Portland: dialogue for ‘people of the book’

“Islam and the Challenge of America: A New Vision for Jews, Christians and Muslims” is the title of a program planned Wednesday. The featured speaker will be Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, imam of Masjid al-Farah, New York, and president of the American Sufi Muslim Association. He has written “What’s Right with Islam: A New Vision for Muslims and the West” (Harper San Francisco, 2004). Others who are scheduled to participate are: Rabbi David Gordis, president, Hebrew College, and director, the Wilstein Institute for Jewish Policy Studies; Professor Daniel Sheridan, vice president and dean, St. Joseph’s College of Maine. The panel discussion will be moderated by Rabbi Leonard Schoolman, director of the Center for Religious Inquiry, St. Bartholomew’s Church, New York. The program will be at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 13, at Temple Beth El, 400 Deering Ave., Portland. For more information, call Professor Abraham Peck, 780-5331.