcome the Religious-Secular Divide, and Why Atheists and the Religious Must Work Together (working title, Beacon Press 2012). I am honored to be able to share a short excerpt with you here:

“You coming to youth group tonight?” Her voice sounded distorted coming through the phone’s speaker.

“Maybe,” I said in a kind of drawl. “I might just stay home tonight and do my own Bible study.”

“But you’ve done that the last few weeks,” she said, groaning. I could picture her on the other end – decked out in her favorite Jesus fish t-shirt, four “WWJD?” bracelets on each wrist, and a Bible by her side – running her hands through her thin brown hair, closing her eyes tight and pinching her forehead. She sounded anxious. “Are you okay, Tiffer? I feel like I never see you anymore. We all miss you at church!”

“I’m great!” I replied, too quickly. “Of course, I’m just fine!” I said, scrambling to reassure her, practically yelling.

“Well, we’re going to be talking about what makes a Christly man this week,” she said, “so I just thought you’d be interested.”

I was, of course, but it was too late for me. I knew what being a Christly man meant, and I wasn’t it. Instead of answering, I reached under my bed and pulled out a collection of childhood artifacts that my mom had assembled for me, retrieving a worksheet I’d filled out in first grade. When I grow up, it said in a passable attempt at cursive, I want to be: A dad. Because: I want a family.

In 1982, a seemingly ordinary 17-year-old girl challenged both the violent secular Syrian government and the conservative Muslim elements in her society and founded a Qur’an school for girls in Damascus. Twenty-five years later, filmmakers Julia Meltzer and Laura Nix have traveled to Syria to make a documentary about Houda al-Habash and her school. “The Light in Her Eyes” is an unprecedented look into the rarely seen, independently defined world of Middle Eastern women.

Muslim women, particularly those from the Middle East, are rarely seen in western media as competent, educated and capable–yet Houda al-Habash is all this and more. As Laura Nix explained, “Huda is such a woman who is a very interesting mixture of conservative values and progressive values. Not only had I not seen images like mosques of Huda’s, but I think that as a woman leader she’s a really interesting character because she does not typify a lot of western versions of feminism.”

Julia Meltzer agreed, adding that her reason for making the film was to tell a story that is rarely told in the U.S. “I had never seen any images of women studying Qur’an in a mosque. It struck me that Huda’s school was really organized. She definitely had a mission and agenda, and things function in her space in a way that they don’t usually function in the outside world of Syria.”

Chris Stedman is an Interfaith and Community Service Fellow, Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard and Managing Director, State of Formation at Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue. He is also a columnist for Huffington Post Religion and blogs at NonProphet Status. He tweets from@ChrisDStedman. The following has been reprinted by permission:

This year, two notable controversies have been brewing in Tennessee: a proposed bill that would forbid educators from using the word “gay” in the classroom, and a court battle to determine whether or not Islam is a religion. (The verdict? Islam is in fact a religion – for now, anyway.)

These two issues may seem unrelated, but I believe they’re actually symptoms of the same problem – our nation’s historical difficulty with those who are seen as disrupting the status quo. Intolerance against Muslims and LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) individuals isn’t exclusive to Tennessee; with a fever-pitched debate over Park51 (or the “Ground Zero Mosque”) and headline-grabbing concerns about anti-LGBTQ bullying, these issues are a national concern.

Last month, I went to Tennessee for the first time. I spoke at Vanderbilt about the need for the religious and the nonreligious to find better ways of engaging with one another and identifying action-oriented shared values, sharing some of the experiences I write about in my forthcoming memoir, (F)a(i)theist: How One Atheist Learned to Challenge the Religious-Secular Divide, and Why Atheists and the Religious Must Work Together (working title, Beacon Press 2012).

Asma T. Uddin is a contributor to Tikkun Daily, but she’s more widely known as the founder of Altmuslimah.com. Since 2009, Altmuslimah.com has been fostering online dialogue on the highly emotional and difficult to define subject of gender roles in Islam. This online magazine-style blog “looks at the intersection of female and male sexuality and gender identity with society, politics, economics, and culture” and uses personal, individual narratives from contributors to do so.

