In light of current world events, Yale School of Nursing (YSN) will host a public forum to address how religious diversity and tolerance affect health care in our community on April 24, at 5:30 p.m. in room 118, YSN, 100 Church St. South.
David Shaheed, an Indianapolis superior court justice, Imam and former President of the Interfaith Council, will deliver the keynote lecture titled “Contemporary Islam and its Impact on Religious Diversity and Tolerance.” He will address racial profiling, backlash fear, health care implications, and social and professional responsibility of American communities to promote peace and tolerance locally and internationally. The lecture will be followed by a community discussion.
Shaheed has been involved with interfaith dialogue for nearly 25 years. He was a member of Imam W. Deen Mohammed’s delegation to Rome, Italy as Muslim friends of the Focolare in June 1998 and also in October 1999. He is also chairperson of the Interfaith Alliance of Indianapolis, a member of the Concerned Clergy of Indianapolis and is on the Executive Committee of the Religious Alliance Against Pornography. He has served as an assistant Imam in Indianapolis, Convenor of Imams of the Midwest Region and he is one of the founding members of the Coalition for Good Government.
Shaheed produced a weekly news and Islamic perspectives television program, Al-Islam in America. He was a consultant to the Lilly Endowment on the Growth of Al-Islam in America and he made a pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia in 1987. Shaheed was appointed judge in the Marion County Superior Court of Indianapolis, Indiana, in September 1999. He was elected to a six-year term in November 2002. Prior to that appointment, he served as Magistrate in the Marion County Superior Court for three years. He was appointed Master Commissioner (part-time judicial officer) in October 1994.
In addition to being in private practice as an attorney since 1985, Shaheed was staff attorney for the Democratic Caucus of the Indiana House of Representatives in 1995; special deputy attorney general during 1993 and 1994; staff attorney for the Indiana Department of Workforce Development for seven years; and chief administrative law judge for unemployment insurance appeals for two years. Shaheed has been a lecturer and faculty member on a variety of legal topics.
This event is sponsored by the YSN Diversity Action Committee, and is open to the public.
