Is it ever too early to teach your children interfaith values?
The IEA – Peacemaking One Relationship at a Time
Twenty years ago I came across an interfaith dialogue group for Jewish students and Christian theology students. For me it was a brand new experience: never before had I had conversation with anyone except Jews, nor did I ever think about such a possibility.
Building a Groundswell, Lighting Up the Network
When a dozen twenty-somethings gathered in my tiny living room in the fall of 2010, vexed about the firestorm of protest against Park 51, an Islamic center planned in Manhattan known as “the Ground Zero Mosque,” we had no idea that we were planting the seed for a movement.
The Story Behind the Foundation for Religious Diplomacy
The Foundation for Religious Diplomacy is a nonprofit in Utah organized to promote and facilitate communication among people experiencing conflicts inspired by religious differences. It seeks to enroll and train religiously bi-lingual “interreligious diplomats” who can engage in deep dialogue encounters to decrease ill will and build trust, even in the midst of difficult conflicts. The Foundation has been particularly successful in providing ‘conservative’ communities from a variety of religions a safe multi-religious haven and platform to build enriching friendships through honest contestation and collaborative efforts. Ed.
40 Years of Interfaith Activism as Political Lobby
Disagreement seems to be the norm in politics these days. From what to do about the fiscal cliff and the right way to balance budgets to foreign policy decisions and health care, consensus is nowhere to be found. Compromise is a teeth-grinding, inch-by-inch process.
An Interfaith Advent
Advent.
ad·vent/’ad,vent/Noun:
1.The arrival of a notable person, thing, or event.
2.The first season of the church year, leading up to Christmas and including the four preceding Sundays.
The Spiritual Journey of a Climate Activist
For 44 years I have been a progressive activist and organizer, and for the last nine, a climate activist. Over these years I’ve always known that my upbringing in a family that took seriously the teachings and life example of Jesus of Nazareth had a lot to do with why I chose this course. Recently the importance of that spiritual grounding resurfaced as I’ve interacted regularly with people of various faiths within the Interfaith Moral Action on Climate (IMAC), a group I helped found about a year ago.
What You Should Know about "Spirituality & Practice"
The pilgrim typing “spirituality” into an internet browser these days will receive 225,000,000 hits in the flash of a second. Buyers beware. Virtual religion/spirituality is an unchartered territory where anyone with the inclination can put up a “shingle” on the web. Knowing whom to trust is a major consideration for the spiritual seeker who turns to the web for resources and support.
The Internet – A Spiritual Haven for Youth?
Nearly 20,000 spiritually minded readers this year engaged with youth-created content at KidSpirit, an ad-free online magazine and community for youth exploring life’s big questions. These readers come from India and Indonesia and Illinois and many places in between. Most read KidSpirit in English, though a few intrepid souls read it in Chinese, Filipino or Italian.
Education that Really Means Something
I decided to be a teacher when still in high school. One could do the most good for people, I felt, when they are still children. As my own education progressed, I grew to feel a profound dissatisfaction with the conventions and expectations around me. Why were so many people obsessed with “making it” in a world that is so flawed and crazy?
Creating the Order of Universal Interfaith
Since its inception, leaders in the interfaith movement have asserted that interfaith is about bridge-building, not creating a new tradition; and that we treasure our differences as well as the values we share. Not everyone agrees though, and there have always been minority opinions.
Evangelicals and Interreligious Dialogue: the Next Generation
It doesn’t take much time visiting websites, attending conferences, or reading books about interfaith dialogue to discover how few Protestant evangelicals are involved. A few can be found, to be sure, but not in large numbers.
Talking with Tomorrow’s Peacemakers
We live in a violent world filled with conflict, and we always have. But every member of every generation has a responsibility to our world, each in our own way, to lessen the unhappiness that reigns on this planet. Our generation, like the ones before it, will grow up and lead the world. It is essential that tomorrow’s leaders, trying to fix our world’s problems, are empathetic, understanding not only their own people’s suffering, but the suffering of those on the ‘other side’ as well.
Youth Redefining Interfaith Activism Globally
I’ve never found an easy way to explain how an evangelical Christian from rural America came to found an interfaith youth organization with chapters across the world. It began in the summer of 2006.
Unique Clergy Network Empowers Religion Sector
Here’s the challenge.
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Engage all of the 440 clergy serving a northern California region of just under a million people.
Temple of Understanding
The Temple of Understanding was founded in 1960 by a pioneering visionary, Juliet Hollister. With the help of Eleanor Roosevelt’s introductory letters, Juliet traveled the world to seek endorsement from heads of state and religious leaders. The TOU convened Spiritual Summits abroad (Calcutta 1968; Geneva 1970) of high level religious leaders and at prominent universities: Harvard (’71), Princeton, (’71), Cornell (’74). Mrs. Roosevelt encouraged the TOU to become accredited as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) with the United Nations.
World Congress of Faiths Celebrates Its 75th Anniversary
St Martin in the Fields in London’s Trafalgar Square was full on July 24th for a special evening service which marked the 75th anniversary of the founding of the World Congress of Faiths. The venue was particularly appropriate as the memorial service for Sir Francis Younghusband – the founder of WCF – which was held there in 1942, and included tributes from people of different faiths, in what The Church Times described as a ‘rather improper performance.’