Moline interfaith prayer service calls for peace

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By Thomas Geyer | Thursday, March 20, 2008 | 235 comment(s)

Standing in the midst of the Islamic Center of the Quad-Cities in Moline, Rabbi Henry Karp of Temple Emanuel in Davenport listened to the Mosque’s muezzin recite the adhan, the Islamic call to prayer, Wednesday evening.

At 7:15 p.m., it was the prayer for just after sunset.

Karp was among 250 others from all faiths, Jewish, Muslim, Christian and Hindu, who participated in an interfaith prayer service marking the fifth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

“I’m in the middle of a Mosque,” he said. “Peace is something that unites all people. We like to believe our enemies don’t yearn for peace and are opposed to peace. But both sides pray for the day when they can live in peace, when they don’t have to fight, don’t have to die, and don’t have to kill.”

Outside before the prayer service, about 40 people carried signs protesting the Iraq war and demanded U.S. soldiers come home.

Thomas Bloom, 19, of Bettendorf, a student at St. Louis University, said he does not believe there is a military solution to the conflict. So, in protest and in prayer he let his thoughts be known.

“I like to think I have a voice and this is the way I’m going to use it,” Bloom said.

Ahmad Rasheed, 21, a student at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., who is on spring break, was pleased to see the large crowd. He helped set up more chairs in the meeting room.

“It’s nice to see we share the same principals, and worship the same God,” he said. “I know it’s a clichéd phrase, but united we stand and divided we fall. If it can work for individuals, it can work for a nation.”

Lisa Killinger, a convert to Islam who presided over the service, welcomed the crowd by saying, “I’m saddened we have to be here tonight. We had hoped to have you here for a happier occasion.

“Prayer is probably the most powerful thing we can do for our country,” she added. “We can pray for and hope for peace.”

After reciting a prayer in Hebrew, Karp told the crowd, “We all need to come together. We need to stop looking at what divides us and start looking at what unites us.”

Among the other prayer offerings, Sister Catherine Cleary, Order of St. Benedict spiritual leader, lead the crowd in the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi. Also offering prayers were Rev. Lynne Carver, pastor of Trinity Episcopal Church; Madhu Sharma, representing the local Hindu community; Sr. Roberta Birch, president CHM; Sameena Ahmed, representing the local Muslim community; and Rev. Roger Butts of the Unitarian Church.

Cathy Bolkcom, of the group Progressive Action for the Common Good, which co-sponsored the event with Pax Christi, simply asked, “Can you believe we’re still having to do this?”

The crowd put seeds in a bowl that will be planted at the mosque in spring. People may then drive by and see what they have sewn, Killinger said. The people also wrote out their own prayers and put them in a bowl. Those prayers will be sent to local media.

In closing the service, Killinger said, “I hope we don’t have to come together again to pray for the end of a war that has caused some much death and devastation.”

Thomas Geyer can be contacted at (563) 383-2328 or tgeyer@qctimes.com.