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Conference Speakers

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Tuesday Keynote

Wednesday Sessions

Throughout the Illinois Interfaith Conference, amazing speakers and educators will be sharing their stories and promoting powerful ways that they engage interfaith opportunities in their daily lives. Learn more about the speakers below, and visit the Schedule Page for details. 

Keynote Speaker

Valarie Kaur

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Valarie Kaur is a seasoned civil rights activist and celebrated prophetic voice. Valarie burst into American consciousness in the wake of the 2016 election when her Watch Night Service address went viral with 30+ million views worldwide. Her question "Is this the darkness of the tomb- or the darkness of the womb?" reframed the political moment and became a mantra for people fighting for change. Valarie now leads the Revolutionary Love Project to reclaim love as a force for justice in America. As a lawyer, filmmaker, and innovator, she has won policy change on multiple fronts- hate crimes, racial profiling, immigration detention, solitary confinement, Internet freedom, and more. She founded Growdswell Movement, Faithful Internet, and the Yale Visual Law Project to inspire and equip new generations of advocates. Valarie has been a regular TV commentator on MSNBC and contributor to CNN, NPR, PBS, the Hill, Huffington Post, and the Washington Post. A daughter of Sikh farmers in California's heartland, Valarie earned degrees at Stanford University, Harvard Divinity School, and Yale Law School. Valarie's book, SEE NO STRANGER: A Memoir & Manifesto of Revolutionary Love, was released in 2020 and expands on her "blockbuster" TED Talk. (Source: https://valariekaur.com/about-valarie/)

 

Panelists and Moderators

Rabbi Alan Cook (Responding Panelist) was ordained by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 2003.  Since 2013, he has served Sinai Temple of Champaign.  Rabbi Alan was one of the founders of the current iteration of the Interfaith Alliance of Champaign County, and served as its first president.

Michael Crosby (Reckoning Panelist) is Lead Pastor at First Mennonite Church of Champaign-Urbana. He convenes the congregation's Racial Justice Working Group, works with the Anabaptist Coalition for Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery, and serves on the Executive Committee of the Interfaith Alliance of Champaign County.

Amy Felty (Reckoning Panelist), a retired teacher and administrator in public  school systems, has lived and worked on three continents, has fought against racism in an ever-growing understanding of the baneful ills it inflicts upon both its victims and its perpetrators. She has been a Baha’i for 52 years.

Victor Jones Jr., M.S., M.Div. (he/him/his) (Reckoning Panelist) is one of the Co-Pastors of Acts Campus Ministry at UIUC.  In addition, he serves as the Assistant Director of Recruitment and Diversity Initiatives for the School of Information Sciences here at UIUC.  Diversity, equity, inclusion, and authenticity are at the crux of his work and ministry.

For over 11 years, Rev. Leah Robberts-Mosser has served as pastor of Community United Church of Christ, a Just-Peace, Progressive, LGBTQ Open and Affirming congregation, home of Jubilee Café and UCC Campus Ministry.  Rev. Robberts-Mosser has been published in The Christian Century, the book Sacred Habits: The Rise of Creative Clergy (edited by Chad R. Abbott), was featured in the award-winning documentary American Experience: Central Illinois, Living through the Covid-19 Pandemic, and is a frequent lecturer, guest speaker, and retreat leader. She is passionate about her family, justice, creativity, food, and The Walking Dead….not necessarily in that order.

Imam Ousmane Sawadogo has been the Imam of the Central Illinois Mosque & Islamic Center (CIMIC) since 2016. He is a husband and the father of two children. He is a member of the Interfaith Alliance of Champaign County and a Carle Pastoral Care Volunteer.

Rev. Dr. Sheryl Palmer (Responding Panel Moderator) is  serving in her sixth year as the Directing Pastor at Champaign Faith United Methodist Church. She is also the current Chair of the Interfaith Alliance of Champaign County. One of her greatest passions is helping to build bridges across perceived or real divides in our society including religion, politics, and race, in an attempt to create a more just and peaceful world for all. 

Evelyn Reynolds (Responding Panelist) is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Parkland College in Champaign, IL.  She is an activist, formerly a lead organizer with the Black Lives Matter global network and founder of Black Lives Matter Champaign-Urbana.  Evelyn is currently supporting local campaigns to eliminate SROs and campus police, along with general abolitionist work.    

The Rev. Terrance L. Thomas (Responding Panelist) is an Itinerant Elder with the African Methodist Church and Pastor of Bethel AME Church in Champaign, IL. In addition to serving as the Pastor of Bethel, Rev. Thomas has also worked as a hospital chaplain with the Advocate Aurora and Carle Health systems. Rev. Thomas also sits on several community boards included the Champaign Country Christian Health Center, the CU Trauma and Resiliency organization, and HV Neighborhood Transformation. A dedicated liberation theologian and unapologetic Black Nationalist, Rev. Thomas received his undergraduate (2007) degree in Inner City Studies with a minor in Sociology from Northeastern Illinois University and a Masters (2017) of Divinity from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary (concentration: African American Church Leadership). 

Amy Thoren (Reckoning Panel Moderator) is the pastor and director at St. Andrew's Lutheran Church and Campus Center in Champaign, where she wonders, learns, works, and serves alongside UIUC students. She studied American Racial and Multicultural studies St. Olaf College before attending seminary in Chicago and starting her vocation as ordained pastor 17 years ago. She is not woke but in a perpetual state of waking -- to the injustices and struggles of the oppressed and marginalized and to the way people of faith can and should respond