The Parliament of the World’s Religions held last month in Salt Lake City, Utah, was among the most inspiring experiences of my life. From the first day forward I was in awe. Never had I seen so many people passionate about both interfaith and their own faith gathered in one place. The inherent sense of community present among this group of more than 10,000, most of them strangers to one another, was amazing. Over and over I fell into conversation with people I happened to be standing next to – conversations that could last for thirty minutes!
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.
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.
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).
Can Things Get Better for Us All?
by Paul Chaffee
Trying to understand the scope of the word ‘interfaith’ is a never-ending exercise these days. Religion itself, in a remarkable turn-around, is taking center stage in the mainline media day after day.
A Conversation in Bangladesh about Religion and Women’s Roles
Secular and religious perspectives on gender roles and the meaning of women’s rights vary in different societies and can be a focus of considerable tension. Development practitioners often argue that women’s equal rights, including girls’ access to education, employment, and health care, are so fundamental that they amount to a litmus test of serious commitment to social progress. But lingering doubts are often framed in religious arguments.
Dangers of Legitimizing Bigotry
The origin of the word bigot dates as far back as 1598 and had a sense of “religious hypocrite.” While the story may be fictional, Wikipedia says “the Normans were first called bigots, when their Duke Rollo, who when receiving Gisla, daughter of King Charles, in marriage, and with her the investiture of the dukedom, refused to kiss the king’s foot in token of subjection – unless the king would hold it out for that specific purpose.
Exploring Religion, Peace & World Affairs at Georgetown University
The attacks on September 11, 2001. Religious conflict in Northern Ireland. Protests over cartoons of the prophet Muhammad.
Religions for Peace USA at the Parliament
The Parliament of the World Religions gathers in Salt Lake City, Utah this October 15th-19th, and many of RfP USA’s religious communities will be presenting their work. Religions for Peace USA will be featured on two panels, we hope to see you there supporting our work. Don’t miss this chance to learn more and connect!
Sustainable Development Goals Engendering New Partnerships
In 2007, an Op Ed appeared in the International Herald Tribune, entitled “You gotta have faith at the UN.” A play on words, the article posited that the shifting sands of geopolitics and concerns surrounding available developmental resources, were demanding a rethink of multilateral institutions and traditional forms of global developmental partnerships.
Countering Islamophobia: A Jewish Testimony
In the summer of 2010, as the American midterm election season was heating up, one of the most controversial subjects of debate was the planned construction of an Islamic community center in lower Manhattan. Misleadingly dubbed the “Ground Zero Mosque,” it became the focus of an ugly campaign to impugn the motives of those behind the Park 51 project, especially Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf. Islamophobic hysteria, playing on the pain of 9/11, was generated by the project’s critics as part of a calculated strategy to scare voters into voting for right-wing candidates in the November elections. This political aim was confirmed when the propaganda campaign was abruptly terminated following Election Day.
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.
KAICIID Launches Peace Mapping Program
As world leaders prepared to adopt the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” at the United Nations on September 25-27, the Vienna-based International Dialogue Centre, known as KAICIID, launched the “Peace Map” in New York City: At the heart of its first phase, the Peace Map offers an interactive database of over 400 organizations that work to promote interreligious dialogue around the world.
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.
Spontaneous Interfaith Relationships
For decades interfaith activists have been searching for “flint” to create the positive sparks needed for interfaith engagement and collaboration. In the beginning we would look for potential partners from different religious communities, speak to them separately, and then invite them into a wider circle for dialogue. We would lay the ground work and then praise the merits of their coming together, encouraging people to find a common language, to become comfortable with one another, share information about their religious practices, and “bond.” We wanted to create a non-threatening environment which we hoped would ultimately lead to a relationship of trust and then inspire more opportunities to engage the larger community. Sometimes it would take months to create that first encounter. Sometimes that first encounter would backfire because the individuals weren’t quite ready to go beyond their comfort zone.
Nina Meyerhof – Planting the Seeds of Spiritual Activism
If there is to be a new leadership model for building a better global society
it must have spirituality as its base.
Cosmic Andogyny
The best known Androgyne figures in all of Africa were carved by the Dogon in Mali. This excellent example is filled with male/female symbolism.
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