As a college student studying art history and Jewish literature, I am particularly interested in how language and art create the stories that we tell about culture, community, and faith. Words and images cannot exist in a vacuum; almost anything we create is influenced by where we are, who we are surrounded by, and what ideas we hold.
The Middle East & the West – Building Bridges through the Arts
“Art is the conversation … Art offers an opening for the heart ... Art is, at least, the knowledge of where we are standing … In this Wonderland … we are partners straddling the universe.’”
Faith-Related Crafts as a Precursor to the Arts
Artistic expression is a form of prayer. It can be offered in the form of dancing, playing an instrument, singing, whirling, or chanting. In our case, since we work with kids, it often appears as crafts. Caregivers around the world use crafts to teach children about their faith traditions and create perfect resources for interfaith education. (At the end of this article you’ll find links to some of these sites.) Beyond that, these projects give kids the opportunity to discover the sacred, to offer a prayer without having to put it into words, and to co-create with the divine.
God Is Good, No Matter What You Call Her!
I was – we were (as several folks in the office crowded ‘round) – completely blown away.
By its power and dignity, its implicit compassion and yet unblinking eye. What a wonderful project.
– Ken Burns, Emmy Award winning documentary film-maker
When Poetry Brings Us Together
I’ve always been intrigued by the language of poets, how, through poetic expression, we can reach people from other faiths where prose falls short. So nearly two years ago I launched an interfaith project
A Sufi Parable in Fes
A band of birds of different species sets out on a perilous journey through the unknown, in search of their king. That is the story of The Conference of the Birds, the 12th century masterpiece of Persian poet Farid ud-Din Attar. Like Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, it offers an amalgam of myths
“To Be Still Enough” & “Where Music Comes From”
To Be Still Enough
Perched on the high Himalayan
slopes of cloud-shrouded Darjeeling,
this gracious old hotel, built
in 1887 as the summer residence
of the Maharaja of Cooch Behar,
Courage in the Face of Fear
It’s been over a month since the armed assault on the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris, and the tragedy has been on my mind every day since. There are many issues deserving reflection, from free speech versus hate speech, rising xenophobia and violent extremism, or even avoiding the conflation of all Muslims with the violently radical, yet tiny network of heretics. Yet, my mind has been preoccupied with a more overarching theme of the core mission of terrorism – terror itself. The goal is more than a body count; it’s the arousal of our most instinctual response in evolutionary psychology: fear, and where that fear will likely lead us.
Is a World Faith Worth Dreaming About?
“A gradual assimilation of religions will in time function as a world faith” was the prophecy that the Indian philosopher Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan made more than 80 years ago.
The Interfaith Movement’s Evolution and Future Challenges
Bud Heckman, a frequent TIO contributor, has worked with many leading interreligious organizations, foundations, academic institutions, and community-based organizations.
Egypt Sings to End Sexual Harassment!
London - Last August, two young Egyptian musicians released songs on the topic of sexual harassment against women, which has been on the rise since the 2011 uprising in Egypt. These musicians’ songs are two important examples of many similar, serious efforts by artists to help fight this problem.
Where the Divine and the World Swirl and Dance
When I was ten years old, a man who owned a small record label wanted to sign me after hearing me sing at a talent show where I went to school with his daughter. My Pentecostal Christian stepmother, bless her heart, was adamant that a gift like mine should only be “used for The Lord, not for the world.” My family moved shortly thereafter, alleviating me from facing the theological dilemma she’d imposed.
Finding Light in the Darkness
The best of music and theater transport us somewhere outside our own particular time and place, even beyond our own cultural and religious coordinates. By allowing us outside our own boundaries, they offer a chance for fresh insight and inspiration. Susan Stein’s one-woman play “Etty,” directed by Austin Pendleton, does just that. In this Amnesty International Award nominated play, actress Stein introduces us to a most remarkable and spiritually inquisitive young Dutch Jewish woman of the early 1940s. Drawn entirely from the dairies and letters of Etty Hillesum, we experience a remarkable kind of theater-as-time-travel.
Finding Funding for Your Interfaith Film
The art of compelling storytelling is the core focus of the Hartley Film Foundation’s mission. Storytelling in documentary film is the foundation’s tool for connecting audiences to new experiences and ideas about real people, places, and events. The foundation supports filmmakers proposing narratives about world religions and spirituality. Implicitly, a primary Hartley goal is to strengthen interfaith understanding through these films.
"Top 10 Things You Must Know About ..."
During the month of February, Religions for Peace USA (RfPUSA) is releasing a series of short educational videos inspired by World Interfaith Harmony Week (WIHW). The videos are viewable here.
In 2014, RfPUSA and the El-Hibri Foundation (EHF) co-sponsored a “Best of Interfaith Webinar Series” for WIHW, featuring leading experts in the field. A short summary video of the highlights from that series is available here and the whole series is viewable here.
Beyond the Doctrine of Discovery
The Doctrine of Discovery which emerged from the Papal Bulls of 1452-1493 may be the most destructive ‘doctrine’ ever promoted by a religious institution, though few know about it today. For much of the 15th century the pope was the most powerful man in Europe, and these papal documents “provided legal sanction and promoted Christian conquest, colonization, and exploitation of non-Christian territories and peoples the world over,” as a report in this issue of TIO puts it.
“Indigenous Knowledge” Helping Mend the Nature-Culture Divide
An extraordinary global solidarity movement is happening today, providing a place for all to contribute. The movement represents a confluence of the indigenous and environmental movements (the “red” and the “green”). Joining forces, they are addressing the dire ecological issues humanity faces – food and water scarcity, climate disruption, droughts and flooding, species extinction, increased toxicity and health problems, and social division, to name a few.
An Indigenous Call for Restoring the Sacred
The spiritual foundation of the reunion of the Condor and the Eagle is based in the understanding of the fundamental oneness and unity of all life. All members of the Human Family are part of the ancient Sacred Circle of Life. Since we are all part of the Sacred Circle of Life we are all Indigenous Peoples of our Mother Earth. This makes every Human Being responsible for the well-being of one another and for all living things upon Mother Earth.
Drop by Drop, until the Cup is Full
My friend Jeremy Sher is a brilliant up-and-coming leader of the Reform rabbinical movement. He is working to create a vision of Judaism that is both inclusive and yet deeply spiritually fulfilling, a Judaism which rejects gender discrimination and insularity while embracing and upholding the primacy of the holy texts in Jewish life. Jeremy lives in Jaffa, the mostly Arab city that abuts Tel Aviv, genially going about the daily business of preparing for ordination, learning Hebrew, and completing a research fellowship while saying “shukran” (“thank you”) to his Arab neighbors and “toda” (“thank you”) to his Jewish neighbors. Jeremy is what it looks like when you have a smart, compassionate, religiously Jewish man who rejects parochial attitudes in favor of an open-minded and open-hearted commitment to tikkun olam, healing the world. You could probably say he’s my religious role model.
Helping Kids Connect to the Earth
The best way to minister for the Earth is to help kids feel connected to the Earth. We have found the same thing to be true for adults. When you connect to the Earth, you connect with your ancestors. You connect with others and with the deepest part of yourself. You connect with all of life. That’s why we regularly celebrate the Pagan wheel of the year in our Sunday school program at Jubilee! Community Church in Asheville, North Carolina.