ChangeTheStory.net Launches at the National Press Club

ChangeTheStory.net, a new website that seeks to build mutual respect and understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims, was launched on September 24th at a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. ChangeTheStory.net went public simultaniously with the release of a landmark report, Changing Course: A New Direction for U.S. Relations with the Muslim World, released by the bi-partisan leadership group the US - Muslim Engagement Project. The Press Club event followed a briefing of House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman (D-Calif.) which featured both the report and website.

More than 150 people attended the briefing at the Press Club. Several members of the Leadership Team addressed the group, including former Congressman and Mayor of Dallas Steve Bartlett, the Southern Baptist Convention's Richard Land, Rockefeller Brothers Fund President Stephen Heinz, Islamic Society of North America President Ingrid Mattson and Gallup's Senior Analyst Ahmed Younis. At both the press conference and the briefing, Intersections staff Bob Chase and Sara Reef engaged House members and staff, foreign policy experts and members of the press about practical ways to transform the narratives we tell about ourselves--Muslim and non-Muslim alike.

In keeping with Intersections' strategic plan of "giving local expression to global concerns," ChangeTheStory.net was introduced to a New York audience the following evening at the Muslims in the Media panel discussion held at Intersections. The website has prompted wide acclaim. One audience member, Rowena Potts, wrote about the site: "Change The Story is fantastic, and I am so happy to see it, because if there is anything that I try to do in my life at the moment, no matter how strange I feel about it sometimes or how strangely people look at me for trying to do it, it's trying to represent Islam in a humanized, complicated, nuanced way, and I am just so glad there is a website like this."

ChangeTheStory.net has been mentioned in The Wall Street Journal's Market Watch, On Faith--an online conversation about religion jointly moderated by The Washington Post and Newsweek--AOL News, United Church News and The TriState Muslim News. Bob Chase has also been interviewed on Voice of America and Radio Islam. Over 2,000 people from more than 60 countries have visited the website.

Intersections will work collaboratively with its partners to promote ChangeTheStory.net among religious leaders, educators and concerned individuals, to amplify the rich mosaic of the Muslim community in this country and show its diversity, creativity, diligence, humor, patriotism and faithfulness. For more information on the site, contact Sara Reef at sreef@intersectionsinternational.org or 212-951-7006.