Uddin is a Legal Fellow with the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU) and an international law attorney with The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a non-profit, non-partisan, public interest law firm based in Washington, D.C. But it was her own experience growing up as an American Muslim, and her own evolution as a Muslim woman which inspired her to create an online space for free expression and intelligent debate which welcomes Muslims, non-Muslims, men and women to participate.

In a recent interview, I spoke with Uddin about the impetus for founding Altmuslimah.com. “In many ways, Altmuslimah is a playing out of a lot of internal issues and struggles–spiritually and otherwise–I experienced back when I was in college,” she told me.

Up until she went to college Uddin had had a warm and fuzzy view of religion. Growing up as a Muslim in Miami, Florida she was fascinated by comparative religion at a young age and engaged enthusiastically with people about Islam. But after arriving on campus she found a great deal of conflict between American-born Muslims and those who were from other cultures who had vastly different ideas about Islam and women’s roles in the community.

Do you want to know more about Islam, but feel too shy to approach the stern-looking Muslims you see in Costco?

Are you tired of hearing about the world’s second-largest religion from hysterical media personalities who themselves have little or no firsthand experience on the subject?

Do you wish you could learn about Muslims without spending too much time or money on it?

There’s an app for that!

The new smartphone app called 365muslim was created specifically for a non-Muslim audience. It provides an interesting (and often entertaining) fact about Islam and Muslims each day for one year.

It’s purpose is to reach across the social barriers that still seem to be separating Muslims from mainstream American society and give simple, easy-to-verify information without proselytizing.

Currently 365muslim is available only for the iPhone, although an Android version is in the works. And yes, it’s FREE.

When I received my copy of Arab & Arab American Feminisms I wasn’t quite prepared for the expanse of thought and emotion contained within its unassuming cover. My expectation was that it would be a collection of ‘get to know us’ stories written by Arab American women, designed to appeal to a paranoid American audience. What I found instead was a collection of some of the most heartfelt stories, persuasive arguments and bold declarations of individuality that I’ve read in any other collected volume.

Arab & Arab American Feminisms brings together writers, poets, scholars, and activists and provides them a space to define themselves individually and collectively as women, Arabs, Muslims, and feminists as well as an infinite combination of other facets each of these contributors embodies.

Writing frankly on topics ranging from politics to domestic violence to homosexuality, Arab & Arab American Feminisms puts to rest any doubt that Arab women are an intellectual force to be reckoned with. This is not an attempt to promote any “kumbaya” interfaith/intercultural dialogue, or to extend an olive branch to those who might view Arabs and Arab women with anything but respect. It is a declarative statement made with multiple voices that the Arab woman’s soul is above and beyond simplistic definitions – and that they do not need anyone’s assistance to claim what is theirs.

Despite the incredible public outreach by the Muslim community since 9/11 it seems that misconceptions about Muslims – and especially Muslim women – are as prolific as ever; which is why I was thrilled to see a copy of I Speak For Myself – American Women on Being Muslim arrive in my mailbox for me to read and review.

Conceived and edited by Maria Ebrahimji, an executive producer at CNN and Zahra Suratwala, the founder of a writing firm called Zahra Ink, I Speak for Myself attempts to let Muslim American women define themselves on their own terms.

Each essay gives a snapshot into the contributors’ lives, offering a simple but meaningful look into what its like to be a Muslim woman in America without trying to speak for all Muslim American women. It seemed to me as I read the book that the editors kept their submission requirements very minimal, allowing for some lovely individualized story-telling. I was inspired to read the story of Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib’s 2008 Campaign; touched by Fatemeh Fakhraie’s beautiful angst over her relationship with her Iranian-immigrant parents; and humbled by Kameelah Janan Rasheed’s ability to address racism within the Muslim community without being bitter or victimized.

My favorite essay, however, was the honest and touching account of Asma Uddin’s struggle to evolve as both Muslim and as a woman. Her words could very well be my own:

This is the first post in an exclusive Tikkun Daily series highlighting Muslim activists, entrepreneurs and artists who are making waves online.

