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NOTE: A few links are not working as we failed to transfer the information from our old site foundation for pluralism to the new Center for Pluralism. We are working on it and hope to restore the links to pictures and videos soon.


Sunday, December 18, 2016

Holocaust and Genocides - 12th Annual reflections in Washington DC

You are cordially invited to join us for this purposeful gathering.
 
Join us at 1:45 PM on Sunday evening in Washington, DC 


XII Annual Reflections on Holocaust and Genocides 

January 29, 2017 | 2:00 PM - 4:30 PM Sunday
Ashburn Mosque, 21740 Beaumeade Circle, Unit 100, Ashburn, Virginia 20147



We are deeply committed to education and relentlessly pursuing to build cohesive societies and offer pluralistic solutions on issues of the day.

We have to learn to acknowledge and reflect upon the terrible things we have inflicted upon each other and have to commit to ourselves to resist the temptations to be prejudiced and stereotype others. We cannot demand peace unless we are peaceful ourselves.


Here is a video from one of our previous events:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uneRYgYfgWI


Many a organizations have joined in commemorating this event and are listed alphabetically.  This is the 12th year for the Center for Pluralism and other organizations have been doing for many years as well. 

-----------


A CRITICAL MESSAGE


There are over 100 Genocides and Massacres in just the last one hundred years.  I have tried to recite them all,  and it took me three hours just to recite the name, place, number of deaths, source of conflicts, perpetrators and victims of each occurrence.  

Shame on us if we exclude any one of the Genocides and or ethnic cleansing  or massacres. God bless us,  we have not excluded any.  An effort was made to hold an "All Day" Holocaust and Genocides event and failed , as no one registered for it.  We are still open to it.

Part of the learning at this event is to think of other people's pain and suffering as opposed to being hung up with "Me, me, and my suffering alone."

So we chose to keep it to two hours and reflect upon Holocaust, as the anchor event and give a brief talk about a genocide, a genocide in making and a massacre.  Over the years we have been able to cover at least 20 such human failings.

We will observe a minutes silence and ask each person attending the event to pay tribute to each one of such atrocity  he or she is familiar with. However, we have videos listing most of the Genocides and here is one compiled a few years ago, and it is not complete either.

We want you to take the responsibility to go through the list and send us the corrected information, what is missing including the one's that have affected you deeply.  We hope in the next few years, we would have list of every tragedy.  Please remember we are a volunteer organization and all the work is done by the volunteers. 


Kindly visit www.HolocaustandGenocides.com and see the many things we have done including pictures and reports over the last 11 years.

Mike Ghouse
Initiator of the program Holocaust and Genocides in 2006
Mike@CenterforPluralism.com  | (214) 325-1916 Washington, DC

XII Annual Reflections on
HOLOCAUST & GENOCIDES
 www.HolocaustandGenocides.com

This  annual event is to reflect on human failings, acts of violence, massacres, ethnic cleansing, genocides and Holocaust with the intention of learning to prevent such happenings as an individual, and affirm, ”Never again”.  

We hope each one of us would walk out with a commitment to do our share of the work in building a cohesive America, where no American has to feel apprehension, discomfort or fear the other. Indeed, safety of each one of us hinges on the safety of all others around us.


We have to learn to acknowledge and reflect upon the terrible things we have inflicted upon each other. We have to commit to ourselves to resist the temptations to stereotype others. We cannot demand peace unless we are peaceful ourselves. 

There is a shameless cruelty in us, either we shy away from facing or refuse to acknowledge the sufferings of others, worrying that it will devalue our own or somehow it amounts to infidelity to our own cause. We cannot justify massacres arrogantly believing that the victims deserved it or asked for it.

Our safety hinges on the safety of others around us, and it behooves us to work for the safety and security of others on this little planet. We have to be continuously aware of the Holocaust and Genocides and prepare us to avert such tragedies.

It is an initiative of American Muslims, striving to build responsible civic societies, where justice and co-existence are our values.





HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE &
GENOCIDE AWARENESS*
 
2:00 PM -4:00 PM Sunday, January 29, 2017
ADAMS Ashburn Center, Ashburn, VA.
Website: www.HolocaustandGenocides.com 

PROGRAM 


Pledge of Allegiance & National Anthem 

Purpose of Gathering 
Moment of Silence to Commemorate Genocides
Holocaust Survivor Johannah Neuman
Summary of Genocides *
Signs of Demonization Leading to Violence
Audience feed back and their personal experiences

Interfaith prayers representing many faiths

Prayer break for Muslims
Fellowship  
 
  SPONSORS 


All Dulles Area Muslim Society—ADAMS

Center for Pluralism 
Foundation for Ethnic Understanding  
Greater Washington Muslim-Jewish Forum 
I Am Your Protector 
CO-SPONSORS 



Jewish Islamic Dialogue Society—JIDS
  World Muslim Congress—WMC
Interfaith Action for Humans Rights—IAHR
Jewish Community CenterJCC
  Jewish Community Relations Council—JCRC
Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom—SOSS

 * Also known as Reflections on Holocaust and Genocides
** It is the XII Annual Reflections on Holocaust and Genocides by the Center for Pluralism—www.Centerforpluralism.com


----------------------------------------


This is an initiative of the Center for Pluralism which is deeply committed to education and relentlessly pursuing to build cohesive societies and offer pluralistic solutions on issues of the day.

We have to learn to acknowledge and reflect upon the terrible things we have inflicted upon each other. We have to commit to ourselves to resist the temptations to stereotype others. We cannot demand peace unless we are peaceful ourselves.    

There are over 100 Genocides and thousands of Massacres in just the last century.  I have tried to recite all of them once, and it takes three hours just to recite them all with the year, place and number of deaths, source of conflicts, perpetrators, victims and the destruction.

Shame on us if we exclude any one of the Genocides,  we made efforts to hold an "All Day" Holocaust and Genocides event, no one registered for it.  


Part of the learning at this event is to think of other people's pain and suffering as opposed to being hung up with "Me, me, and my suffering alone matters."

So we chose to keep it to two hours and reflect upon Holocaust, as the anchor event and give a brief talk about a genocide, a genocide in making and a massacre.  We will observe a minutes silence and ask the audience to remember and pay tribute to each one of such atrocity they are familiar with. However, we have videos listing most of the Genocides and here is one compiled a few years ago, and it is not complete either.

We want you to take the reponsiblity to go through the list, an send us the information as to what is missing, including the one's that has affected you deeply.

Here is the partial list: http://holocaustandgenocides.blogspot.com/2009/10/genocides.html


There is a shameless cruelty in us, either we shy away from facing or refuse to acknowledge the sufferings of others, worrying that it will devalue our own or somehow it amounts to infidelity to our own cause. We cannot justify massacres arrogantly believing that the victims deserved it or asked for it.

Our safety hinges on the safety of others around us, and it behooves us to work for the safety and security of others on this little planet. We have to be continuously aware of the Holocaust and Genocides and prepare us to avert such tragedies.

It is an initiative of American Muslims, striving to build responsible civic societies, where justice and co-existence are our values.

To all those, who have endured Holocaust, Genocides, Massacres, Bombs, Annihilation, Land mines, Ethnic Cleansing, Hunger, rape, torture, occupation and inhuman brutality, we say we share your fears and apprehensions.

The least we can do in the process of healing is to acknowledge every one's pain in one voice. We have begun the process of coming together as one people, to stand with you, we are indeed one world and a single humanity, and caring for each other brings safety and peace to all of us. I cannot be safe if the people around me are not, and I will not have peace if people around me don't. It is in my interest to seek a peaceful world for one and all.

We are working on initiating a course on tolerance education, so one day; we all can learn to have a heart that opens to the pain of every human, yes, we can do that.

Bringing people to understand the suffering of people has been my personal drive, I must say that through this program, many a non-Jewish people have come to understand about Holocaust for the first time. You can see pictures people from Atheist to Zoroastrians and every one in between has been a part of this event. And every one has shared a prayer in the events. We have to create the awareness to get people to become activist and speak up and say Never Again.

