Interfaith Society

Working together for social justice and decent work

2012-01-23T23:34:00.001-08:00

World Council of Churches - News

WORKING TOGETHER FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE AND DECENT WORK

For immediate release: 23 January 2012

The dignity of work and workers is a common value among the faith
traditions. It is also the focus of a policy handbook titled Convergences:
Decent Work and Social Justice in Religious Traditions, for which the World
Council of Churches (WCC) has collaborated with the International Labour
Organization (ILO).

In the handbook, the WCC and ILO encourage policy-makers to work with faith
communities for social protection and security for all, especially in the
area of labour. Other partners in the project include the Pontifical Council
for Justice and Peace (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=2c472255dbdef82d7bc6 ) and the
Islamic Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=29bae6043e11336ecf89 ).

The publication explores the concepts of solidarity and security expressed
in the ILO's Decent Work Agenda (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=b2558b43324f03705d84
) (DWA), acknowledging the specific contributions and commitments of
religious traditions for social justice, dignity in work and economic
rights.

"When Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the WCC, and I met in 2010, we
both felt that our organizations should engage in a common journey based on
the conviction and knowledge that peace, social justice and the world of
work were intertwined," says Juan Somavia, the ILO's director general, in
the book's foreword.

"This handbook is the very outcome of that encounter," he added.

The handbook explains the commitments of various religious traditions,
including Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam, Judaism and Buddhism, showing
that spiritual values are essential in the quest for a fair globalization
and wherever the subject of work is considered.

Inspired by the common religious concern for social justice, Somavia writes,
"Human dignity, solidarity and above all the connection between work, social
justice and peace put us on common ground."

"This handbook is a first step. I see much scope for future collaboration to
expedite the dawn of a new era of social justice drawing on our shared
values," states Somavia.

Tveit endorses Samavia's views, saying, "As Christians, we believe that work
is given to us as a way to steward our talents and time for the common good.
In a time when so many do not have work, we need to re-emphacize how work
also contributes to justice and peace."

Through this collaboration, the WCC encourages churches to articulate the
value of fairness regarding labour conditions and the market. This approach
has been part of the WCC Alternative Globalization Addressing People and
Earth (Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=6277010048e62508a195 )
(AGAPE) process, and was addressed in 2006 during the WCC 9th Assembly in
Brazil.

The handbook also sheds light on the longstanding WCC engagement with the
ILO in inter-religious dialogue initiatives. This manifests the potential of
dialogue in bringing diverse faith traditions together to work for common
concerns for decent work and social justice.

The handbook is available in English, Arabic, French and Spanish.

Download the handbook Convergences: Decent Work and Social Justice in
Religious Traditions (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=4c9125a4537d365b997f )

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and
service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches
founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant, Orthodox,
Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million Christians in
over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church.
The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, from the [Lutheran]
Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.

Photographic exhibition celebrates Germany's religious diversity

2012-01-18T19:56:00.001-08:00

Ecumenical News International News Highlights
18 January 2012

Photographic exhibition celebrates Germany's religious diversity

Nuremburg, Germany (ENInews)--A photography exhibition taking place
this month at a historic monastery near the German city of Nuremburg
takes
visitors on a journey through the intimate spaces where the country's
many faiths are practiced. Regina Maria Suchy, the photographer
responsible for
the images, collaborated with Franciscan priest Cornelius Bohl, who
provided explanatory texts. "The need for religious practice seemed to
us, despite
the differences between religions, to be something unifying," Suchy
said in an interview. [487 words, ENI-12-0027]

+ + +

Here is the photographer's website (German) and slide show of 40 images:
http://www.reginasuchy.de/galerien/religion.html

Capitol Celebration - December 2011

2012-01-17T01:14:00.000-08:00

14TH ANNUAL INTERFAITH AWARENESS WEEK

WISCONSIN CAPITOL CELEBRATION, DECEMBER 7, 2011

Rev. Selena Fox gave the keynote address

Rev. Ann Wynne and Rev. Fr. John-Brian Paprock were coordinators. Women With Wings led songs of peace.

Then, there were Dances of Peace in the Wisconsin Capitol!

Haifa's Holiday of Holidays festival embraces differences

2011-12-26T17:56:00.001-08:00

Ecumenical News International News Highlights
22 December 2011

Haifa's Holiday of Holidays festival embraces differences

Haifa, Israel (ENInews)--Both Christmas lights and Hanukkah dreidels
(spinning tops) are appearing as decorations as the northern Israeli port
city of Haifa throws a multi-faith party on December weekends. Now in its
18th year, the Holiday of Holidays -- which also includes the
recently-celebrated Muslim Eid al-Adha -- is meant "to share the
differences and honor them," said Assaf Ron, director of the Beit Hageffen
Jewish-Arab Center which organizes the festival along with the Haifa
municipality. "We want to show Jews, Christians, and Muslims that we can
celebrate our holidays together, we can be together in a big open venue, mix
together, and not feel strange or fearful," Ron said. [371 words,
ENI-11-0710

Today, the Magi would have a tough time finding frankincense

(ENInews)--The world may still have gold and myrrh, but it's quite possible
that frankincense could become a thing of the past, given ecological
pressures on the arid lands where it grows in Ethiopia. The storied resin --
known to millions as one of the three gifts of the Magi, the wise men who
visited Jesus after his birth -- is made from gum produced by the boswellia
papyrifera tree. It is used as incense in religious rituals in many
cultures, as well as an ingredient in perfume and Chinese traditional
medicine, reports USA Today via Religion News Service. Dutch and Ethiopian
researchers studying populations of the scraggly, scrublike trees in
northern Ethiopia found that as many as 7 percent of the trees are dying
each year, and seedlings are not surviving into saplings. [731 words,
ENI-11-0711]

ENI Online - www.eni.ch
Ecumenical News International
PO Box 2100
CH - 1211 Geneva 2
Switzerland
Tel: (41-22) 791 6088 - 6111
Fax: (41-22) 788 7244
Email: eni@eni.ch

Christian population tops 2.18 billion worldwide, Pew study finds

2011-12-20T09:32:00.001-08:00

Christian population tops 2.18 billion worldwide, Pew study finds
by jeff kunerth on December, 19 2011

The Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life released a new
comprehensive demographic report
<http://www.pewforum.org/Christian/Global-Christianity-worlds-christian-popu
lation.aspx> Monday on the size and distribution of the world's Christian
population. The study finds that there are 2.18 billion Christians of all
ages in more than 200 countries around the world, representing nearly a
third of the estimated 6.9 billion 2010 global population. Christians are so
geographically widespread that no single continent or region can
indisputably claim to be the center of global Christianity.

http://www.pewforum.org/Christian/Global-Christianity-worlds-christian-popul
ation.aspx

In 1910, two-thirds of the world's Christians lived in Europe (according to
historical data from the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at
Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts). Today, the Pew study
finds, only about a quarter of all Christians (26%) live in Europe (26%).

More than a third (37%) now reside in the Americas. About one in every four
Christians (24%) lives in sub-Saharan Africa and about one-in-eight (13%) is
found in Asia and the Pacific.

In the past 100 years, the number of Christians around the world has more
than tripled from historical estimates of about 600 million in 1910 to more
than two billion today. But the world's overall population has also risen
rapidly, from an estimated 1.8 billion in 1910 to 6.9 billion in 2010. As a
result, Christians make up about the same portion of the world's population
in 2010 (32%) as they did a century ago (35%).