Fatemeh Fakhraie is the founder and editor-in-chief of Muslimah Media Watch, the premiere website for Muslim women to discuss media images of themselves since 2007. In 2009, Fakhraie published her first book, Effects of Socioeconomic Status on Hijab Styles in Urban Iranian Women, a textbook version of her master’s thesis. In addition to blogging at Muslimah Media Watch, she also contributes to Bitch Magazine, Racialicious, AltMuslimah, and her own eponymous blog.

In an interview this month, I asked Fakhraie about Muslimah Media Watch and what motivated her to launch a site which is truly peerless.

“I hated everything I saw about Muslim women in mainstream media, and didn’t see myself in traditional feminist media,” she explained. “So I made a place for myself and women like me. In U.S. media, Muslim women are much more visible and even welcomed than we were when I started. But I think that there are still huge problems with that visibility: a lot of books and movies about Muslim women still fall into one stereotype or another, and a fair amount of news articles that feature Muslim women are reductive or coddling – I see so many articles that simply just pat Muslim women on the head for doing stuff that isn’t in itself exceptional, but seems like such a big deal for a Muslim woman to do.”

The past few months I had the opportunity to participate in a short documentary project about Muslim women. Yasmin Diallo Turk, a graduate student at the LBJ School of Public Policy at the University of Texas invited me to be featured along with a couple other women from Austin’s diverse Muslim community. It was an honor to work with her and to have my family involved.  I hope you’ll enjoy our efforts:

Muslim Women Do That

If you are interested in supporting a full length feature based on this short film please see the Kickstarter page.

Last week I attended an interfaith dialogue event where I sat at one of 20 round tables with six other deliberately diverse people and carried on a moderated discussion about the current state of Islamophobia in the U.S.

It was a robust and lively conversation, and I felt as though the subject was treated with sincere concern for both America’s fears and the undue pressure being placed upon the average American Muslim citizen by those who cannot differentiate between extremists and the greater Muslim population.

But at one point during the discussion, the moderator had the floor and she asked me a question that made me stop and think hard: “What question do you wish people would ask you about Islam?”

Immediately I thought of a long list of questions I’d been asked about my religion in the past ten years. There have been a lot, but there’s one question I never get asked:

What do I love about Islam?

This week a friend of mine forwarded me an email containing the following sermon which was given this past Yom Kippur by the Rabbi Samuel M. Stahl, Rabbi Emeritus of Temple Beth-El in San Antonio. Although I have never had the opportunity to meet Rabbi Stahl in person, I contacted him and he was kind enough to allow me to share his words here on Tikkun Daily.

As a Muslim my heart is warmed and my spirit lifted by his empathy and genuine concern for those of us who are suffering under the latest wave of paranoia and ignorance to wash over the American psyche.

September 18, 2010- Yom Kippur Morning

This morning, our Reform Torah portion is different from the one our Conservative and Orthodox co-religionists read. Ours comes from the book of Deuteronomy. Theirs comes from Leviticus. In that portion, we learn about an exotic ritual. On the day of Yom Kippur, the High Priest took two male goats and placed lots upon them.

One lot was marked: “For the Lord.” The other lot was marked: “For Azalzel.” Azalzel was probably some dreaded demonic figure living in the desert. The High Priest sacrificed the goat designated for the Lord. He sent the other goat, designated for Azalzel, into the desert. That goat was to carry away his own sins, as well as the sins of the people.

A couple weeks ago I saw this diagram on my friend’s Facebook page and stopped short:

For years since 9/11 I’ve been trying to make this very point, often talking until I was blue in the face to fellow Americans who have very little working knowledge of Islam.

One of the greatest challenges I face as an American Muslim activist is simply trying to convey the vastness and diversity of Muslims in the world. Whether from ignorance or sheer prejudice, many Americans (and other westerners) refuse to see the second largest religion on earth than anything but what is represented by a minority. This diagram clearly illustrates the sheer madness of that mindset.

Used by permission. (c) 2000 Mark A. Schmidt

There are two very important aspects to the holy month of Ramadhan:

First, it was during this month that God revealed the opening of the Qur’an to a simple merchant in 7th century Arabia. Muhammad was given the prophet-hood and the religion of Islam was born setting off a chain of events that changed the world forever. This month is holy to us because it reminds us of the most precious gift of the Qur’an and the thrilling story of the birth of our ummah.

