SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO.com) -- The digital sign in front of Augustana Lutheran Church/Pueblo de Dios read “Ramadan Mubarak to our Muslim neighbors” last night.
Nearly fifty Lutherans and Muslims gathered at Augustana Lutheran Church and Pueblo de Dios at sunset to celebrate the breaking of a fast on the 29th evening of the month of Ramadan.
Ramadan is the holiest of months in the Islamic calendar, where 1.7 billion Muslims worldwide and about 3,000 Muslims in Sioux Falls abstain from food and drink from dawn (4 a.m.) to sunset (9 p.m.) for an entire month.
“This was the first time the Muslim community has been invited by our Christian brothers and sisters to break fast during Ramadan," said Taneeza Islam, executive director of SD Voices for Peace. "It was a significant night in furthering our relationships as religious communities and as neighbors,”
In a news release, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America says they share a responsibility for their church’s relationships with people of other faiths and traditions.“It is not just a recommendation that we love our neighbor -- it is a commandment from Jesus,” said Bishop David Zellmer of the South Dakota Synod, ELCA.