Hear our Voice

Recorded live on April 16 at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church in Benton Harbor, this powerful panel discussion brings together voices from the front lines of the immigrant rights movement in Southwest Michigan.Hosted by Interfaith Action of Southwest Michigan, this event—Faith, Compassion, and Action: Immigration Realities and Faithful Responses—features insights from Rev. Erik Broeren of St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church, Betsy Lozoff of the Berrien Immigrant Solidarity Network, and Elizabeth Santana of the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center. Moderated by Nevine Khalil, the conversation explores the realities facing immigrant communities today and how faith-based organizations can respond with compassion and advocacy.Tune in to hear stories, policy insights, and practical steps for supporting our immigrant neighbors through informed, faith-driven action.

What is the impact of Christian Nationalism on politics and religion? Interfaith Action of SW Michigan and The League of Women Voters for Berrien and Cass Counties co-sponsored the following program. Our panel includes Clark Gilpin, Dean Emeritus, University of Chicago Divinity School, and the Rev. Jeffrey Hubers, Senior Pastor, First Congregational UCC, St. Joseph, MI.Music Attribution:"Night Owl" from the Directionless EP by Broke For Free, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. Available at http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Bro....

Interfaith Action annually recognizes PRIDE month in June with a program on Faith and PRIDE, exploring current realities for LGBTQ persons on the intersection with faith. This year’s program focused on a discussion with 5 openly gay and lesbian individuals who hold elected office or are candidates for elected office in SW Michigan. Participants in the discussion are: - Dave Bunte, Supervisor for Chikaming Township - Brook Thomas, Mayor, City of St. Joseph - John Bonkoske, Member, City of Bridgman City Council - Janet Henderson, Candidate for Berrien County Board of Commissioners - Jessica Jackson, Candidate for Berrien County Clerk. Panelists discussed the following questions: 1. What motivated you to seek political office? 2. How does your gender identity/sexual orientation influence your perspective on social policy - if at all? 3. Given threats to policies and practices of inclusion, how do you counter hate speech or discriminatory rhetoric — has your faith background influenced you negatively or positively - if relevant at all? 4. What do you see as primary threats to pluralistic democracy?

Each May, the U. S., along with many local communities, hosts a National Day of Prayer event. These are typically Christian in nature. Interfaith Action commemorates the National Day of Prayer with prayers from different religious traditions. The podcast includes the announcement of the annual Leader for the Common Good award, granted to an elected or appointed individual who has advanced the common good of all Michiganders on a statewide or regional level. This year’s award goes to Michigan State House Representative Joey Andrews.We invite you to listen to these prayers for our nation and an interview by Gene Schoon, Interfaith Action’s Policy and Justice Coordinator, with Representative Andrews.

Our guest speaker is Rev. Dr. Gary Mason, a Methodist minister and founder and director of the Belfast-based "Rethinking Conflict” organization. Prior to this, he spent 27 years as a Methodist clergy person in parish ministry in Belfast.Gary played an integral role in the Northern Irish peace process, and was instrumental in facilitating negotiations with paramilitaries and government officials. In 2007, his contribution was formally recognised by Queen Elizabeth II.Mason has lectured throughout Europe, South Africa, the Middle East and USA, and advises the Biden Administration on implementing The Nita M. Lowey Middle East Partnership for Peace Act (MEPPA) of 2020, which focuses on strengthening civil society and developing grassroots peace building in the Israeli/Palestinian arena.Gary is also an affiliated expert and partner to the Negotiation Strategies Institute, a Harvard University program on negotiation for Israelis and Palestinians and international diplomats.

This program will feature discussions with persons familiar with on the ground realities. Presenters will include a Christian Palestinian, a Muslim Palestinian and a representative from Jewish Voices for Peace. These grassroots voices will provide unique perspectives for a fuller understanding of the current Israel-Gaza conflict.

Our guest speaker for this program is Daniel Maté, an acclaimed composer, lyricist, and playwright for musical theater based in Brooklyn, New York. Maté, whose great grandparents died at Auschwitz, has been prolific on social media since the war on Gaza began. He has 33.4K followers on Instagram, 10.3 subscribers on YouTube, and 2.2K followers on X (formerly Twitter).Outside of music, theater and activism, Maté runs the world’s only “mental chiropractic” service, Take A Walk With Daniel. His passion is to help people access their own innate crystal clarity and true intelligence by getting their minds aligned. With his father Dr. Gabor Maté, renowned expert on trauma, addiction and stress, Maté co-authored the New York Times bestseller The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness & Healing in a Toxic Culture.Maté graduated from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts with an M.F.A. in Musical Theatre Writing. He also holds a B.A. in Psychology and Philosophy from McGill.

In this program, we welcome guest speaker Lara Friedman, President of the Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP). She is a leading authority on the Middle East, with particular expertise on U.S. foreign policy in the region, on Israel/Palestine, and on the way Middle East and Israel/Palestine-related issues play out in Congress and in U.S. domestic politics, policies, and legislation. Lara is a former officer in the U.S. Foreign Service, with diplomatic postings in Jerusalem, Washington, Tunis, and Beirut.She also served previously as the Director of Policy and Government Relations at Americans for Peace Now. In addition to her work with FMEP, Lara is a non-resident fellow at the U.S./Middle East Project (USMEP). She holds a B.A. from the University of Arizona and a Master’s degree from Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service; in addition to English, Lara speaks French, Arabic, Spanish, (weak) Italian, and muddles through in Hebrew.

Our guest speaker for this program is Rummana Hussain, an editorial board member and columnist at the Chicago Sun-Times. During her career at the newspaper, she also had stints as an assistant metro editor, criminal courts reporter, general assignment reporter and assistant to columnist Michael Sneed.Before the Sun-Times, Rummana covered education and criminal courts in Lake County for the Chicago Tribune and was assigned the crime, education and City Hall beats for the City News Bureau of Chicago.Rummana was named a Jefferson fellow by the East-West Center in 2006. She has also served on the board of the Chicago Headline Club and the local chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association.

In this program, we are joined by guest speaker David Dumke. He is the Executive Director of the University of Central Florida’s (UCF) Global Perspectives & International Initiatives. Dumke was the founding director of UCF’s Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd Program for Strategic Research & Studies, as well as the Office of Middle East and South Asia Initiatives. In 2019, he co-authored and edited Aspiring Powers, Regional Rivals: Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the new Middle East with Dr. Gönül Tol of the Middle Eastern Institute (MEI). Dumke is also a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, American University in Cairo (Egypt). Dumke previously served as an aide to House Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell (D-Michigan), Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan), and Rep. Fred Upton (R-Michigan). He received a B.A. in History, Political Science, and Russian Studies from Indiana University, and an M.A. in Muslim-Christian Understanding from Georgetown University.