Eugene weekly., April 27, 2017, Page 12, Image 12

A
Vision
of
Peace
LONGTIME IPSI BOARD
MEMBER ARUN TOKÉ
IS THE GROUP’S HINDU
REPRESENTATIVE
AND THE FOUNDER
OF SKIPPING STONES
MAGAZINE
EUGENE’S INTERFAITH PRAYER SERVICE INTERNATIONAL CONTINUES
TO PROVIDE A REFUGE FOR ALL FAITHS By Corinne Boyer
O
n Sept. 11, 2001, an informal interfaith prayer
gathering took place on the steps of the former
City Hall building in downtown Eugene.
One month later, members of the Sikh,
Hindu, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Baha’i and
Native American communities organized an interfaith
service at First Christian Church in Eugene. It was the
start of the longest running interfaith service in North
America.
Since then, the Interfaith Prayer Service International
(IPSI) organization has held 187 services to pray for peace,
celebrate differences and embrace the world’s diverse
faiths. These services have become a safe gathering place
for people of all religions to connect with people in the
community.
IPSI board member Kit Frisinger, a Christian
representative, says she recalls the shock she experienced
watching the morning news on Sept. 11 terror attacks that
led to U.S. retaliation. Even today she says, “I feel terrible
that we are bombing right now. We haven’t stopped using
weapons of destruction and violence.”
The nonprofit holds a service on the eleventh of every
12
A pril 27, 2017 • eugeneweekly.com
month, with 12 board members representing a variety
of religious beliefs. Currently, the IPSI board is seeking
Jewish and Muslim representatives.
Longtime board member Arun Toké was involved with
an interfaith dialogue group in Eugene before assisting
with the IPSI’s establishment as a nonprofit. A few years
after the terror attacks, his friend and professor asked him
to become the Hindu representative for IPSI. Siri Kaur
Khalsa-Harris, who was a Sikh representative, and her
husband, Bill Harris, of the Baha’i faith, helped establish
the group as a nonprofit in 2006.
“And so we all talked about the benefits of doing
this a particular way, which is totally non-political and,
of course, interfaith and egalitarian,” Toké says of the
early stages of organizing the group created in the wake
of the Sept. 11. Khalsa-Harris wrote a letter in 2006 to
potential IPSI board members proposing the idea of a
permanent interfaith prayer service. She wrote that in
1996, while in deep meditation, she “was made aware that
[she] should initiate a regular coming together of devotion
from all faiths, especially those who might be or will be
experiencing painful times.”
After meeting Khalsa-Harris at a Sikh gathering,
Sherab Tenaj was inspired to join the board as a Buddhist
representative. Tenaj says Khalsa-Harris’s “vision was so
connected with the interfaith service that she really had
the passion to make it last for a long time.” Khalsa-Harris
passed away in 2012.
After the attacks, hatred towards Muslims became
widespread. The group saw an urgency to bring people
together. So when this diverse religious community in
Eugene saw an opportunity to facilitate intercultural
understanding and provide a haven for all religions in
response to watching the nation grapple with fear, grief
and violence in 2001, they had no idea the need would
remain constant.
Arun Toké: Past and Present
Toké is also the founder and editor of Skipping Stones, a
children’s literary magazine. “I grew up in Indore, India,”
he explains. “Our neighbors spoke different languages.
Some of them were Muslims, some were Sikh, some were
Hindus and some were Christians.”
The inspiration behind Skipping Stones came from a
Gandhian ashram in India. “Gandhi used to say that if you
want a fruit, you plant a seed and nurture that,” he says,
pointing to a photo of Gandhi above the magazine racks
in the magazine’s office.
Toké’s vision of promoting cultural understanding
began by connecting children around the globe with pen
pals and publishing essays written by kids from different
countries and faiths — and ultimately cultivating a
magazine that has hosted intercultural dialogue for more
than 27 years.
Throughout his life, Toké has relied on reciting the
mantra of Lord Rama, a Hindu god, whenever he feels
worried or afraid. Once he drove an old Volkswagen to
California with his wife and son, and says he chanted
the mantra the entire way. “My neighbor said, that must
have taken a lot of prayers,” Toké recalls. “It helps to
have that external, that spiritual energy and knowing that
somebody is there watching over you.”
No one currently involved with the group expected
the services to last more than a few years. Nationwide,
violence targeting numerous religious groups has ebbed
and flowed since the group’s founding.
Muslims continue to be targets of hate crimes in the
U.S. The Southern Poverty Law Center reported a 197
percent increase in Muslim hate groups from 2015 to
2016.
An uptick in threats of violence against Jewish
Community Centers and vandalism in Jewish cemeteries
have dominated headlines since the election of Donald
Trump — who waivered and hesitated to condemn the
vandalism and threats.
In 2017, the Anti-Defamation League has recorded
a plethora of anti-Semitic incidents in the U.S., which
include 161 bomb threats, 155 vandalism incidents and
six physical assaults. An Israeli teen was arrested recently
and is accused of making over 2,000 threats to institutions
worldwide.
Envisioning Peace
The board members of IPSI say they have worked hard
to avoid politicizing the group, but when the Muslim and
Jewish communities have experienced threats and violent
incidents, IPSI has supported them.
Though many of the nonprofit’s members are active in
the social justice community, they agree that its mission is
important because it celebrates acceptance, other religions
and peace.
“It’s not — well to me anyway — it’s not about
religion,” says board president Hafiz Lealand, who
represents Sufism. “It’s really about unity as it says in the
program I think, its about unity and peace and a safe place
for people to be right free of politics and discrimination
and other negative things, which seem to be little bit on
the rise since November.”
Just after the presidential election, Lealand says, the
number of people attending services doubled.
“In 2001, there were some threats against the Islamic
community after Sept. 11, and so at that time we all went
as a group to hold a vigil there [at the mosque] and then