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Social Justice

Farm the Land, Grow the Spirit

Farm the Land, Grow the Spirit

by Vicki Garlock

Each summer, a dozen or so young adults, ranging in age from 19-29, live in community at SPC. The program aims for a mix of international and American attendees and a mix of Jews, Muslims, and Christians.

What We Can Learn from the Same-Sex Seating Controversy

What We Can Learn from the Same-Sex Seating Controversy
A recent New York Times story on the tension caused when Orthodox Jewish men request same-sex seating on airlines for religious reasons generated over 3,000 reader responses. The scenario as described in the story generally unfolds something like this: the individual reaches his assigned seat and finds that the seat next to him is occupied by a woman. He shifts uncomfortably in the aisle until the flight attendant or an alert passenger recognizes what’s going on and asks the woman to switch seats with a male so the Orthodox Jew may have his religious views accommodated. Often the woman is offended; sometimes she refuses to move. This has made for many challenging situations and some flight delays.

Sweden’s Religious Community Responds to Flood of Refugees

During the autumn and winter of 2015 Sweden has had a great influx of refugees, mainly from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan. More than 250,000 men, women and children have arrived in Sweden in recent months. Sweden, a nation of nine million inhabitants, has been caught unprepared. Sweden and Germany are the two countries in Europe that have received the largest number of refugees. Södertälje, a small town south of Stockholm, has received more refugees from Iraq than all of the United States. The comparison between Europe and the U.S. in receiving refugees is stunning. The U.S. has received a total of 2,000 refugees from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Europe has received around two million people from these countries during the last six months!

Nagging Tensions Around Development and Proselytizing

Last March the Religious Freedom Project at the Berkley Center for Religion, Development, and World Affairs published a series of short papers about proselytism in their publication Cornerstone. Each author was invited to respond to the following statement:

Religious Freedom Fights Poverty and Counters Extremism

Brian Grim, president of the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation (RFBF), argues that freedom of belief is one of three factors significantly associated with global economic growth, according to a study by researchers at Georgetown University and Brigham Young University.

What We Need to Know about Religious Freedom: An Overview

Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right shall include freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice.

What Losing Your Religious Freedom Actually Looks Like

A district court in Ethiopia has charged six members of an Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOC) with inciting public disturbance, destroying public trust in government officials and spreading hatred after it surfaced in the media that official complaints were made to the government about increasing persecution of Christians in a Muslim-dominated area in the south of the country.

The Jewish Command to Pursue Justice is the Jewish Obligation to Act on Climate Change

My Jewish values tell me that I must pursue justice, of course, but they also tell me so much more. In Deuteronomy 16:18 we read “Justice, justice, you shall pursue.” As a Jew, I am not only commanded to fight for justice, but for “justice, justice.” Jews are given a double commandment – an un-stuttering repetition in our text that tells us that justice alone is not enough.

Highway to Paris

As we move towards the 21st session of the Conference of Parties (COP 21) in Paris, there are still a few people living in denial about climate change. The good news is that increasing numbers of people are now acknowledging climate change. But the bad news is that this increase is proportional to the climate-change impacts we are facing, and nature will continue to act.

To Be Your Khalifa

They say many people have a calling in life. Well, I knew from a very young age that my calling was to protect the ocean.

GIWA – The Global Interfaith WASH Alliance

An ambitious Hindu inspired venture aspires to global impact through an interfaith alliance centered on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH).

Sacred Aid and Humanitarianism

The relationship between the religious and secular worlds is an enduring global mystery. Many of the most popular and powerful political movements in the world have religious agendas, use religious imagery, and call for reintroducing religious law into public life. Domestic tensions and conflicts that once seemed to have a primarily ethnic, national, or tribal character now begin to show the markings of religion. Religion is making itself felt in every dimension of a world once imagined as solidly secular.

Fragile States: Five Imperatives

Joel Hellmann argues persuasively that the challenges that fragile states present are absolutely central not only for those focused on international development and poverty but far beyond. They cut to the core issues for international relations, tightly linked to security, refugees and migration, and governance institutions, not to mention, inter alia, crime, humanitarian challenges, and the qualities of life that human rights are all about.

Dealing with Terror & Global Warming

The same week that Pope Francis and President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping visited the U.S., Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the Bay Area.

Talking about Disgraced

One of the great things about this play is it’s going to lead to fantastic post-theater discussions and arguments

There Are No Silver Bullets

There Are No Silver Bullets

by Annie Duflo

The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are upon us, the goals which the international community will agree on for helping the poor around the world. They follow the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)…

Am I My Brother’s Keeper?

“Am I my brother’s keeper?” was Cain’s reply when God asked him where his brother Abel was. (Genesis 4:9) It is the same question being asked of wealthy nations by asylum seekers and migrants as they clamour to come in.

Exploding the Myths

Exploding the Myths

by Victoria Furio

Using common sense to halt our perilous drift, Pope Francis snaps us back to our senses with a stunning reality check. His pointed comments in the encyclical Laudato Si': On Care for Our Common Home, pierce the bubbles of…

The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese: Its Past, Present, and Future

Religions for Peace USA regularly spotlights member communities to be featured in The Interfaith Observer. This month, Suzy Lamoreaux interviews Archimandrite Nathanael Symeonides of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, who represents the Archdiocese on RfPUSA’s Executive Council. The Archimandrite was appointed director of the Office of Inter-Orthodox, Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations in September 2013. Fr. Nathanael and his department work to spread interest in and knowledge of Church activities and teachings while “always respecting the sincerity of the religious convictions and spiritual sensitivities of others.”

Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights Keeps Leading

For a quarter century the grassroots interfaith movement has been best known for developing interfaith dialogue and new ‘bridge-building’ relationships. From the Parliament of the World’s Religions massive gatherings – to thousands of interfaith councils globally – to the 700 United Religion Initiative Cooperation Circles in 85 countries, grassroots interfaith leadership has been finding its voice in multiple arenas. Not so much in the public eye are thousands of interfaith organizations less concerned about being known than with engendering collaborative social justice activities, starting with meeting the needs of the hungry and homeless. Today many ‘cause’ campaigns, like those addressing climate change, have taken an interfaith posture for practical, collaborative purposes. Others, though, like the Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights (ICIR), for years have used interfaith collaboration to fuel hands-on social justice ministry and activism. In a day when foundations are calling for ‘measurable results’ from their giving, and when ‘connect and collaborate’ are interfaith buzzwords, there is much to learn from groups like ICIR. Ed.