'10 Presenter Biographicals
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For Compassionate Dialogue

Friday, June 11

RCP CONFERENCE OPENING 
10:00 - 12:00 am

Greeting, Conference Mission, Announcements, & Introductions: 
                       Steve Olweean
                       Bill Secrest

Keynote:     Greg Roberts, State of Michigan

Live Econference Keynote:   Huston Smith
                                                       Rabbi David Rosen 

Recorded address:    Karen Armstrong

Presentation:  - Charter For Compassion
                           - Declaration of the Council of
                                Religious Leaders in Israel   

~ Lunch ~
12:00 am - 1:15 pm

CONCURRENT SESSIONS A
1:15 - 2:35 pm

A 1:  "FRIENDSHIP & FAITH, the WISDOM of women creating alliances for peace"
Meet the Women of WISDOM (Women’s Interfaith Solutions for Dialogue and Outreach in MetroDetroit). Courageous women who dare to cross boundaries - Passionate women who create meaningful connection - Inspirational women who build bridges of understanding in Metro Detroit through their numerous interfaith initiatives.
- Brenda Rosenberg, Shahina Begg, Gail Katz, Padma Kuppa, Patricia Harris
____________________________________________

A 2:  "Religion in The Face of Ecological Armageddon: How Deep In The Mirror Dare We Look?"
This roundtable will discuss religion in light of the contemporary blowback from the environment, asking what is actually sustainable? Indigenous cultures/religions represent the only sustainable lifeway thus far managed on the planet by our species. How can we now learn from them spiritually and economically?
- Bill Secrest, Ventra Asana, Lily Mendoza, Jim Perkinson

PLENARY PANEL  B
2:50 pm - 4:30 pm

"Fanaticism and Extremism -Vs- Faith: The Distortion of Spiritual Path and Original Intent"
Dichotomies and conflicts within spiritual traditions, including negative, extremist interpretations and interpolations of tenets and practice, are historical and present day dilemmas for many religions. Understanding how these elements and conditions arise, how they compromise, contradict, and threaten original spiritual intent, and how they create conflictual relationships between and within religious communities, as well as how to develop remedies, are even more essential in today's increasingly interconnected global community.
- Manveen Saluja, Shari Rogers, Mouhanad Hammami, Brenda Rosenberg

CONCURRENT SESSIONS C

FACILITATED DIALOGUE GROUPS
(Conference-wide break-out groups)

4:45 pm - 6:00 pm
(All participants self-select one of several themed dialogue groups)

One of 3 opportunities during the conference days for all participants to engage in open agenda dialogues to share learning, explore concepts and related issues, process experiences, network, and brainstorm practical applications and collaboration. In addition to facilitators, scribes in each group record content highlights. Information is compiled and posted to the conference website, allowing participants an evolving overview of what is brewing in the community from day to day and added opportunities to follow up on ideas and contacts made during the conference. The information is also included in conference proceedings and outcomes, and utilized for future planning.

~ Dinner ~
6:00 - 7:30 pm

EVENING EVENT  
7:30 - 9:15 pm

"Talking Through Walls"
A film by Unity Productions Foundations
Film Showing followed by facilitated discussion
Against the backdrop of post 9/11 fears that threaten to scuttle the project to build a mosque, a coalition forms that includes a Catholic Priest, two Rabbis, and a Buddhist, who join with the Muslim community to support it's efforts, revealing the best of American ideals at one of the most difficult times in American history.

Saturday, June 12

CONCURRENT SESSIONS D
10:00 - 11:20 am

D 1:   "Media Images of The Other"
An interactive conversation between experienced media professionals exploring media images and their influence on public perceptions, stereotypes, and polarization, as well as the beneficial role media can play in raising awareness, educating, and increasing public understanding and appreciation for diversity.
- Sonya Friedman, Mumtaz Haque, David Crumm, Jack Lessenberry
____________________________________________

D 2:  "Bigotry, Bullying, and Hate Acts in Schools"
The experience of prejudice, scapegoating, and hate acts that impact children can set the frame for polarized relationships yet to come within society as a whole. The steps, interventions, and models we employ for understanding, responding to, and transforming the dynamics of bigotry and bullying, including within the school culture, are critical to reducing tension between communities and creating a wider global culture of peace. In a contemporary world that increasingly brings us in closer, more frequent, and ever expanding contact with diverse spiritual paths and cultures, what are ways to address this?
- Betty Kingsley, Padma Kuppa, Myron Eshowsky, Mike Whitty, Jehan Olweean