This apparent stability, however, masks a momentous shift. Although Europe
and the Americas still are home to a majority of the world's Christians
(63%), that share is much lower than it was in 1910 (93%). The proportion of
Europe's population that is Christian dropped from 95% in 1910 to 76% in
2010, while the proportion of the overall population in the Americas (North
America, Latin America and the Caribbean, combined) that is Christian fell
from 96% to 86%.

Over the same period, however, Christianity grew enormously in sub-Saharan
Africa and significantly in the Asia-Pacific region, where there were
relatively few Christians at the beginning of the 20th century. The share of
the population that is Christian in sub-Saharan Africa climbed from 9% in
1910 to 63% in 2010, while in the Asia-Pacific region it rose from 3% to 7%.

Additional findings of the Global Christianity: A Report on the Size and
Distribution of the World's Christian Population include:

Christians are diverse theologically as well as geographically. About half
are Catholic. Protestants, broadly defined, make up 37%. Orthodox Christians
comprise 12% of Christians worldwide. Other Christians, such as Mormons and
Jehovah's Witnesses, make up the remaining 1% of the global Christian
population.

Taken as a whole Christians are by far the world's largest religious group.
Muslims, the second-largest group, make up a little less than a quarter of
the world's population according to previous studies by the Pew Forum.

Almost half (48%) of all Christians live in the 10 countries with the
largest number of Christians. Three of the top 10 are in the Americas (the
United States, Brazil and Mexico). Two are in Europe (Russia and Germany);
two are in the Asia-Pacific region (the Philippines and China); and three
are in sub-Saharan Africa (Nigeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo and
Ethiopia), reflecting Christianity's global reach.

Although Christianity began in the Middle East-North Africa, that region
today has both the lowest concentration of Christians (about 4%) and the
smallest number of Christians (about 13 million) of any major geographic
region.

Although Christians comprise just under a third of the world's people, they
form a majority of the population in 158 countries and territories, about
two-thirds of all the countries and territories in the world.

Nigeria now has more than twice as many Protestants (broadly defined to
include Anglicans and independent churches) as Germany, the birthplace of
the Protestant Reformation.

About 90% of Christians live in countries where Christians are in the
majority; only about 10% of Christians worldwide live as minorities.

The full report, which includes a companion quiz -
http://features.pewforum.org/global-christianity/quiz.php interactive maps
and sortable data tables, is available on the Pew Forum's website
http://pewforum.org

American city will see 'multi-faith neighborhood'

2011-12-14T19:30:00.001-08:00

American city will see 'multi-faith neighborhood'
Ecumenical News International News Highlights
14 December 2011

Omaha, Nebraska (ENInews)--Omaha, Nebraska may not be the place that
some imagine as fertile ground for the prospect of the three Abrahamic
faiths
finding common ground but, the vision of such peaceful co-existence
has taken a major step towards becoming reality. The Tri-Faith
Initiative of
Omaha announced on 13 December that it has completed the purchase of
four adjacent parcels of land, amounting to about 35 acres, on a
former golf
course in the heart of Omaha, Episcopal News Service reports. The
course is being turned into Sterling Ridge, a development that will
also include
single-family homes, an assisted-living facility, office and retail
space and a hotel. [712 words, ENI-11-0691]

ENI Online - www.eni.ch

First Hindu chaplain in US military is 'groundbreaking'

2011-12-13T08:08:00.001-08:00

First Hindu chaplain in US military is 'groundbreaking'
11 December 2011
Last updated at 19:52 ET
BBC News

[video available at BBC.CO.UK]
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16099481

Returning service members from Iraq and Afghanistan often struggle with
readjusting to civilian life, health issues, and guilt.

Until recently, the 1,000 or so Hindus serving in the US military - and
their families - lacked a military confidant who understood their religion
and culture.

But now Captain Pratima Dharm has been appointed as the US military's first
Hindu chaplain.
She says her position is significant not just to her military congregation,
but also to the religion's one billion global followers.

Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger, Cyprus archbishop pledge to deepen ties

2011-12-10T09:15:00.000-08:00

http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishFeatures/Article.aspx?id=248602

December 10, 2011 Saturday 14 Kislev 5772 8:15 IST

Metzger, Cyprus archbishop pledge to deepen ties
By JEREMY SHARON
08/12/2011

Joint declaration affirms illegitimacy of doctrine of collective Jewish
guilt for death of Jesus, highlights commitment to good relations.

Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger signed a historic declaration on Tuesday in
Nicosia, Cyprus, with Archbishop Chrysostomos, primate of the Church of
Cyprus, in which the two men promised to deepen relations between the Church
and the Jewish people.

The declaration affirms the illegitimacy of the doctrine of collective
Jewish guilt for the deicide of Jesus.

This is the first time an Orthodox church has explicitly repudiated this
doctrine, which was one of the most important factors in the development of
religious anti-Semitism in Europe.

"We, the chief rabbi of Israel, Yona Metzger, and the Archbishop of Cyprus
Chrysostomos, give thanks to God for the blessed increase of this mutual
respect and affirm our commitment to advancing excellent relations between
Cyprus and Israel," the declaration says.

The Orthodox Church of Cyprus is one of the 14 autocephalous, or
independent, churches of the Eastern Orthodox Communion.

Adherents of the Orthodox churches number some 300 million people, 700,000
of whom belong to the Church of Cyprus.

The declaration explicitly states, however, that the Church of Cyprus was
never party to accusations of collective guilt or to the "systematic
negation" of Jewry.

"We accordingly affirm the repudiation of such prejudice as incompatible
with the teaching of the Holy Scriptures," reads the declaration.

The Roman Catholic Church repudiated the notion of the collective guilt of
the Jewish people for Jesus's death in 1965 with the promulgation of the
Nostra Aetate, passed by the Second Vatican Council, which states that
although some Jewish authorities called for Jesus's death, blame cannot be
apportioned to all Jews from that time, nor can Jews today be held
accountable.

The other major provision of Tuesday's pronouncement declares that
proselytizing among the respective communities "undermines the religious
identity of the other" and is "incompatible with mutual respect."

"We have signed today a historic declaration about the Jewish relationship
with the Orthodox Church," Metzger told The Jerusalem Post.

"Until now, the Orthodox churches have been reluctant to take this kind of
step, but the Church of Cyprus has taken on this responsibility with today's
brave declaration.

"We hope that now, step by step, we will be able to enter into similar
relationships with the other major Orthodox churches, such as the Greek and
the Russian churches," he said.

Metzger emphasized the political importance of the declaration, pointing to
the strong influence of the churches in Cyprus and the other countries with
predominantly Christian Orthodox populations.

"Many people in these countries look to the approach of their religious
leaders for guidance and take their political views from the stance of the
Church," Metzger said.

"This kind of declaration gives legitimacy to the State of Israel in the
eyes of these people and has a significant political impact."

Metzger also referred to the strengthening of ties between Cyprus and Israel
following the decline in Israel-Turkey relations in recent years.

"People in Cyprus feel much stronger because they are closer to Israel," he
said.

"You cannot walk around this country without meeting citizens who will talk
of the pain they feel that Turkey stole half their island and occupied it."

With an eye on the recent diplomatic strife with Turkey as well as general
conflict with other parts of the Islamic world, Metzger called the
rapprochement between Judaism and the Orthodox Church a "revolutionary"
change, years in the making, which is important in light of a new common
"enemy."

The declaration also affirmed the teachings of both Judaism and Christianity
regarding the sanctity of life and stated that "accordingly, we condemn all
acts that desecrate this sanctity, in particular violence and terror against
innocents and especially when this involves the abuse of the name of God and
religion."

