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ABOUT US |
Our Partners
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Uplifting the Platinum Rule
“Do Unto Others What They Would Have Done Unto Them” |
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Board of Directors
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Imam Jamal Rahman / Chairman
Imam Jamal Rahman is a popular speaker and author on Islam, Sufi spirituality, and interfaith relations. Along with his Interfaith Amigos, he has been featured in The New York Times, CBS News, BBC, and various NPR programs. Jamal is co-founder and Muslim Sufi Imam at Interfaith Community Sanctuary, and adjunct faculty at Seattle University. He travels nationally and internationally, presenting at retreats and workshops. Jamal’s passion lies in interfaith community building and activism. |
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Steve Kramer / President
Steve is a perpetual student who recently retired from 30 years of hospice nursing. He has a Masters in Theology from Seattle University and was ordained an interfaith minister in 2019 after 20 years of participation in an Earth-based spirituality program. The forest is his cathedral and the seashore his heavenly choir. Steve’s passions include supporting cross-pollination amongst different religions and spiritualities as well as advocating for Mother Earth and all her children, including us two-leggeds. His ministry includes volunteering as co-coordinator for both the Environment and the Religion/Interfaith/Spirituality of Earth Sectors of the Charter for Compassion. He also participates in the Guiding Council of Interfaith Community Sanctuary. In his spare time he writes poetry and is an artist. Most of all, he sees himself as a work in progress. |
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Silvana Hale / Treasurer
Silvana has a broad range of experiences, skills, and interests. Born in Eritrea under bombardment, she was raised in Italy, emigrated to Venezuela, earned her CPA in Italy, worked as a Chief Accountant, married her husband John, a Peace Corps Volunteer, and came to the US where she completed her education with an MA in Sociology. She then taught in a migrant ghetto school in SE Texas and later started a small business and became an entrepreneur. Silvana credits her passion for interfaith to 9/11 and her good friend Soraya from Saudi Arabia. She knew her life in this country would never be the same, but she wanted to help. She and John began to learn more about Islam and that began a decades long quest to engage, learn, understand, and share life experiences with people from other religions and spiritual traditions. They were co-founders of a non-profit interfaith organization that has now merged to become Northwest Interfaith. As Treasurer she enjoys the opportunity to share her accounting skills in an endeavor that reflects her life values. |
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Rev. Karen Lindquist / Secretary
Reverend Karen Lindquist is co-founder and co-minister of Interfaith Community Sanctuary, a spiritual community grounded in circular leadership principles. She co-creates interfaith services throughout the year at the Sanctuary and with interfaith organizations in the greater Seattle area. For many years she served as a board member on The Interfaith Council of Washington and The Interfaith Network, now known as Northwest Interfaith. |
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John Hale / VP
John successfully applied his engineering and business education for over 20 years within a Fortune 50 corporation. Then, he cultivated entrepreneurial skills by starting his own business as a communications infrastructure contractor. His life’s focus changed with 9/11 when he and his wife realized how little they knew about Islam, and about other non-Christian religions as well. Since that time they have committed themselves to interfaith engagement, understanding, and celebration. John co-founded Northwest Interfaith Community Outreach (NICO) to bring people together and discover the richness of our religious traditions and the common ground that we share in our principles and values. NICO has since merged to form Northwest Interfaith and enjoys partnerships with many religious, spiritual, and secular allies in the community. He likes to say: “this work is almost like traveling the world without leaving home!” |