If I don’t identify as a Muslim myself, why should I care about addressing anti-Muslim discrimination? 

Join Shoulder to Shoulder on Zoom on Wednesday, June 15, 2022 from 1:00-2:00pmET to explore this question in a public conversation featuring Rabbi Burt Visotzky and Jordan Denari Duffner who will share their Jewish and Catholic perspectives. These two leaders, each in their own ways, work on addressing anti-Muslim discrimination not in spite of their faith, but because of their faith. They will offer a brief historical background on the issues, share some life experiences and faith values that drew them into joining this movement, and unpack some of the challenges and opportunities they have faced in this work. 

The Shoulder to Shoulder campaign was formed in 2010 as a multifaith response to a rise in anti-Muslim discrimination and national religious leaders of many faiths convened in Washington, D.C. to declare that “an attack on one faith community is an attack on all faith communities.” Our founders believed that anti-Muslim discrimination was and is not just a Muslim issue, and that our religious and our American ideals should compel us all to come together, shoulder to shoulder, in solidarity with those directly impacted by any form of discrimation. Since then, Shoulder to Shoulder has become a national multifaith coalition-based campaign that connects, equips, and mobilizes faith communities to build a society where everyone is treated with dignity and respect, regardless of their faith or cultural background. 

Watch a recording of the conversation on our Youtube Channel here.

Bios: 

Jordan Denari Duffner is an author, educator, and scholar of Muslim-Christian relations, interreligious dialogue, and Islamophobia. Her books are Finding Jesus among Muslims: How Loving Islam Makes Me a Better Catholic, and Islamophobia: What Christians Should Know (and Do) about Anti-Muslim Discrimination. A Catholic Christian, Ms. Duffner is currently pursuing a PhD in Theological and Religious Studies at Georgetown University. A former Fulbright scholar in Amman, Jordan, she is also an associate of the Bridge Initiative. Committed to public theology, religious literacy, and combatting religious discrimination, Ms. Duffner has published dozens of articles and commentaries in both academic and lay publications. She serves as a frequent media commentator and consultant for non-profits, journalists, and church leaders, and has given numerous lectures and webinars across North America. She has experience both facilitating and participating in interreligious dialogue. Originally from Indianapolis, she lives with her husband and child outside Washington, D.C.

Rabbi Burton L. Visotzky, PhD serves as Appleman Professor of Midrash and Interreligious Studies Emeritus at the Jewish Theological Seminary, where he joined the faculty upon his ordination in 1977. Visotzky was a dean of the Kekst Graduate School and founding Rabbi of the egalitarian Women’s League Seminary Synagogue.  He currently serves as the Louis Stein Director of the Finkelstein Institute for Religious and Social Studies at JTS, programming on public policy. Visotzky also directs JTS’s Milstein Center for Interreligious Dialogue. Rabbi Visotzky also serves on the Executive Committee of the Shoulder to Shoulder Campaign: Standing with American Muslims. In 2012,  he was awarded the Goldziher prize for his work in Jewish-Muslim dialogue. In 2022, he was awarded the Shevet Achim Award for Outstanding Contributions to Jewish-Christian Understanding by the Council of Centers on Jewish-Christian Relations.