Press release from the Indiana Center for Middle East Peace:
Indiana Center for Middle East Peace announces fall program
(August 29, 2010) – The Fort Wayne based Indiana Center for Middle East Peace has announced its fall program.
The mission of the grassroots organization is to promote critical awareness of issues that impact a just peace in the Middle East and to facilitate intercultural encounters locally and globally.
September 17, Allen Keiswetter will present “Iran—Theocracy and Democracy and the US-Iran Relationship”. The talk begins at 7 p.m. at Plymouth Congregational Church, corner of Fairfield & Berry, in Fort Wayne. There is no charge to attend.
Keiswetter is an adjunct scholar at the Middle East Institute. He previously served as a senior advisor to the US delegation to the United Nations on Middle Eastern issues, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, and Director of Arabian Peninsula Affairs in the State Department’s Near East Bureau. He has held various posts in Khartoum, Baghdad, and Beirut, and has also taught at the American War College.
October 5, ICMEP will be one of a number of sites throughout the United States showing a world premiere of the film “Little Town of Bethlehem”. The film will begin at 6:30 p.m. in room 159 of the Liberal Arts Building on the IPFW campus.
Ethnographic Media’s “Little Town of Bethlehem” tells the personal stories of two Palestinians–Christian Sami Awad and Muslim Ahmad Al-Azzeh, and one Israeli Jew–Yonatan Shapira, who use nonviolence to resolve conflict and work for peace in their countries. A discussion follows the showing.
Saturday, October 9, Ron Capps will speak on the topic “Darfur—the Ongoing Challenge and America’s Role in Peacemaking” at 9 a.m. at First Presbyterian Church, 300 West Wayne, For Wayne.
Capps joined Refugees International after 25 years of service with the U.S. government and directs RI’s peacekeeping program. A retired Foreign Service Officer, he served in the State Department as Deputy Director in the Office for Analysis of Africa and represented the U.S. on the African Union’s Cease Fire Commission in Darfur. He holds a Master’s Degree from the Johns Hopkins University and did graduate work at the School of Oriental & African Studies at the University of London. His areas of expertise are Regional Security, Conflict Prevention, Peacekeeping, and Post-Conflict Reconstruction.
Saturday, November 20, Dr. Nicolae Roddy, professor of theology at Creighton University, Omaha, will speak on “Holy Land Archaeology—Bethsaida and the Virtual World Project. His talk will begin at 9 a.m. at Life Bridge Church, 12719 Corbin Road, Fort Wayne.
Roddy teaches Hebrew Bible at the Jesuit university and serves as co-director and supervising archaeologist for the Consortium of the Bethsaida Excavations Project and the Virtual World Project. He also serves on the steering committee of the Religious Experience in Early Judaism and Early Christianity and the Biblical Studies in the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Traditions sections of the Society of Biblical Literature. In addition, he is Senior Editor for the new Journal of the Orthodox Center for the Advancement of Biblical Studies. He was a Fulbright Scholar in Romania in 1994-1995.
Mike Farrell, the actor best known for roles on M*A*S*H* and Providence will highlight the closing events of 2010. The activist and advocate for human rights and President of Death Penalty Focus, will speak about his life, his career in TV and film, and his service on behalf of human rights around the globe at a fund raiser for ICMEP on Saturday, December 4.
Sunday, December 5, Farrell will join leaders of nine local religious traditions to commemorate the creation of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Co-sponsored with CONFLUENCE: Northeast Indiana Interfaith Alliance, the service begins at 6:30 p.m. at Plymouth Congregational Church, Corner of Berry and Fairfield, Fort Wayne.
Information about programs and resources to study Middle East Peace issues can be found on ICMEP’s web site at www.indianacmep.org. All programs are funded via donations from interested parties. ICMEP is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization.
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