RENO, NV – In a remarkable interfaith gesture, Saint Anthony Greek Orthodox Church in Reno presented Hindu statesman Rajan Zed with the Interfaith Peace & Leadership Award.

The community’s presiding priest Rev. Fr. Stephen R. Karcher presented the award to Zed in a ceremony held in the briefing room of Reno Police Headquarters on August 29. The citation read: “For his commitment and initiatives contributing to nurturing interfaith understanding and peace among communities both locally and globally.

“For his advancement of public interfaith dialogue through his courageous and tireless activities; For his exemplary and on-going efforts to create interfaith harmony; For his efforts to create interfaith spaces to allow for education and dialogue among different groups; For promoting oneness of humanity; For his single-minded focus on the values that unite us; For his demonstration of leadership in bridge-building across diverse communities; For championing understanding and peaceful coexistence among followers of all different faiths; For emphasizing the values of religious pluralism, mutual respect, and inclusion.

“With gratitude for your friendship, we pray for your continued success and progress with all your endeavors,” Fr. Karcher stated about Zed.

Global religious statesman Rajan Zed has taken-up interfaith, religion, European Roma (Gypsies), and other causes all over the world. He has read opening prayers in the United States Senate and U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, DC; various State Senates, State Houses of Representatives, County Commissions, City Councils all-over the U.S.; covering 292 legislative bodies in 43 states. He was invited by the President of the European Parliament in Brussels (Belgium) for a one-on-one meeting to promote interfaith dialogue.

Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, had been panelist for On Faith, a prestigious interactive conversation on religion produced by The Washington Post, and has been producing the weekly interfaith panel Faith Forum in a Gannett daily for over 11 years.

Saint Anthony Greek Orthodox Church in Reno is a parish of Metropolis of San Francisco, which is in the district of Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America in New York, which is an Eparchy of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople headed by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. The Greek Orthodox Church has reportedly about 1.5 million adherents in the USA, while the Orthodox Church has about 250 million followers worldwide. Saint Anthony Greek Orthodox Church is a place of worship, teaching, fellowship, and love.