CONCURRENT SESSIONS E
11:35 am - 12:55 pm

E 1:  "Transference of Loss, Trauma, and Narrative Construction"
Narratives are transmitted and transformed to newer generations. Each side of a conflict carry their own historical, personal and national narratives, sense of loss, victimhood, trauma. Personal narratives can help us understand “the other.” This panel will explore personal narratives from a Palestinian who fled during the 1948 conflict and a Holocaust survivor.
Can there ever be one "shared narrative" that both conflicting parties agree upon?
How can narratives help in moving from conflict to cooperation?
How can we deal with two inconsistent accounts of a historical narrative?
- Rene Lichtman, George Khoury, Myron Eshowsky
____________________________________________

E 2:   "Healing Domestic Abuse - Body, Mind, and Soul"
A common dilemma in religious communities is the selective misuse by individuals of religion as justification for aberrant behavior. As one example, perpetrators of domestic abuse sometimes try to evade individual responsibility for violent and anti-social acts that clearly violate basic moral codes by wrongly injecting an assumption of certain religious "rights," and often attempt to place responsibility on the victim. This dialogue seeks to remove this cloak by raising awareness and sensitivity among communities and leaders about domestic abuse, increasing understanding of religious positions on conflict and abuse within families and relationships, and exploring effective methods for prevention and for building partnerships between religious leaders and human service professionals engaged in healing abuse.
- Sonya Friedman, Jackie Teunessen, Najah Bazzy, Venkat Hari, Steve Olweean

~ Lunch ~
12:55 - 2:00 pm

PLENARY PANEL  F
2:00 - 3:30 pm

 "Communal Wounds and Victim Identities that Contribute to Us & Them"
Grieving is a fundamentally necessary human process meant to achieve a final healing, reconciliation, trust, and renewal.
Do some of our most profound and revered memorials, heroes, and martyrs tie cultural identity and loyalty to tragic loss, retribution, and conflict that is transmitted from one generation to another, or do they nurture a consciousness of peace and compassion that can be shared with our tribe as well as humanity as a whole?
If the former, how does this inhibit healing communal wounds and reconciliation with the world around us, perpetuate continuous victim identity and a slippery slope of just retribution, and fuel negative images of Us and Them into future generations?
What does it take to see and acknowledge even The Other's community in this shared dilemma of mutually reflected victim identity, and particularly when we represent the perpetrator identity to each other?
What are healthy alternatives a society can purposely create, and can we learn from and help each other along the way to make a better future for our children?
- Rene Lichtman, Farha Abbasi, Brenda Rosenberg, Imad Hamad, Steve Olweean

CONCURRENT SESSIONS G

FACILITATED DIALOGUE GROUPS
(Conference-wide break-out groups)
3:45 - 4:45 pm
(All participants self-select one of several dialogue groups)
( * See complete description in SESSION C )

PLENARY PANEL  H
5:00 - 6:30 pm

"Who Speaks For Islam?"
This roundtable addresses the dilemma of individuals and fringe groups around the country and the world engaging in negative, oppressive, and even violent behavior in direct contradiction to core Islamic values, yet presenting themselves as spokespeople and representative of Islamic beliefs, practices, attitudes, and history. How this problem, coupled with popular media providing frequent and wide public platforms to extremist groups, contributes to distorted perceptions and stereotypes that impact negatively on the understanding of an often uninformed Western public - and even some uninformed Muslims - is examined. A dialogue among several respected representatives of the Muslim community who discuss this dilemma, clarify inaccurate and distorted impressions the public may have, explore ways the Muslim community can be proactive in better informing the general non-Muslim public, and answer questions.
- Imam Abdullah El-Amin, Victor Begg, Najah Bazzy, Saeed Khan, Imad Hamad

~ Dinner ~
6:30 - 7:45 pm

EVENING EVENT
7:45 - 9:15 pm

"Inside Islam"
A film by Unity Productions Foundations
Film Showing followed by facilitated discussion
A new documentary film from Unity Productions Foundation, explores the expertly gathered opinions of Muslims around the globe as revealed in the world’s first major opinion poll, conducted by Gallup, the preeminent polling organization.

Sunday, June 13

CONCURRENT SESSIONS I
10:00 - 11:30 am

I 1:  "Indigenous Roundtable: Reclaiming Tradition, Heritage, and Spiritual Identity"
- Nettie Kingsley, Betty Kingsley, Geshe Gendun Gyatso, Myron Eshowsky
____________________________________________

I 2:  “What You May Not Know About Judaism”
A panel of Jewish community leaders will engage in a “myths-and-facts” stereotype-dispelling session and also discuss how Jewish religious tenets and the historical experience of the Jews are the foundation of Jews’ commitment to intergroup and interfaith tolerance, respect and understanding.
- Robert Cohen, Betsy Kellman, Rabbi Norman Roman, Kari Alterman
____________________________________________