Rabbi David Rosen, the international director of interreligious affairs for
the American Jewish Committee and honorary adviser to the Chief Rabbinate on
interfaith matters, welcomed the declaration, but said that it was only the
beginning of the process.

"It is significant in that the head of the Church of Cyprus is making this
declaration," he said. "But the main importance is the potential to expand
the content of this declaration to the greater part of the Orthodox world."

Video: Capitol Celebration - Dance of Peace

2011-12-08T02:21:00.001-08:00

Women With Wings concluded the annual noon celebration of Interfaith Awareness Week with one of the Dances of Universal Peace from the Sufi Order of the West.

This video capture at the Wisconisn Capitol on December 7, 2011 by Rev. John-Brian Paprock.

to podcast or download, click on link below
http://frjohnbrian.hipcast.com/rss/interfaithsociety.xml

Audio: Interfaith Encounters For A Better World

2011-12-08T01:32:00.001-08:00

At the Wisconsin State Capitol, Reverend Selena Fox, local and international speaker and organizer, was the the keynote speaker at the Capitol Celebration noon program of Interfaith Awareness Week on Wednesday, December 7, 2011.

For more details: http://interfaithsociety.blogspot.com/2011/11/interfaith-awareness-week-2011-details.html

The title of Rev. Fox's address was "Interfaith Encounters For A Better World."

Rev. Anne Wynne, co-coordinator of the 14th Annual Interfaith Awareness Week, made the introduction.

for podcast and download:
http://frjohnbrian.hipcast.com/rss/interfaithsociety.xml
Listen online here:

WCC NEWS: Equal rights for all the measure of religious freedom

2011-12-06T04:15:00.001-08:00

World Council of Churches - News

EQUAL RIGHTS FOR ALL THE MEASURE FOR ASSESSING FREEDOM OF RELIGION
For immediate release: 06 December 2011

An international study process developed by the World Council of Churches (WCC) is preparing a report on freedom of religion as a fundamental human right for all.

The fundamental rights of freedom of religion or belief are often violated by both governments and individuals, acting either on their own behalf or as members of majority groups. Despite significant initiatives taken by states and the international community, religious minorities in several parts of world are becoming the targets of discrimination, acts of violence or hostility and persecution because of their religion.

The extent to which freedom of religion or belief can be considered as an absolute right in pluralistic societies, as well as its relation to various aspects of human rights, was the centre of discussion among experts who participated at an international consultation organized by the WCC's Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA).

Equal rights of all individuals in any society should be the broader parameter which should be seen beyond legal measures when addressing the issue of the Freedom of Religion and belief in today's global context: This was the principle emphasized by thirty experts from 23 countries in Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe and the Middle East.

The consultation was held in Istanbul, Turkey from 28 November to 2 December and hosted by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

Metropolitan Gennadios of Sassima, vice-moderator of WCC Central Committee, opening the international consultation, stated that "the role of all religions and their adherents must take special interest in protecting the rights of all individuals irrespective of their religious affiliations. Protecting the rights of believers of all religions must be important in fostering peace with justice and equality."

Ambassador Theodoros J. Theodorou of Greece said in his keynote presentation that "Nations must take seriously the provisions of international human rights treaties by integrating them into their own legal systems. More systematic efforts need to be made so that governments around the world enact the meaningful legislation designated to curb religious persecutions."

Religious freedom a historic focus of WCC

The history of the WCC's contributions in addressing concerns related to freedom of religion and human rights was recalled by CCIA director Dr. Mathews George Chunakara.

He pointed out that the CCIA, which was formed in 1946 jointly by the International Missionary Council and the structure preparing the foundation of the WCC, undertook as one of its first tasks to press for international standards on religious freedom. WCC's contribution to drafting article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) has been widely recognized.

"All countries and their governments which ratified various human rights declarations or conventions and covenants, including the 1981 UN Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief (Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=235bdda6280d29140522 ), are obliged to uphold the human rights of all citizens. But in reality this is not being observed and more and more people are facing serious threats to their right to freedom of religion and the right to exist as religious minorities," said Mathews George.

A report on religious freedom will be presented to the next CCIA meeting which is to be held in the People's Republic of China in June 2012. Christina Papazoglou, WCC programme executive for human rights, said that the "study consultation has analyzed reports from 27 countries in five regions, and several examples of violations have been highlighted from various countries as well as positive responses showing ways to protect freedom of religion."

"In moving forward," Papazoglou added, "the participants in the consultation have encouraged the full participation of church leaders in public life and the involvement of political, religious and social institutions in upholding the right of religious freedom. Furthermore, they emphasized the need for strengthening the existing protection mechanisms and devising effective safeguards against violations of national and international law relating to religious freedom."

The study process on Freedom of Religion and Rights of Religious Minorities was initiated by the CCIA in its 50th meeting held in Albania in 2010, and a special working group has been formed by the CCIA to evaluate the study. More information on the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=d9d0d1fe278d743f97bc ) Read also: Ecumenical Patriarch highlights freedom of religion and minority rights (Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=a1ff5eda0facb78d8f94 ) (WCC press release of 1 December 2011)

Middleton Public Library Interfaith Display

2011-12-05T03:14:00.000-08:00

This is the display case at Middleton Public Library during the installation for Interfaith Awareness. The display will be up all December 2011. Middleton Library: 7425 Hubbard Avenue Middleton, WI

(608) 831-5564 www.midlibrary.org/

The Middleton Mayor signed the proclamation for Interfaith Awareness Week for the sixth year in a row. The Middleton Public Library once again hosts a display for the month of December.

The proclamation is on display along with various symbols and quotes from the variety of faith traditions in the Middleton Area.

Alice Pauser installing this year's display at the Middleton Public Library main display case on December 1, 2011.

WEDNESDAY - Interfaith Awareness Week events

2011-12-05T02:48:00.000-08:00

Wednesday 12/7/11

CAPITOL EVENT - 12 NOON

IN THE WISCONSIN CAPITOL ROTUNDA

Rev. Selena Fox will be the keynote speaker at the annual Capitol Celebration of Interfaith Awareness week.

For more details, see posting below
http://interfaithsociety.blogspot.com/2011/11/interfaith-awareness-week-2011-details.html

In Addition:
2011 COMMUNITY OPEN HOUSES

The Madison Eckankar Community (Community HU Prayer Song by people of all spiritual paths and religions)

7pm at the Gates of Heaven, 302 E. Gorham St in James Madison Park

Followed by fellowship and refreshments.

SATURDAY - Interfaith Awareness Week Events

2011-12-05T02:43:00.000-08:00

Saturday 12/10/11

Circle Sanctuary Interfaith Open House
2 - 5 pm 5354 Meadowvale Road, Barneveld, WI 53507

3 pm talk by Selena Fox on Winter Solstice customs & traditions.

Free, open to the public, warm cider & other refreshments.

For more info, call (608) 924-2216 or mailto:events@circlesanctuary.org

FRIDAY - Interfaith Awareness Week events

2011-12-05T02:39:00.000-08:00

Friday 12/9/11

Unitarian Universalism & Humanist Union
5 pm, Prairie UU Society, 2010 Whenona Way, Madison, WI

Short presentation, tours and light refreshments.

THURSDAY - Interfaith Awareness Week events

2011-12-05T02:31:00.000-08:00

2011 COMMUNITY OPEN HOUSES
Interfaith Awareness Week - December 4th- 10th

These are special events of faith and interfaith communities during Interfaith Awareness Week. They are open and free to everyone. These are presented in addition to the annual Capitol Celebration (12-7-11) and displays in the Capitol Rotunda (Monday thru Friday)

Thursday 12/8/11

An Interfaith Potluck Evening Meal and Mingling
History of the Madinah Islamic Academy (short program)
Gather at 6 pm; eat at 6:30 pm, Westminster Presbyterian Church 4100 Nakoma Road , Madison, WI
Fellowship Hall which is w/c accessible via the Yuma Street entrance and elevator

Interfaith Awareness Week - Gubernatorial Proclamation

2011-12-05T02:10:00.000-08:00

2011 is the 14th consecutive year that the governor of Wisconsin has proclaimed "Interfaith Awareness Week."