But the other important aspect of Ramadhan has to do with social justice. An orphan himself, Muhammad was sensitive to the needs of those who didn’t have all the advantages of pre-Islamic Arabian society. After he established a community of Muslims, it was decreed that this holy month would be one of fasting and charity. Thus, we are reminded during Ramadan that the very foundation of our religion is intimately tied to our ability to empathize with and relieve the distress of the less fortunate among us.

This is important for all Muslims to realize, because the disparity between the rich and the poor in the world today is something we cannot in good faith ignore. A very small percentage of the planet holds the majority of its wealth (and if you are reading this it is almost certain that you are among them).

Giving charity isn’t just about writing a check to your favorite non-profit organization in order to “increase your rewards” during the holy month. It’s not about sponsoring an iftaar at the masjid. It’s not about handing out alms to panhandlers. It isn’t about sleeping through the day to gorge yourself on rich food at night, or throwing lavish parties for your friends. True charity is about looking after the well-being of the disadvantaged throughout the year, and making sure they have the tools they need to improve their situation when they need them.

We fast each day during the month in order to remind ourselves that this state of discomfort is a way of life for many. But if the discipline of fasting doesn’t inspire us to long-lasting action, what good is it? While Ramadhan is a time to renew our focus on charity and social justice, it cannot be the beginning and end of our efforts. Charity and good stewardship is a year-round obligation.

The old saying, “give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for life,” illustrates this idea. Our efforts toward charity should not just be about making sure the poor have good meal during Ramadhan or new clothes to wear on Eid, but in creating institutions and programs for the poor which will empower, educate and inspire them forever.

Ustad Ghulam Farid Nizami has released a new album entitled Flowers of the Heart, offering western ears a small window into the heart and soul of the subcontinent.

Having left Islamabad two years ago to teach at the University of Texas on a Fullbright Scholarship, he was able to gain asylum in the U.S. for himself and his family just this year. Now living in Austin, Texas he is in the process of establishing a school of music.

Nizami is a 17th generation musician and has mastered the sitar, tabla, harmonium and his own exquisitely flexible voice. On Flowers of the Heart, Nizami presents a variety of songs ranging from traditional rags, Rajasthani folk songs, and even a track containing instructional tabla variations.

Nizami’s music is deeply rooted in his Sufi beliefs. Mesmerizing, passionate, and spiritually ecstatic, the songs on this disc will reverberate with your soul even if you’ve never experienced this type of music before.

Nizami is available for performances in communities around the U.S. You may hear samplings from Flowers of the Heart on his official website, and can buy the album at cdbaby or digstation.

Because that’s really what this is all about, isn’t it? Publicity. Let’s face it, burning books has never been an effective way to quell the public’s thirst for knowledge, nor has it been an effective means to destroy ideas you don’t agree with. But that isn’t stopping the feisty folks at the Dove World Outreach Center from declaring 9/11 Official Koran Burning Day. (They even offer “Islam is of the Devil” T-shirts on their website that you can wear to your local book-burning event!)

The “Christians” who run and support this “church” aren’t really concerned with religious dialogue or spreading the Word of God as much as they are getting publicity. Lest we Muslims feel picked on, we must remember that Dove World Outreach Center has also engaged in this same kind of…uh…outreach with other groups including homosexuals and pro-choice advocates. Apparently, their idea of ministry involves condemnation, destruction and name-calling. (I’m not even going to go in to the [alleged] for-profit ventures and practices regarding unpaid labor by church members.)

Anyone who has had the benefit of knowing Christians who actually practice the tenets of the Bible knows that this group’s actions are about as close to Jesus’ teachings as the rabid Mullahs overseas preaching violent hate are to the peaceful message of Islam. Which is not at all.

Look, as a Muslim I’d love to get all riled up over this flagrant disrespect for our holy book. I’d love to be incensed that the Dove World Outreach Center is calling us and our noble faith tradition evil. But I can’t even manage a little bit of indignation. Because it’s stupid. It’s not even an eloquent argument or informed protest. It’s just some angry people having a spiteful little tantrum.

The Qur’an is a marvelous gift to humanity. But if you choose to burn it rather than read it, it really is your loss. God is a lot bigger than a book and has assured us that He has his own way of dealing with people who choose to disrespect His Message. I have faith that He can handle it.