Mike Ghouse
Center for Pluralism
(214) 325-1916

Friday, December 9, 2016

Changing the mood of America

At this point in history, we are going through difficult times.  Whether you are on the right, left or the center, you are concerned about the liberties and freedoms of all Americans.  The divisiveness, even though temporary, has caused us to lose trust in each other to function effectively as a nation.

So what can we do?

Our President John Kennedy had famously urged us, “Ask not what the country can do - ask what you can do for your country.” and Professor William James had written that our actions can change the moods.

Here is what we can to do to restore America where no Americans feels left out, but feels included in nation building.

Let’s close 2016 on a positive note, let’s come together as Americans, and celebrate our collective Festivals of Hanukkah, Christmas, Milad, Kwanza, Janamashtami, Gurpurab and the festivities of Native Americans, and other traditions including Atheist/Humanist. Each group will get to sing honoring their faith tradition.

When we are together, it is uplifting!
We can change our moods! 

The following video has clips from Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, Milad, Janamashtami and other great celebrations.  On the actual day of Festival of Faiths, Americans Together will celebrate their traditions.  

  1. Video   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjhbRkN7soQ 
  2. Details   http://centerforpluralism.com/festival-of-faiths/
  3. Attend  RSVP – Eventbrite
  4.  Sing?   If your group likes to sing Register@Centerforpluralism.com    
  5. List?     Please send an email to   Register@Centerforpluralism.com   
  6. Op-Ed  Ask not what the President can do for us?” will be released soon
  7. More     http://Centerforpluralism.com/Workshops
  8. Browse Tabs at  www.Centerforpluralism.com
  9.  Event   Celebrating America –Festival of Faiths on Sunday, 12/18 – 12 to 2 PM
  10. Where   Jefferson Memorial, Washington, DC 



***** 

Dr. Mike Ghouse is founder and president of Center for Pluralism aka Americans Together. He is committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. All about him in 65 links at www.MikeGhouse.net




Tuesday, December 6, 2016

XII Annual Reflections on Holocaust and Genocides


Join us at 3:00 PM on Sunday evening in Washington, DC 
A casual gathering. 
You are cordially invited, its free
-------------------------
Holocaust and Genocides
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM SUNDAY
JANUARY 29, 2017

We are deeply committed to education and relentlessly pursuing to build cohesive societies and offer pluralistic solutions on issues of the day.

We have to learn and to acknowledge and reflect upon the terrible things we have inflicted upon each other and have to commit to ourselves to resist the temptations to be prejudiced and stereotype others. We cannot demand peace unless we are peaceful ourselves.
There is a shameless cruelty in us, either we shy away from facing or refuse to acknowledge the sufferings of others, worrying that it will devalue our own or somehow it amounts to infidelity to our own cause. We cannot justify massacres arrogantly believing that the victims deserved it or asked for it.

Our safety hinges on the safety of others around us, and it behooves us to work for the safety and security of others on this little planet. We have to be continuously aware of the Holocaust and Genocides and prepare us to avert such tragedies.

RSVP: ConfirmAttendance@gmail.com

Detail of Past events at: http://www.holocaustandgenocides.com/ 
 
It is an initiative of American Muslims,  striving to build responsible civic societies, where justice and co-existence are our values.

To all those, who have endured holocaust, genocides, massacres, bombs, annihilation, land mines, hunger, rape, torture, occupation and inhuman brutality, we say we share your fears and apprehensions.

The least we can do in the process of healing is to acknowledge every one's pain in one voice. We have begun the process of coming together as one people, to stand with you, we are indeed one world and a single humanity, and caring for each other brings safety and peace to all of us. I cannot be safe if the people around me are not, and I will not have peace if people around me don't. It is in my interest to seek a peaceful world for one and all.

We are working on initiating a course on tolerance education, so one day; we all can learn to have a heart that opens to the pain of every human, yes, we can do that.

Bringing people to understand the suffering of people has been my personal drive, I must say that through this program, many a non-Jewish people have come to understand about Holocaust for the first time. You can see pictures people from Atheist to Zoroastrians and every one in between has been a part of this event. And every one has shared a prayer in the events. We have to create the awareness to get people to become activits and speak up and say Never again.

Mike Ghouse
(214) 325-1916