This is the fourth governor to proclaim the week of December 10th as "Interfaith Awareness Week" since 1998.

This is the oldest and longest running state proclamation of a week designated for community awareness of the diversity of faith traditions in contemporary society.

TUESDAY - Interfaith Awareness Week Events

2011-12-03T06:23:00.000-08:00

2011 COMMUNITY OPEN HOUSES
Interfaith Awareness Week - December 4th- 10th

These are special events of faith and interfaith communities during Interfaith Awareness Week. They are open and free to everyone. These are presented in addition to the annual Capitol Celebration (12-7-11) and displays in the Capitol Rotunda (Monday thru Friday)

Tuesday 12/6/11

Sixth Annual Good Neighbor Interfaith Celebration/Gathering
6:30 pm at the Middleton Public Library~ Archer Room 7425 Hubbard Ave, Middleton
Join an open dialogue and panel with a multi-faith panel “Light for Dark Times” For more info: inroads@minister.com, 242-4244

MONDAY - Interfaith Awareness Week Events

2011-12-03T06:22:00.000-08:00

Monday 12/5/11

Madison Baha'i Center Open House
6:30 - 9:00 pm, Baha’i Center 324 W. Lakeside St. Madison, WI

Brief presentation on the Bahai Faith at 7:00
Informal tours of the Center - Refreshments & socializing

SUNDAY - Interfaith Awareness Week Events

2011-12-03T06:21:00.000-08:00

Holy Transfiguration Orthodox Chapel
9:30 am 621 N. Sherman Avenue, Suite B3, Madison, WI
Syrian Orthodox Liturgy of St James entirely in English, followed by fellowship
transfiguration@usa.com 242-4244 (voicemail) http://www.maruroopa.blogspot.com/

Madison Eckankar Community (Ancient Wisdom for Today)
10:30 am. Wil-Mar Neighborhood Center, 953 Jenifer Street, Madison WI
Eck Worship Service followed by pot luck and fellowship.

American Hindu Association
11 am Hindu Temple and Cultural Center of Wisconsin, 2138 S Fish Hatchery Rd, Fitchburg, WI 53575

Worship Service followed by fellowship.

In Milwaukee Area:

http://www.hafsite.org/media/pr/first-milwaukee-awareness-fundraising-event

You're Invited To HAF's First Milwaukee Awareness & Fundraising Event

Join the Hindu American Foundation at its first ever event in Milwaukee, WI. Learn more about the Foundation and its advocacy efforts, meet its staff, and see how you can help build a professional and credible Hindu American voice!

Date: Sunday, December 4, 2011
Time: 12:30 - 2:30pm
Location: Hindu Temple of Wisconsin, N4063 W243 Pewaukee Road, Pewaukee, WI 53072
RSVP: office@hafsite.org or 202-223-8222

Keynote Speakers:
Sheetal Shah, Senior Director based in New York City, holds a Masters degree from the London School of Economics. She focuses on communicating with and expanding HAF’s membership base, fundraising and finances, and building and promoting the HAF brand through various means including the Foundation’s website. A former member of the Foundation’s Executive Council, Ms. Shah is well-experienced in HAF’s human rights campaign and various community outreach efforts. Ms. Shah is also actively involved with the MATCH charter school in Boston, MA.

Suhag Shukla, Esq., is a Co-Founder of HAF as well as its Managing Director and Legal Counsel. As Managing Director, Ms. Shukla builds strategic inter and intrafaith relations. As Legal Counsel, Ms. Shukla provides analysis on key issues including the separation of church and state, equal protection, religious discrimination and immigration reform. She also focuses on improving the public portrayal of Hinduism and its presentation in public school textbooks. Ms. Shukla is actively involved with Chinmaya Mission and serves on the Board of the Nirvana Center, a Bhutanese resettlement center, as well as the YWCA of Minneapolis. She also serves on religious advisory committees for the Guibord Center - Religion Inside Out and the Council on Foreign Relations.

All are welcome to join. Attendance is free!

Faith Awareness Opportunities

2011-12-03T06:18:00.000-08:00

OTHER OPPORTUNITIES
“To learn more about each others' beliefs in the spirit of community”
~ DECEMBER 2011~

December includes holy days for many area religious traditions.

The main holy days in December 2011 are:

o ADVENT (preparation for the Birth of Jesus Christ) continues through December 25 in most churches (for a small number, it will continue through January 6)

o ST. NICHOLAS DAY is December 6th in Eastern Orthodox Christian tradition. This is the saint that Santa Claus is based.

o MUHARRAM (Muslim) beginning November 26 is the beginning of the Muslim year and celebration of the first Islamic community at Medina.

o ASHURA is a Shi’ite holy time for the first ten days of Muharram, with a festival December 5.

o HANUKKAH (Jewish) beginning December 20 ~ A menorah is lit each evening for a week.

o WINTER SOLSTICE is sacred to several traditions including Shinto, Wicca and Native American.

o CHRISTMAS (December 25) marks the birth or NATIVITY of Jesus Christ. Some Orthodox Christians will celebrate this festival on January 7th. Armenians, on January 6th.

o Traditional “Winter” holy days for Hindu, Baha’i, and Sikh fall in November this year. In addition, HAJJ & EID AL-ADHA (for Muslims) fell on November 5 & 6 ~ these are the days of pilgrimage. The Eid (festival) observed even when not on pilgrimage.

In addition to the Interfaith Awareness Week events, here are more opportunities:

SUNDAY
Christian Churches have regular Sunday morning services – check the Worship Directory in most local newspapers. Many other religious groups meet for weekly gatherings on Sundays out of convenience, including Buddhist, Sikh and others.

FRIDAY
Muslims Gather for mid-day Community Prayers at Madison Area Mosques and Campus locations

SATURDAY
Jewish Services begin Friday at Sunset, usually at home, and then gather Saturday at Madison Area Synagogues and Campus locations

Looking forward
THE 15th ANNUAL INTERFAITH AWARENESS WEEK
~ DECEMBER 9-15, 2012 ~
11TH ANNUAL CAPITOL CELEBRATION ~ MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012
“encouraging citizens to learn more about each others' beliefs in the spirit of community.”

Madison Times Article: Interfaith encounters for a better world

2011-12-01T16:01:00.000-08:00

http://www.themadisontimes.com/news_details.php?news_id=1577

"Interfaith encounters for a better world"

by A. David Dahmer

November 30, 2011

[picture of selena fox] Rev. Selena Fox will be the keynote speaker at Interfaith Awareness Week

Rev. Jon-Brian Paprock feels that the only way to have real peace is to understand our differences.

Muslim, Judaism, Sikhism, Zoroastrianism, Bahai, Pagan, Buddhism, Christianity … People of different religions and faith traditions will again gather at the capitol on Wednesday, Dec. 7 as part of Interfaith Awareness Week. Reverend Selena Fox, local and international speaker and organizer, will be the keynote speaker at the noon program. Then title of her address will be "Interfaith Encounters For A Better World."

