by Betsy Woodman
The news, 24 hours a day of it, is by turns heart-rending, enraging, and depressing. School shootings. Climate crisis. Senseless war. Divisive politics. “When will they ever learn,” went the…
An Unlikely Turnaround
Thou Shalt Not Hate: The Role of Religious Actors in Addressing Hate Speech
by Emina Frljak
Many would say hate speech is just words…but words can hurt, and words can and do turn into action. From “harmless” hate speech, come hate crimes. There are sadly many examples of hate speech…
Donna Bollinger Tapped to Lead Religions for Peace-USA
by Paul Chaffee
She was raised in a home on a dirt road in rural western North Carolina, without indoor plumbing or a telephone. The family lived off the land and had never sent a child to high school before. Asked if there was some seminal moment, a particular experience as a youngster that influenced her for the rest her life, Donna Bollinger says “Yes!”
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.
How a Year with Trappist Monks Led Me to The Citizens’ Climate Lobby
I’m a Mennonite Christian with strong Unitarian Universalist leanings. I was raised Presbyterian and discovered Mennonites in an unusual setting, preparing the way for my involvement in interfaith environmental advocacy.
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.
Philadelphia’s Dare to Understand Campaign
Last September a group known as the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) asked to purchase advertising space on the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority (SEPTA) as part of a larger anti-Islam campaign that AFDI has pursued in transit systems in several major cities across the country. We recently wrote about responses to this in California through street and bus art. Although SEPTA declined to run the ads due to their inflammatory anti-Islamic content, a federal judge granted AFDI’s motion for a preliminary injunction. The ads ran for four weeks, beginning on April 1, 2015, on 84 SEPTA buses.
Earth - Faith - Peace: An Interreligious Youth Teach-in
Twenty young people of diverse faiths from across the world will converge at the Mariapolis Luminosa Conference Center in Hyde Park, New York on Thursday, July 23 to tackle climate change. Their desire to build a more peaceful planet through environmental activism unites youth who, on the surface, seem different: they are Christians, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, and Zoroastrians from America, India, and Cuba. The group’s diversity underscores a growing consciousness of the widespread and devastating effects of climate change. Indeed, every living being on Earth has been or will soon be affected by this issue.
Nicholas Hayes – What Defines a Millennial Interfaith Leader
Michael Hayes of Criterian Institute is the second young leader interviewed in this three-part series with Millennial leaders in the interfaith movement. To see the first, with Jen Bailey of Faith Matters Network, click here.
Collective Impact and Islamophobia
I was first introduced to Middle Tennessee two years ago when I attended a community meeting addressing hate crimes against Muslims. What was planned to be a small group of concerned citizens turned out to be a behemoth of a gathering: more than 1,000 protestors arrived from neighboring states and beyond, led by Islamophobe Pamela Geller and her Act! for America.
The Joys of Interfaith in Hard Times
As we take stock of 2014, it can be difficult locating the joys of interfaith peacebuilding. The state of interreligious relations and social justice work in the U.S. is at a crucial turning point. It seems that our social fabric is increasingly being cut away by decaying trust in democratic social and civic institutions. It is up to leaders of faith and good will to take the helm, proclaim a way forward together and provide for alternative visions of life together in the U.S.