I 3:  "Gender, Race, and Religion"
Within each religion is the question of human difference and diversity, and whether attitudes toward them reflect or detract from religious intent and putting spiritual principles into practice in daily relations. Gender and race stand out as two characteristics that have historically challenged religious communities to deeply examine core messages of unity and human value, and the injection of culture and social bias into spiritual practice. This dialogue delves into these issues and seeks to explore the implications and effect on individual and community relationships.
- Farha Abbasi, Sheri Schiff, Steve Spreitzer, Mary Assel

CONCURRENT SESSIONS J

FINAL FACILITATED DIALOGUE GROUPS
(Conference-wide break-out groups)
11:45 am - 1:00 pm
Focusing on brainstorming, networking,
and collaboration beyond the conference
( * See complete description in SESSION C )

CONFERENCE CLOSING
1:00 - 2:30 pm
Reporting In, Summary, Outcomes,
Collaboration, Action Plans,
and Where We Go From Here

(Networking Lunch Follows)
____________________________________________

2:30 - 3:30 pm
~ Networking Lunch ~
An informal opportunity to explore cooperation and next steps beyond the conference

 Guidelines For Compassionate Dialogue

The RCP Conference strives to promote an inclusive, compassionate dialogue that honors different personal experiences, perspectives, and narratives, while allowing for better expressing and listening to each other as we work together toward understanding and harmony. Our intention is to create an open venue where we can engage meaningfully and invite in a public dialogue that brings our joint wisdom to bear in exploring sometimes difficult issues that effect us all. This is based on the premise that it does not require that we be the same to be appreciate of, at peace with, and secure in our relationships with each other; only that we be familiar enough with each others story to share the humanity and trustworthiness that resides in each of us.
We ask all participants to assist us by carrying and expressing this intent throughout the conference.
We ask all participants to assist us by carrying and expressing this intent throughout the conference.

NonViolent Communication Guidelines:

Unique Assumptions—NVC begins by assuming that we are all compassionate by nature and that violent strategies—whether verbal or physical—are learned behaviors taught and supported by the prevailing culture. It also assumes that we all share the same, basic human needs, and that all actions are a strategy to meet one or more of these needs.

While NVC is much more than a communication model, the components below provide a structural concept of the process that leads to giving and receiving from the heart.

Honestly Expressing how I am and what I would like without using blame, criticism or demands

Empathically Receiving how another is and what he/she would like without hearing blame, criticism or demands  

Whether expressing or receiving, NVC focuses our attention on four pieces of information:

Observations—Objectively describing what is going on without using evaluation, moralistic judgment, interpretation or diagnosis
Feelings—Saying how you feel (emotions and body sensations) about what you have observed without assigning blame
Needs—The basic human needs that are or not being met and are the source of feelings
Requests—Clear request for actions that can meet needs

Additional Features of the
2010 RCP Conference

 Evening Social-Cultural and Film Events 
 Rich Networking and Action Planning 
 Intentional Cross-Cultural Community
  Displays and Exhibits (*Additional Exhibit Space Available)

2012 RCP Conference Information:

  Underlying Concepts
Main RCP Conference Page
Fees and Registration (2012 to be posted)
Registration Form - pdf  (2012 to be posted)
Presenter Proposal Form
Dialogue Facilitator Form
Overview, Schedule, and Guidelines
2012 RCP Full Program (2012 to be posted)
2012 Presenter Biographicals (2012 to be posted)
2012 List of Presenters (2012 to be posted)
Site and Travel
RCP Press Room
      1 Page Color RCP Conference flyer  - pdf
      1 Page RCP Black & White flyer  - pdf
      1 Page Text Flyer  - pdf
      Conference E-Mail Notice
    On-Site Video Interviews and Proceedings
RCP Conference Staff Contacts

Advertize , Display, and Donate:
   Advertize in On-Site Conference Program
   Advertize on Participant Tote Bag
   Exhibit Table Space is Available
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Registration is
Open To The Public

FROM OUR RCP ARCHIVES:
'11, '10 and '09 Programs, Proceedings, & Outcomes

Previous 2011 RCP Conf. Information:   
       Previous '11 RCP Program Sessions
       Previous '11 Presenter Biographicals and Photos

Previous 2010 RCP Conf. Information:   
       Previous '10 RCP Program Sessions
       Previous '10 Presenter Biographicals and Photos
       Previous '10 List of Presenters and Schedule Outline

Previous 2009 RCP Conf. Information:
       Content of '09 Daily Facilitated Dialogue Groups
       Previous '09 RCP Program Sessions
       Previous '09 Presenter Biographicals and Photos
       Previous '09 List of Presenters and Schedule Outline

Other Conferences by CBI:
    Engaging The Other Conference (ETO)
    International Conference on Conflict Resolution (ICR) 

Common Bond Institute
Steve Olweean, Director,  SOlweean@aol.com
12170  S. Pine Ayr Drive • Climax, Michigan •49034 USA
1-269-665-9393  (Phone and Fax)
Website:  http://www.cbiworld.org
CONTACT US!