“Interfaith Awareness Week is an opportunity for people in the Madison area and throughout the state to learn about people of different faiths and to learn a little about themselves so we can be a better community,” says Interfaith Awareness Week organizer Jon-Brian Paprock. “It's about moving away from misunderstanding and intolerance but it's more than that... it's about developing community and understanding that people are born different, they believe differently, and they act differently but that doesn't make them somebody to be avoided or to be scared of.”

This is the 14th Annual Interfaith Awareness Week proclaimed by the Wisconsin governor and other leaders. There will be displays of world religions and interfaith groups in the capitol rotunda from Monday, Dec. 5 through Friday, Dec. 9.

“Fourteen years ago [former Gov.] Tommy Thompson signed the first proclamation of Interfaith Awareness week in the state,” Paprock remembers. “Wisconsin was the first state ever to have a proclamation made. This was even before [former President] Bill Clinton signed an Interfaith document. Wisconsin was a pioneer in this idea of interfaith awareness as being important to our community.”

On Tuesday Dec. 6, there will be an interfaith dialogue event in Middleton. In the evening (6:30pm), the 6th Annual Good Neighbor Interfaith Gathering will meet at the Middleton Library to discuss "Light For Dark Times."

The Capitol Celebration on Wednesday Dec. 7, in addition to Rev. Fox's address, will have the also have the Interfaith Awareness Week proclamation read aloud by senior student of Sauk Prairie High School. “They will bring the entire class down and we let one of the kids read the proclamation,” Paprock says. “This year we've gone with an all-woman theme.

The event will include music from Women With Wings and an opening prayer from Muslim women's leader, Rohany Nayan. Interfaith Awareness Week co-coordinators, Rev Anne Wynne and Rev Paprock, will be making introductions and welcoming remarks.

“There's no question that humanity has diversified and is diverse,” Paprock says. “Here we are in a culture that we are literally seconds from communicating around the world with Facebook, Tweeting, and Internet. We end up connecting with people all over the world — very diverse peoples. The capacity for us to know people who are different from ourselves is much greater than it ever was before, and yet when we come back to our community here in the Madison area and find that there is a lack of understanding of our neighbors and those people around us that we walk down the street with, walk in the mall with, or are competing with on Black Friday for electronic devices.”

Paprock is very excited about keynote speaker Rev. Selena Fox, who has been active internationally, nationally, regionally, and locally in interfaith work for more than 40 years. She is a speaker and organizer of a variety of regional and global interfaith events, including Thanksgiving Celebration, Madison-area Winter Solstice Pageant, Charter for Compassion, and Parliament of the World's Religions. She is a member of the monthly Madison Interfaith Dialogue Group and the current president of the Greater Madison Inter-religious Association.

“It's an amazing thing because never in my wildest dream did I imagine that I would be in a regular dialog with somebody who considers themselves to be a Pagan,” Paprock says. “And yet over the years she has proven a couple of key things: that Pagans are people who have a religious belief and should be treated as anyone else who has a religious belief, and that they can be very generous and helpful and kind to society and that there are real issues of prejudice and bias built into our society that doesn't allow as much freedom of expression as we thought.”

Rev. Fox is senior minister of Circle Sanctuary, a Wiccan church which has been serving Nature Religion practitioners worldwide since 1974. Active in diversity education and religious accommodation consulting, Rev. Fox works with chaplains and other staff at a variety of institutions, including hospitals, hospices, military installations, prisons, and university campuses. She has a master’s of science in counseling from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and does spiritual counseling as part of her work.
“Since the 70s, she's really done a great amount for society by bringing Pagan beliefs into dialog,” Paprock says. “ She's a pioneer in that field.”

There will be many open houses throughout Madison to showcase the many faiths. (see sidebar in Middleton Times paper or at www.interfaithsociety.blogspot.com ). Diverse faith groups will host these open houses, inviting people to learn about the diverse traditions in the Madison area.

“We use these Open Houses to show the diversity and all of the things that are going on,” Paprock says. “We're giving people more chances to learn things outside of our regular programs.”

Interfaith Awareness Week events are co-sponsored by Inroads Ministry and the Greater Madison Inter-religious Association as well as other Madison area interfaith, religious and faith groups.

“My personal reason for being involved is the Christian message of love of others regardless of whether they are my friend, a stranger, an enemy, or a neighborhood,” Paprock says. “The bottom line issue is that we have to live with one another on this planet at this time when so many dynamic things are happening and we have to find a way to live together in harmony and peace to the best of our ability.”

Ecumenical Patriarch highlights freedom of religion and minority rights

2011-12-01T13:39:00.001-08:00

World Council of Churches - News

ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH HIGHLIGHTS FREEDOM OF RELIGION AND MINORITY RIGHTS

For immediate release: 01 December 2011

In a presentation to a gathering of experts on religious freedom and
religious rights of minorities, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I said
there must be respect for the "inherent rights of all human beings and their
aspiration and rights of religious freedom should be important components to
sustain tolerance among all God's creation."

Bartholomew made his comments on 30 November at a consultation in Istanbul,
Turkey, called Freedom of Religion and Rights of Religious Minorities which
is sponsored by the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission of the
Churches on International Affairs and hosted by the Ecumenical Patriarch.

"We are called to promote dialogue among all communities and peoples to
create peace, harmony and tolerance in a world that is faced with violence,
conflicts and religious hatred" Bartholomew, who is widely recognized for
his role in promoting dialogue for peace and prophetic witness of religion
for reconciliation. "In order to avoid such situations of hatred and
intolerance, allowing individuals to believe, practice, and promote the
religion according to their belief and choice without any obstacles are part
of the rights of any individual."

The consultation features 30 experts on religious rights from 23 different
countries. Each are presenting case studies related to rights of religious
minorities and religious freedom. The consultation ends 2 December.

WCC advocacy for human rights (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=27f500025e65bc108fc0 )

Accompanying churches in situations of conflict (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=0c18762e15650f70064e )

Interfaith Awareness Week - 2011 details

2011-11-28T00:57:00.001-08:00

IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 23, 2011
Rev John-Brian Paprock
608-242-4244 Inroads Ministry
608-217-8144 cell
inroads@minister.com
interfaithsociety.blogspot.com

"INTERFAITH ENCOUNTERS FOR A BETTER WORLD"
INTERFAITH AWARENESS WEEK, December 4-10, 2011

People of different religions and faith traditions will again gather at the
capitol on Wednesday, December 7, 2011 as part of Interfaith Awareness Week.
Reverend Selena Fox, local and international speaker and organizer, will be
the keynote speaker at the noon program. Then title of her address is
"Interfaith Encounters For A Better World." (Rev. Fox Bio below)

This is the 14th Annual Interfaith Awareness Week proclaimed by Wisconsin
Governor and other leaders. There will be displays of world religions and
interfaith groups in the capitol rotunda from Monday December 5 through
Friday December 9.

Throughout the week, diverse faith groups hold open house, inviting people
to learn about the diverse traditions in the Madison area. (The list is
below)

On Tuesday December 6, 2011, there is an interfaith dialogue event in
Middleton. In the evening (6:30pm), the 6th Annual Good Neighbor Interfaith
Gathering will meet at the Middleton Library to discuss "Light For Dark
Times."

The Capitol Celebration on Wednesday December 7, 2011, in addition to Rev.
Fox's address, will have the also have the Interfaith Awareness Week
proclamation read aloud by senior student of Sauk Prairie High School, Sauk
City (determined by the teacher who is bringing the whole class). The event
also includes: music from Women With Wings and an opening prayer from Muslim
women's leader, Rohany Nayan. Interfaith Awareness Week co-coordinators, Rev
Anne Wynne and Rev Fr John-Brian Paprock, will be making introductions and
welcoming remarks.

