Center for Interfaith Dialogue
Community in dialogue, faith in action.

Peace Islands Institute of New York

Peace Islands Institute promotes peace, love, respect, humanity, integrity, welfare, understanding. It aspires to facilitate a forum of mutual respect and collaboration, welcoming and acceptance of varied viewpoints and voices with the intent to develop original and alternative perspectives on vital issues that our society is facing.

In a diverse world, where even the farthest point is a click away, every culture, race, religion, tradition and nation become neighbors. We have to live and interact together in this “global island” we call Earth. Peace Islands Institute (PII) serves to act as the soil for fruitful dialogue, peace, and civil service just as the soil on this “global island” gives forth flowers of different colors, scents and shapes.

PII envisions a world becoming an island of peace in the ocean of our universe; a community in which people from all walks of life interact with each other and cooperate to serve their communities, thereby strengthening civil society and promoting the development of human values.

About Our Partner

Emre Celik

Emre comes to Peace Islands Institute after 10 years in Washington DC where he was President of the Rumi Forum, an organization dedicated to interfaith and intercultural education and projects of engagement. He has worked in numerous non-profit and community organizations with a focus on education, social harmony, community collaboration and interfaith understanding. During his university years he set up the first Muslim Students Association at the University of Technology, Sydney, he helped establish private schools in Sydney and Brisbane, sat on the Melbourne Advisory Committee for the Parliament of World Religions and on the Victoria Police Multifaith Council. In Washington DC he sits on the Religious Freedom Center’s Committee on Religious Liberty and the International Religious Freedom Roundtable on Capitol Hill. In October 2015, he organized the first ever White House Eid-al Adha reception where he also provided opening remarks.  

He was presented with the 2016 University of Sydney, Technology Alumni Award for community service, and in May 2017 he was a contributor to the online education series “Five Minutes of Religious Freedom” for the Religious Freedom Center at the Newseum Institute. In March 2017 he became the Chairman of the IFLC USA (International Festival of Culture and Language). He has been interviewed by the Washington Post, New York Times and numerous other media outlets in the US, Europe and Australia on issues related to diaspora Muslims, interfaith relations and the Islamic World. His writing has appeared in Democracy Journal, Fox News, ISLAMiCommentary, Lobe Log and Huffington Post. Emre regularly speaks on issues of pluralism and diversity, interfaith and intercultural understanding, Muslim Americans and the Islamic world.

Emre has been active in interfaith and intercultural issues for more than 25 years. Originally from Australia, he has a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Technology,Sydney , a Masters in Education and is currently pursuing a PhD at the Centre for Islamic Studies and Civilisation (CSU Australia).