Source: Huffington Post

By Antonia Blumberg; Associate Religion Editor, The Huffington Post

With Ramadan quickly approaching, when Muslims around the world will fast from sunrise to sunset, Rev. Cynthia Bronson Sweigert has her plate full.

For the second year in a row, the Minnesota-based Episcopal priest is organizing a state-wide effort to bring Christians and people of other faiths into mosques during the Muslim holy month. And if last year’s program is any indication, close to a thousand non-Muslim Minnesotans will be breaking bread with their Muslim neighbors this summer.

“Christian-Muslim understanding is critical at the moment because of rising Islamophobia,” Bronson Sweigert told The Huffington Post. “While I feel as a native Minnesotan that people are generally open and welcoming, there is still so much misinformation about Muslims, and therefore, about our neighbors.”

Bronson Sweigert is coordinating the Minnesota Council of Churches’ Taking Heart program, a series of open houses the council has organized at local mosques for the last 10 years in partnership with the Muslim American Society of Minnesota. Fifteen mosques have signed up to host these free interfaith iftars thus far, opening their doors for non-Muslims to join them in the ritual breaking of the fast after a long day of prayer and worship.

To spread the word about the program, Bronson Sweigert and her team are sending invitations to everyone who has ever attended a Taking Heart iftar over the years — roughly 3,000 in total, she said. They are also notifying churches, synagogues and other houses of worship in the closest zip codes to every participating mosque and providing them with posters, bulletin inserts, material for their websites, and anything else that will help them publicize the events to their communities.

Read further