Interfaith Awareness Week events are co-sponsored by Inroads Ministry and
the Greater Madison Inter-religious Association as well as other Madison
area interfaith, religious and faith groups.

=30=
Attachments: photo of Rev. Selena, the Interfaith Awareness Week logo
Below: Rev. Fox's Bio, List of Open Houses, list of other faith
opportunities = =

BIO - KEY NOTE SPEAKER - REVEREND SELENA FOX

Rev. Selena Fox has been active internationally, nationally, regionally and
locally in interfaith work for more than forty years: a speaker and
organizer of a variety of regional and global interfaith events, including
Thanksgiving Celebration, Madison-area Winter Solstice Pageant, Charter for
Compassion, and Parliament of the World's Religions; a member of the monthly
Madison Interfaith Dialogue Group; and the current president of the Greater
Madison Inter-religious Association.
Rev. Fox is Senior Minister of Circle Sanctuary, a Wiccan church
which has been serving Nature Religion practitioners worldwide since 1974.
Active in diversity education and religious accommodation
consulting, Rev. Fox works with chaplains and other staff at a variety of
institutions, including hospitals, hospices, military installations,
prisons, and university campuses. She has a MS in counseling from the
University of Wisconsin-Madison and does spiritual counseling as part of her
work.
In addition, Rev. Fox is founder and director of Wisconsin's first
green cemetery, Circle Cemetery, located at Circle Sanctuary Nature Preserve
near Barneveld, Wisconsin. She travels internationally presenting workshops
and facilitating ceremonies, and her writings and photographs have been
widely published. For more information: www.selenafox.com = =

IAW 2011 OPEN HOUSES December 4th- 10th

Sunday 12/4/11

Madison Eckankar Community (Ancient Wisdom for Today) 10:30 am. Wil-Mar
Neighborhood Center, 953 Jenifer Street, Madison WI Eck Worship Service
followed by pot luck and fellowship.

American Hindu Association
11 am Hindu Temple and Cultural Center of Wisconsin, 2138 S Fish Hatchery
Rd, Fitchburg, WI 53575 Worship Service followed by fellowship.

Monday 12/5/11

Madison Baha'i Center Open House
6:30 - 9:00 pm, Baha'i Center 324 W. Lakeside St. Madison, WI Brief
presentation on the Bahai Faith at 7:00 Informal tours of the Center -
Refreshments & socializing

Tuesday 12/6/11

Sixth Annual Good Neighbor Interfaith Celebration/Gathering
6:30 pm at the Middleton Public Library~ Archer Room 7425 Hubbard Ave,
Middleton
Join an open dialogue and panel with a multi-faith panel "Light for Dark
Times" For more info: inroads@minister.com, 242-4244

Wednesday 12/7/11

The Madison Eckankar Community (Community HU Prayer Song by people of all
spiritual paths and religions) 7pm at the Gates of Heaven, 302 E. Gorham St
in James Madison Park Followed by fellowship and refreshments.

Thursday 12/8/11

An Interfaith Potluck Evening Meal and Mingling History of the Madinah
Islamic Academy (short program) Gather at 6 pm; eat at 6:30 pm, Westminster
Presbyterian Church 4100 Nakoma Road , Madison, WI Fellowship Hall which is
w/c accessible via the Yuma Street entrance and elevator

Friday 12/9/11

Unitarian Universalism & Humanist Union
5 pm, Prairie UU Society, 2010 Whenona Way, Madison, WI Short presentation,
tours and light refreshments.

Saturday 12/10/11

Circle Sanctuary Interfaith Open House
2 - 5 pm 5354 Meadowvale Road, Barneveld, WI 53507
3 pm talk by Selena Fox on Winter Solstice customs & traditions.
free, open to the public, warm cider & other refreshments.
For more info, call (608) 924-2216 or events@circlesanctuary.org = =

OTHER OPPORTUNITIES
"To learn more about each others' beliefs in the spirit of community"
~ DECEMBER 2011 ~

December includes holy days for many area religious traditions.
The main holy days in December 2011 are:
o ADVENT (preparation for the Birth of Jesus Christ) continues through
December 25 in most churches (for a small number, it will continue through
January 6)
o HANUKKAH (Jewish) beginning December 20 ~ A menorah is lit each
evening for a week.
o ST. NICHOLAS DAY is December 6th in Eastern Orthodox Christian
tradition. This is the saint that Santa Claus is based.
o MUHARRAM (Muslim) beginning November 26 is the beginning of the
Muslim year and celebration of the first Islamic community at Medina.
o ASHURA is a Shi'ite holy time for the first ten days of Muharram,
with a festival December 5.
o WINTER SOLSTICE is sacred to several traditions including Shinto,
Wicca and Native American.
o CHRISTMAS (December 25) marks the birth or NATIVITY of Jesus Christ.
Some Orthodox Christians will celebrate this festival on January 7th.
Armenians, on January 6th.
o Traditional "Winter" holy days for Hindu, Baha'i, and Sikh fall in
November this year. In addition, HAJJ & EID AL-ADHA (for Muslims) fell on
November 5 & 6 ~ these are the days of pilgrimage. The Eid (festival)
observed even when not on pilgrimage.

In addition to the Interfaith Awareness Week events, here are more
opportunities:
SUNDAY
Christian Churches have regular Sunday morning services - check the Worship
Directory in most local newspapers. Many other religious groups meet for
weekly gatherings on Sundays out of convenience, including Buddhist, Sikh
and others.
FRIDAY
Muslims Gather for mid-day Community Prayers at Madison Area Mosques and
Campus locations SATURDAY Jewish Services begin Friday at Sunset, usually at
home, and then gather Saturday at Madison Area Synagogues and Campus
locations

= =
Looking forward
THE 15th ANNUAL INTERFAITH AWARENESS WEEK ~ DECEMBER 9-15, 2012 ~
11TH ANNUAL CAPITOL CELEBRATION ~ MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012
"encouraging citizens to learn more about each others' beliefs in the
spirit of community."
For more information: www.interfaithsociety.blogspot.com

14th ANNUAL INTERFAITH AWARENESS WEEK

2011-11-28T00:54:00.001-08:00

Please print and share

THE 14^th ANNUAL

INTERFAITH AWARENESS WEEK at the Capitol

“encouraging citizens to learn more about each others' beliefs in the spirit of community.”

A Capitol Celebration

In the Rotunda of the State Capitol

Featuring presenters and performers

From the variety of living traditions in Wisconsin

12 NOON – WEDNESDAY - DECEMBER 7, 2011

"INTERFAITH ENCOUNTERS FOR A BETTER WORLD"

REV. SELENA FOX, KEYNOTE SPEAKER

(608) 242-4244 ~ inroads@minister.com – www.interfaithsociety.blogspot.com

The Proclamation of Interfaith Awareness Week has been made by

Wisconsin’s Governor, the Dane County Executive and the Mayor of Madison

Displays of World Religions in the Capitol Rotunda

Monday thru Friday ~ December 5 - 9, 2011

sponsored by Inroads Ministry and the Greater Madison Interreligious Association

NEXT 2 INTERFAITH AWARENESS WEEK COMMITTEE MEETINGS

2011-11-14T11:39:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

We have changed our meeting day to Tuesdays.

The next 2 meetings will be on Tues. Nov. 15th and Tues. Nov. 29th.

We will not meet on the 22nd due to Thanksgiving.

All meetings will be at 6pm at Perkins on University Avenue.

See you there!