In the meantime, if you are interested in actually reading a Qur’an, I’m pleased to be able to offer you the following links:

The Message of the Qur’an by Muhammad Asad – Qur’anic text, translation and commentary.

This is my personal favorite translation in print.

The Qur’an Online In Three English Translations (Pickthal, Yusufali, Shakir)

An excellent compilation from the University of Southern California’s Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement.

Listen to Qur’an Online

An online tool that lets you listen to the Qur’an being recited in Arabic. You get to choose between three different reciters and can read along in your language’s translation in subtitles.

Share a Qur’an Everyday

A Facebook page set up in response to the negative “Burn a Koran on 9/11″ page. When you subscribe to this page you’ll get to read inspiring surahs from the Qur’an each day.

Last month I was honored to attend and participate in a Multi-Faith Pride Service at the Unity Church of the Hills in Austin, Texas. Organized by Reverend Mary Street Wilson of the Church of the Savior, almost every major faith tradition in Austin was represented at the event with an attendance of more than 300 people. The program included readings from sacred texts, musical performances, and prayers.

One of the highlights was a three-part group chant that the entire audience joined in, based on the three Abrahamic Faiths. Reverend Wilson told me that this was the most powerful moment for her in the service because, “Each ‘voice’ expressed a particular faith tradition and was beautiful in its own right, but the harmony of can only be achieved through multiple voices. The harmony is a reminder of how multiple faith traditions can work together to achieve a greater beauty than anyone of us might achieve on our own.”

She continued, “I just happen to believe that the Sacredness we believe in surpasses human expression. And yet, the Ireneaus quote, ‘The glory of God is humanity fully alive’ means we use our humanity to reflect our understanding of God.”

The keynote address was given by the inspiring Bishop Yvette Flunder, founder and minister to the City of Refuge UCC. Bishop Flunder’s address entitled “We Are the Light of Love in the World” was powerful-ranging from passionate to humorous with a genuine inclusiveness that was felt by the entire, diverse audience.

I invite you to view Bishop Flunder’s keynote address here in three parts. (Total viewing time is approximately 20 minutes). While the videography is not professional quality, the message is not diminished in the least:

We are the Light of Love – Part 1 of 3

We are the Light of Love – Part 2 of 3

We are the Light of Love – Part 3 of 3

Islam has a great tradition of appreciating and revering the earth. More than 700 verses in the Qur’an extort Muslims to reflect on the miracle of creation and make it clear that Allah views the earth as its own entity with the right to be protected and cared for. It even goes so far to say “Greater indeed than the creation of man is the creation of the heavens and the earth.” (40:57)

As Muslims, we understand that our submission to God is intrinsically tied to the way we treat His gift of life on this planet.  A peaceful, gentle reverence for plants, animals and landscapes are part of the fabric of our religion and translate beautifully through Islam’s strong foundation of social justice and activism.

Therefore, the environmental movement is one area where Muslims can make a huge contribution to society at large, and to productive interfaith dialogue.

For example, this month I contributed to a joint interfaith statement about Chemical Regulation Reform:

Interfaith Groups Speak Out on National Chemical Regulatory Reform

Amanda Quraishi, a member of Austin’s Muslim Community, said, “I think it is an ethical and moral imperative for average consumers to be informed on what we are buying and putting into our bodies. As a parent I feel an even greater responsibility to choose healthy foods and products for my children. I tend to support and buy from companies that identify, classify, and test their products for personal and environmental safety. Ideally, this kind of transparency would be the norm.”

Most concerned citizens would happily make a statement like this to voice their worries over the undisclosed exposure to unnatural chemical compounds that we are subjected to on a daily basis. But it is a great privileged to be able to make this statement as a Muslim because it lets me present the tenets of my faith in a positive, constructive and practical way. I am certain that my neighbors feel the same way, and the mutual respect and admiration that is created as we work together to protect the earth within our own faith traditions is miraculous in itself.

