HOUSTON, TX (Feb. 28, 2006) – Holocaust Museum Houston, the Rothko Chapel, and the University of St. Thomas Social Justice Committee will co-sponsor a symposium entitled “Moving from Tolerance to Acceptance: Understanding Islam” on Thursday, March 23, 2006, in the Scanlan Room on the second floor of Jerabeck Center, 4000 Mt. Vernon, on the University of St. Thomas Campus.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m., with the program at 7:00 p.m. The seminar is free and open to the public.

Speakers will be Carol Quillen of the Boniuk Center for the Study and Advancement of Religious Tolerance at Rice University and Zuhaira Razzack of Interfaith Ministries.

Quillen is director of the Boniuk Center and an associate professor of history there. She received her Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1991. Her areas of teaching include early modern and reformation Europe, humanist tradition, and gender and society in early modern Europe.

Razzack is a member of the board of directors for Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston, is a practicing Muslim and the mother of three. She was born in Pakistan but raised in the United States, primarily in Massachusetts. She did her undergraduate work at Wellesley College in Massachusetts in biology. She has been in Houston for eight years and received a master of arts in teaching from Rice University.

She has studied Islam formally and informally and has been involved in interfaith dialogue since her undergraduate days, when she was a founding member of the Wellesley College Interreligious Council. She has been a lecturer at churches, schools and other locations, and has been involved for the past several years as a consultant and as a volunteer with several Islamic schools in the Houston area.

The Boniuk Center was established at Rice University in July 2004. The center supports research on a wide range of topics related to religious tolerance and promotes understanding and conditions conducive to a sustainable, peaceful coexistence among people of different religions.

Interfaith Ministries of Greater Houston promotes dialogue, collaboration and service among people of diverse faiths in an effort to create a more just, compassionate and caring society.

Holocaust Museum Houston promotes awareness and educates the public of the dangers of prejudice, hatred and violence against the backdrop of the Holocaust by fostering remembrance, understanding and education.

Holocaust Museum Houston is free and open to the public and is located in Houston’s Museum District at 5401 Caroline St., Houston, TX 77004.

For more information or to RSVP for the event, contact Christina Vasquez at cvasquez@hmh.org or call 713-942-8000, ext. 105.

For more information on Holocaust Museum Houston, call 713-942-8000 or visit www.hmh.org.