The public has been invited to “Times That Try Our Souls — Let the Healing Begin,” which will bring together leaders from Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, on Sunday from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the South Fork in Bridgehampton. The gathering represents an effort to heal the growing divide between the political left and right and the religious faiths that throughout history have often been at odds.
The organizers are Asma Rashid, D.O., a physician with Hamptons Boutique Medicine in Bridgehampton, and Jim Vrettos, a sociologist and criminologist who hosts “The Radical Imagination” on LTV. They will moderate a discussion featuring the Rev. Dr. Ben Shambaugh of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in East Hampton, Rabbi Jan Uhrbach of Gesher — the Bridge Shul in Bridgehampton, and Imam Amin Ur-Rahman, an expert in Islamic studies and Quranic Arabic.
“We’re just trying to open up the community,” Mr. Vrettos said. “That’s the bottom line, just reaching out and trying to bring as many people together as we can, and start talking to each other in a decent way.”
“I couldn’t bear not to speak up for freedom of speech, religion, what America is, and what American values are,” Dr. Rashid said. “I think we all have fear and feel helpless, but ultimately this shall pass. But those who have a calling right now need to step up, I included, and have a platform where we can heal together, and people feel they don’t have to be a hermit or hide under a rock. . . . We should feel safe in our own neighborhoods. We the people can bring about a change, because we are better than this.”
The discussion, its organizers says, will explore how people can learn to better address their differences through civil debate and dialogue rather than the polarization, rage, disrespect, and violence that has come to characterize American society, further exacerbated by the recent murder of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Democracy, civil liberties, and freedom of speech are under threat, they say, and the panel of spiritual leaders will offer their guidance toward a more loving and transformative way of relating to one another.
They cite the faith traditions represented by Sunday’s speakers: tikkun olam, a Hebrew phrase that means “repairing the world,” the Peace Prayer that begins “Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace,” attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, and islah, an Arabic word referring to the moral responsibility of individuals to strive for goodness and the betterment of society. Apart from organized religion, they cite as a core tenet the concept of unconditional and courageous love that goes beyond typical emotional bonds to promote justice, healing, and deep empathy.
Dr. Rashid and Mr. Vrettos will ask panelists to explain how their faith traditions can speak to the turmoil and polarization of civil and political life, discuss the war and tenuous cease-fire in Gaza and the possibility of lasting peace in the region, and illuminate how their faith traditions can move the needle away from the authoritarian drift of the United States and toward freedom, civil and free speech, constitutional rights, and the right to dissent. A question-and-answer session will follow, time permitting.
“Right now is the time that every household and every community needs to open their doors to the opposite party and have a dialogue,” Dr. Rashid said. “It’s the only way to come together and live in peace. Without a dialogue, we’re just burning in our own negative emotion.”
“Catastrophe,” Mr. Vrettos said, “cannot have the final word.”