I had the chance to talk to Amanda Robinson, Coordinator of Texas Interfaith Power and Light, an environmental program of Texas Impact. When I asked her about her experience engaging various faith groups in environmental activism she told me, “What I see is that different communities are in different places on environmental issues – some have been very engaged and active for a long time, while others are just beginning to connect teachings from their religious tradition to concerns about the environment. Increasingly, people of all faiths are realizing that their tradition, whatever it is, has important things to say about care for the earth and care for other people, and that these concerns are interrelated.”

She continued, “There are many areas where teachings from different religious traditions converge in a shared concern, and environmental issues are one of these areas. The world’s great religious traditions all speak of care for the earth and its creatures. In the Abrahamic traditions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – there is a call to guardianship and care of creation. In the Eastern traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism, there is a profound sense of the interconnectedness of all life on earth. Although our traditions use different terms, the message on this subject is the same – it is a unified call for humans to care for the environment. On environmental issues, then, there is a lot of room for people of different faith traditions to work together in common cause.”

Learn more about Texas Interfaith Power and Light on the main website, or check out their Facebook page for current events and news about the organization. You can also email info@txipl.org.

We usually hear about Judgment Day in the context of our impending doom for not adhering to the commandments of God (or some specific interpretation thereof). Zealous imams tell us stories of Judgment Day to inspire fear, guilt and repentance. More often than not we leave those khutbas feeling despondent or even resentful at the prospect of a final Judgment Day.

But Judgment Day isn’t just about doling out punishment. It’s primary purpose is justice:

“But how (will they fare) when we gather them together against a day about which there is no doubt, and each soul will be paid out just what it has earned, without (favor or) injustice?” Quran, Surah 3 Verse 25

Any person with a spiritual bone in their body has been overwhelmed at one point or another by the sheer volume of injustice in the world. We may have even become depressed or immobilized from obsessing over these conditions.

This past week Senator Al Franken spoke out against the activist style of the Supreme Court, specifically addressing the favor given to corporations over individuals in its rulings. (His full speech is transcribed on the Huffington Post.)

Most Americans are well aware that our democratic process is being unfairly skewed toward the rich and powerful through lobbying, campaign contributions and backroom deals. There’s no mystery here. Democracy is only as good as the individuals who participate in it. When the democratic process is corrupted, the liberties of individuals are eroded and those who have the money and influence are given preference.

The foundation of a democratic society is not simply having a constitution. (Many democratic nations such as Pakistan have constitutions yet suffer from extreme corruption at the highest levels.) Successful governance depends on the founding document being upheld and enforced by a healthy judiciary system. Accountability is key in making sure laws are enforced and equality under the law is ensured.

But when certain people or entities are able to buy their way out of accountability, or worse, able to redefine accountability because they have an “in” with the entity that determines the laws of the land, they are subverting the very idea of democracy.

As Franken so eloquently put it:

When most people think of Texas they probably don’t think of Muslims.  But here in the land of BBQ and bluebonnets, where the official state religion is football, is where I discovered Islam.

It’s been ten years since I’ve declared the Shahada and in that time I’ve watched the Muslim commmunity in Austin grow and flourish.  We have one of the most diverse and progressive activist Muslim communities in the country with almost a hundred nationalities represented.  There are seven Muslim houses of worship which include the Sunni, Shia, and Sufi traditions within a radius of forty miles.

Austin boasts two private Islamic elementary schools, two Sunday schools, one of the largest and most active MYNA (Muslim Youth of North America) chapters, and several other community organizations dedicated specifically to the social needs of Muslims in the area.

We also have a robust interfaith scene and the Muslim community is extremely active participating in events that promote understanding among people of various religions.  I’m proud to have been involved with such exciting events as the Annual Muslim-Jewish Hands on Housing event through Austin Area Interreligious Ministries.

From the time I became a Muslim I was intensely aware that there was a need for outreach by common everyday-Muslims to offer a real glimpse into the way we live, work and worship.  That need became even more urgent after September 11, 2001.  It has been my pleasure to work with  the Muslim community, as well as the greater community of Austin, Texas to foster understanding and goodwill.

I was extremely honored to be approached by the editors of Tikkun to contribute to Tikkun Daily blog.  In addition to my knowledge and practice of Islam and interfaith dialogue, I bring a progressive political outlook, an interest in feminism and GLBT rights, as well as a deep appreciation for the arts.

Here’s to getting to know your neighbors!