Anne and John-Brian

14th Interfaith Awareness Week

December 4-10, 2011

Capitol displays December 5-9, 2011

Capitol Noon Event, December 7, 2011

DOHA' S NINTH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INTERFAITH DIALOGUE

2011-11-07T07:02:00.001-08:00

From: OrthodoxNews@yahoogroups.com

http://www.jp-newsgate.net/en/2011/10/30/1586/#more-1586

DOHA' S NINTH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INTERFAITH DIALOGUE
30/10/2011

By Anna Koulouris

More than 240 clergymen, scientists, politicians and scholars from 60
countries met on October 24th at the ninth annual Doha International
Conference on Interfaith Dialogue sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, the Doha International Center Interfaith Dialogue and Qatar
University.

The three-day event, held at the Sheraton Hotel in Doha, focused on social
media's growing presence and effect on inter-religious dialogue.
In the wake of the Arab Spring, the conference sought to evaluate social
media's role in the revolutions and raise the question of whether such
communication technology could have a positive role in interfaith relations.

"It's a must to discuss this," said DICID chairman Ibrahim Saleh Al-Naimi in
an opening address referencing developments in the Middle East since the
beginning of this year. "There is a lot of communication and not enough
dialogue," he said.

Qatar's Minister of Justice, H.E. Mr. Hassan bin Abdulla Al Ghanim,
mentioned the importance of amplifying the positive aspects of social media
and minimizing the negative.

"Without tolerance of the other, it can be a method of hatred," said Al
Ghanim.

Archimandrite Makarios, representative of the Jerusalem Patriarchate and
priest of St. Isaac and St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Doha attended
the conference, along with Deacon Dmitry Safonov from the Moscow
Patriarchate.

"This is not just about co-existence, it's about symbiosis, which is much
more," said Fr. Makarios. "It's the fruit of this dialogue that we're
recognized by the State and live next to the citizens of Qatar."

In the eyes of the Orthodox Church, the focus of the interfaith dialogue is
for the people of not only Qatar, but the entire region, to be closer and
know more about each other. It's not only for the sake of knowledge of the
other, but to cultivate symbiosis with those from different religious and
national backgrounds, said Fr. Makarios.

In addition to Orthodox clerical representation there were lay people from
Serbia, Romania and the United States present at the conference.

Workshops taught by experts in the field were offered for beginner and
intermediate levels of proficiency in social media use throughout the
conference. Meanwhile, main themes of discussion included social media's
history and development, positive and negative consequences, impacts on
religious and local communities, and steps needed to create regulations
within a framework of ethics.

Some addressed the implications of globalization on inter-religious
dialogue, of which social media is an unequivocal part.

"The consequences of globalization are yet to be calculated," said Rabbi
Henry Sobel of Brazil. Globalization doesn't foster true fellowship,
although it can facilitate dialogue, he said, suggesting that nothing can
replace a face-to-face encounter.

Dr. Aisha Al-Tayiab agreed with the panels that in-person contact is
irreplaceable. "If people aren't brought up to respect others, they won't
develop the proper ideas and behaviors later on," she said. But she was less
critical of the role social media can play when it's used for positive
social and political change.

As a Tunisian, she watched the impact of especially Facebook, on the youth
of her country as they collectively pressured their president Zine
al-Abidine Ben Ali to flee.

"I come from a country that experienced quantum leaps," she said.
"Facebook in the first days of revolution was so important; it was a control
room."

As the Tunisian example, along with many others has shown, young people have
been most empowered by developments in social networking.

Hundreds of millions of young users are joining social media sites in a
fraction of the time it's ever taken to mobilize mass groups of people in
the past, and they upload years worth of content each day.

With secular movements on the rise in parts of the world, one concern was
where religious conversation can fit into the picture.

"The computer uses up a lot of productive time, especially from the youth,"
said Bishop Sebouh Sarkisian from Iran.

He said that it was a duty of the churches, temples and mosques to teach
morality and proper use of technology to the young people who will in turn
make good use of the tools at their disposal and reach out to one another in
acceptance.

Whereas young people might have an advantage in making use of the
technology, it was suggested that the older generation can offer the wisdom
and knowledge of the faiths that seem to lose their centralized authority in
the virtual world of the Internet.

"Any communication between persons of differing religious points of view is
sometimes described as dialogue - it's not," said Dr. Edward Kessler from
the United Kingdom. "Once a message is posted online, control is lost and
someone else may interpret what you're tying to achieve as something else."

A widely recognized problem with social media was its capability to create
wedges between people. Several clergy members suggested that reaching out to
others with love, as the Abrahamic traditions prescribe, generates more
love, and that social media offers a unique chance to demonstrate love and
kindness on a global scale.

"It's not just a communication tool, it's a connection tool," said Professor
William Vendley from the US. "The truly beautiful lies vested in the ugly."

Several panelists gave examples of how their small grass-roots efforts
reached a global scale due to the megaphone effect of social media.
These projects, whether for charity or to combat stereotypes, transcended
national and cultural borders.

"We speak of the Arab World, but in reality today - Arab community, European
community, African community, Asia, US - we are inextricably bound," said
Jesse Jackson, African-American civil rights leader and Baptist minister.
"We are one world."

Reflecting on the past decade, Jackson labeled the transformation in the
Arab world as a "bottom-up desire for change," which was facilitated by
social media. "Social media is serving to empower, inform and organize
individuals and generated a feeling that change is real, can happen, and can
be sustained."

In the concluding session, final remarks were given by H.E. Abdel Rahman
Mohammad Hassan Suwar Al-Dahab, former president of Sudan, Bishop Camillo
Ballin of Italy, Professor Faruk Caklovica of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and
Rabbi Herschel Gluck of the United Kingdom.

All participants of the conference were invited to attend dinner and tours
of Doha's Souq Waqif, Museum of Islamic Art, and cultural quarter Katara,
where the Tribeca Film Festival will continue through the last week of
October.

Religious, spiritual support benefits men and women facing chronic illness, MU study finds

2011-10-30T21:54:00.000-07:00

Public release date: 26-Oct-2011
[ Print | E-mail | http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=20HYPERLINK "http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=20"Share ] [ Close Window ]

Religious, spiritual support benefits men and women facing chronic illness, MU study finds
Contact: Emily Martin
MartinEm@missouri.edu
573-882-3346
University of Missouri-Columbia

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Individuals who practice religion and spirituality report better physical and mental health than those who do not. To better understand this relationship and how spirituality/religion can be used for coping with significant health issues, University of Missouri researchers are examining what aspects of religion are most beneficial and for what populations. Now, MU health psychology researchers have found that religious and spiritual support improves health outcomes for both men and women who face chronic health conditions.

"Our findings reinforce the idea that religion/spirituality may help buffer the negative consequences of chronic health conditions," said Stephanie Reid-Arndt, associate professor of health psychology in the School of Health Professions. "We know that there are many ways of coping with stressful life situations, such as a chronic illness; involvement in religious/spiritual activities can be an effective coping strategy."

Religious and spiritual support includes care from congregations, spiritual interventions, such as religious counseling and forgiveness practices, and assistance from pastors and hospital chaplains. The recent publication from the MU Center for Religion and the Professions research group, authored by Reid-Arndt, found that religious support is associated with better mental health outcomes for women and with better physical and mental health for men.

"Both genders benefit from social support – the ability to seek help from and rely on others – provided by fellow congregants and involvement in religious organizations," said co-author Brick Johnstone, health psychology professor. "Encouragement to seek out religious and spiritual supports can assist individuals in coping with stress and physical symptoms related to health issues. Health care providers can urge patients to take advantage of these resources, which provide emotional care, financial assistance and opportunities for increased socialization."

