WASHINGTON: For the first time in its 15year history, the Interfaith Conference (IFC) of Metropolitan Washington has elected a Sikh as its president. Dr. Rajwant Singh (33), an area dentist, who is the secretary of the Gun Gobind Singh Foundation here, was unanimously elected to ‘be president for two years. And in yet another first for the organization, a Hindu, Dr. Siva Subramanian, who is a physician with the Georgetown University Hospital, was elected vice-president. The Rey. Clark Lowenstein, IFC executive director, said, “This is the first Sikh and Hindu presidency” of the organization whose presidents since 1978 have been Protestant and Catholic clergy usually bishops and rabbis.
Lowenstein declared that “our new leadership team is a wonderful sign of hope for the Interfaith Conference as we begin our next 15 years. The diversity of these leaders, strength of their talents and their deep commitment to our mission, will enable them to guide. Us very well.” The IFC, considered one of the most dynamic and diverse interreligious coalitions in the United States, offers rare case of institutional support and cooperation, and includes bishops, clergy and presidents of various groups and organizations among its 30member board and more than 100member assembly. Over the years, the IFC has hammered out consensual public! positions such as the district’s death penalty initiative, which is: Strongly opposed; the religious Response to AIDS; and discrimination issues based on religion, Such as Sikhs being ordered not to ‘Wear turbans at some woe or Muslims being denied Peppermints for the construction mosques because of unwarranted Stereotyping with Arab militants.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 23, 1994
