Silicon Valley Interreligious Council (SiVIC) builds interreligious harmony and understanding so as to promote a just and compassionate society in Silicon Valley.
Download a brochure about SiVIC
Sustainable, Just and Healthy Food Campaign
Join congregations across Silicon Valley in making a pledge in 2012 to better connect our food choices with our values. Faith institutions are becoming the front lines of health and sustainability movements, for many reasons. We are communities of people that care deeply about each other and about our responsibilities as stewards of the earth. We gather regularly for celebrations, meetings and rituals which involve food. We can become the force that turns around the obesity epidemic and creates the cultural shift needed to make our food system more sustainable. Find out how . . .
Our Religious Neighbor Next Door: Photo Project
Today's Silicon Valley is home to communities from virtually all of the world's religions. Indigenous peoples, Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox Christians, Hindus, Zoroastrians, Muslims, Buddhists, Pagans, Jains, Baha'i, Jews, Mormons, Sikhs, and many others have put down roots here, making our region a microcosm of the globe's diverse religious landscape.
This year, SiVIC invited local congregations and organizations to submit photos that capture their distinctive identities. The resulting collection – or better, collective snapshot of religion in the Valley in 2012 – made its debut at the closing event for this year's Silicon Valley Reads. Eventually it will be posted online. Although the original deadline is now past, we still invite communities to participate in expanding the exhibit.
Find out more . . .
"Silicon Valley Reads" programs a success!
Silicon Valley Reads, the annual program that encourages everyone in Santa Clara County to read the same book at the same time chose two books for this year that have great significance for interreligious relationships: The Muslim Next Door by Sumbul Ali-Karamali and The Butterfly Mosque by G. Willow Wilson. SiVIC sponsored a book review session at our Interreligious Leaders Forum in March, and Board President Andrew Kille participated in a broadcast video book panel. You can see that program and more at www.siliconvalleyreads.org.
Upcoming Events
See our listing of upcoming interreligious opportunities in the South Bay.
Subscribe to SiVIC NEWS for news and announcements of upcoming interreligious opportunities in the South Bay and beyond.
April 2012
SiVIC unveiled the photo display "Our Religious Neighbor Next Door" at the closing event of Silicon Valley Reads. We plan to expand the display and share this snapshot of interreligious diversity in our area with other groups.
March 2012
The Interreligious Leaders Forum featured a book panel discussing Sumbul Ali-Karamali's The Muslim Next Door. Panelists included Johanna Koudsi, who has been assisting American students to engage in dialogue with students at Al-Azhar University in Cairo via Skype; Rev. Nancy Palmer Jones, Pastor of First Unitarian Church in San Jose, Fatih Sarigoz, President of the Pacifica Institute, Silicon Valley, and Sabuhi Siddique, Vice-Chair of the Human Relations Commission of Santa Clara County.
Three members of the Board, Andrew Kille, JianYing Shifu, and Girish Shah, were guests of the Leadership Development class at Hoover Middle School in San Jose, talking about the importance of interreligious cooperation and understanding.
January 2012
The SiVIC Board of Directors met at the local Vedanta Society house and had a chance to learn more about Hindu prayer life in the South Bay. Our January Interreligious Leaders Forum met at the African Methodist Episcopal Church and heard from Clarissa Moore, the curator of an extensive exhibit of African-American cultural materials housed at the church.
December 2011
The Warm Coat and Soup Giveaway project co-sponsored by Emanuel Baptist Church and Grace Baptist Church and supported by SiVIC was able to serve over 294 people and families, received over 700+ warm coats, had at least 158 volunteers help on both days, and raised over $2,032 for needed giveaway items! An awesome job was also done by the sharing of the community resources and the EBC Gospel Choir during the noon hour. We're looking forward to even wider participation next year, December 8, 2012.
See more of the activities of SiVIC on our News page.
At the Bathing the Buddha Ceremony,
Zen Center of Sunnyvale (5/8/11)Prayer vigil for victims of the Japanese earthquake (3/17/11)
SiVIC emerged from discussions among a varied coalition of religious communities, non-profit agencies, educational institutions, and governmental offices in Santa Clara County that has been meeting since the beginning of 2010. Download our brochure.
We invite you to become a part of creating this new interreligious network!
- Send us your contact information at info@sivicouncil.org to be notified of upcoming events and news
- Let us know what you'd like to offer! Write us at info@sivicouncil.org.