The study examined the role of gender in using spirituality/religiosity to cope with chronic health conditions and disabilities, including spinal cord injury, brain injury, stroke and cancer. Using measures of religiousness/spirituality, general mental health and general health perception, the researchers found no differences between men and women in terms of self-reported levels of spiritual experiences, religious practices or congregational support. This finding contrasts with other studies that suggest women may be more spiritual or participate in religion more frequently than men.

"While women generally are more religious or spiritual than men, we found that both genders may increase their reliance on spiritual and religious resources as they face increased illness or disability," Johnstone said.

For women, mental health is associated with daily spiritual experiences, forgiveness and religious/spiritual coping, the study found. This suggests that belief in a loving, supportive and forgiving higher power is related with positive mental coping for women with chronic conditions. For men, religious support – the perception of help, support and comfort from local congregations – was associated with better self-rated health.

Johnstone is director of the MU Spirituality and Health Research program. He has completed several studies examining the relationships that exist among religion, spirituality and health, particularly for individuals with different chronic disabling conditions and for those from different faith traditions.

###

The study, "Gender Differences in Spiritual Experiences, Religious Practices, and Congregational Support for Individuals with Significant Health Conditions," was published in the Journal of Religion, Disability & Health. It was funded by the Center on Religion and the Professions at MU, funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Hindus in U.S. raise awareness of Diwali

2011-10-26T16:12:00.001-07:00

Ecumenical News International News Highlights
26 October 2011

Hindus in U.S. raise awareness of Diwali

Washington, D.C. (ENInews)--The holiday of Diwali is celebrated this week by
Hindus all over the world, including an estimated two million in the United
States. Many Hindus in the U.S. say Americans don't know what Diwali is all
about and they're working to change that, Religion News Service reports.
They're encouraging fellow Hindus to be a little more open about their
celebrations -- to tell friends, colleagues and their children's teachers
that Diwali is a big deal within Hinduism, the world's third largest
religion. For starters, it's a celebration of the Hindu New Year, like Rosh
Hashanah's commemoration of the Jewish New Year, with a festival of lights
thrown in. On a deeper level, Diwali celebrates the triumph of good over
evil. [624 words, ENI-11-0579]

ENI Online - www.eni.ch

WCC appoints new programme executive for inter-religious dialogue

2011-10-26T11:19:00.001-07:00

World Council of Churches - News

WCC APPOINTS NEW PROGRAMME EXECUTIVE FOR INTER-RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE AND
COOPERATION

For immediate release: 26 October 2011

When the general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), Rev. Dr
Olav Fykse Tveit attends a day of prayer for peace in Assisi, Italy on 27
October, he will be accompanied by Clare Amos of the Church of England the
new WCC programme executive for inter-religious dialogue and cooperation.

The interfaith meeting in Assisi is called by Pope Benedict XVI a "Day of
reflection, dialogue and prayer for peace and justice in the world".

"The event of Assisi has a great potential for peace. There cannot be peace
in the world without peace among the religions. Efforts of coming together
as religions to work for common concerns are imperative to peace, which is
the message of Assisi," said Amos.

Amos, who joined the WCC this fall, specialized in theology at the
University of Cambridge and Ecole Biblique et Archeologique Francaise in
Jerusalem, after which she spent more than ten years in Jerusalem and
Lebanon where she was deeply involved with interfaith concerns and
theological education.

She has authored several books on biblical studies, interfaith relations and
spirituality.

After being married to Alan Amos, then Anglican chaplain in Beirut, Amos
worked for the Middle East Council of Churches and the Near East School of
Theology in the early eighties. While living in Beirut, her experience of
dialogue was rooted in the difficult years of Lebanese civil war and the
Israeli invasion of Lebanon.

Amos considers engaging churches in the Middle East in dialogue as one of
the priorities in her tasks at the council.

"In the Middle East one cannot ignore the dimensions of other faiths. We
were confronted by the challenges of how to read the New Testament given the
influence of Christianity's relationship with Judaism, while not ignoring
how the Hebrew scriptures were used to justify political actions of the
modern Israeli government, which affected the lives of Christians and
Muslims in the holy land," says Amos.

The WCC programme on Christian self-understanding amid many religions is a
major initiative of inter-religious dialogue, says Amos. She envisions a
special emphasis in this area, which she feels is essential in understanding
our own traditions as Christians.

"Interfaith engagement is also about discovering who we are. This is why the
WCC programme of Christian self-understanding in the context of religious
plurality is important. This is where Christians along with Jews, Muslims,
Hindus and Buddhists rediscover their own identities - an important
motivation for interfaith dialogue."

Amos also hopes to develop inter-religious cooperation in the area of
advocacy for religious freedom, human rights and protection of religious
minorities which have formed a focus of the WCC programmes. At the same
time, she is hoping to work extensively for ecumenical and theological
dialogue.

"I am keen to work towards ecumenical dialogue, which happens among
Christians. The similarities between interfaith and intra-faith dialogue are
complex. I am looking forward to addressing these challenges in my work at
the council."

Kochi to promote inter-religious harmony through dialogue

2011-10-16T19:57:00.001-07:00

Kochi to promote inter-religious harmony through dialogue
TNN Oct 16, 2011, 07.46AM IST
KOCHI: Emphasising on the theme 'Significance of spirituality in the
twenty first century', the International Interfaith Dialogue India
(IIDI) will begin in Kochi on January 28 next year.

The three-day conference, which is expected to see 250 delegates from
across the world, is happening for the first time in India after
Geneva and Madrid.

Talking to reporters, IIDI president M D Nalapat said vice-president
Hamid Ansari would inaugurate the conference and eminent personalities
like Karen Armstrong, John Esposito and Bishop Desmond Tutu are
expected to attend the programme. "The conference, which was earlier
confined to Muslim, Christian and Jewish communities, would also see
representatives of Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism and Buddhism
participating this year. We hope clarity of vision and philosophical
bases to emanate from the international seminar," Nalapat said.

According to the programme co-ordinators, the conference at Le
Meridien is expected to see 50 delegates from India and 200 from
abroad discussing how religion plays a vital role in moulding the
world view and in building a society where justice prevails.

Earlier swamy Shankaracharya Onkar, patron of IIDI, said the decision
to choose Kochi as the conference venue was taken after taking into
account the inter-religious harmony that exists in Kerala. "Through
this programme we want to unify various religions for inculcating
basic human values," the swamy added.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-10-16/kochi/30285927_1_kochi-inter-religious-harmony-international-seminar

World Mental Health Day: Prayers and reflections

2011-10-10T04:56:00.001-07:00

World Council of Churches - News

PRAYING AND REFLECTING ON WORLD MENTAL HEALTH DAY

For immediate release: 10 October 2011

"Mental illnesses affect people of all ages, in all societies, from
the boy soldier in Sierra Leone traumatized by years of bloody civil
war, to the mother affected by HIV/AIDS. Therefore it is crucial for
the churches to challenge the stigma attached to mental illness," the
Rev. Kjell Magne Bondevik reminds the churches.

Bondevik spoke at a service of morning prayer dedicated to World
Mental Health Day on 10 October. The chapel service was hosted by the
World Council of Churches (WCC) at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva,
Switzerland.

Bondevik is moderator of the WCC Commission of the Churches on
International Affairs, president of the Oslo Centre for Peace and
Human Rights, a minister of the Lutheran Church of Norway, former
prime minister of Norway and a staunch advocate for promoting
acceptance and engagement with mental health issues.

For the prayer service, the WCC Health and Healing (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=bc8518aae5537e8e394d )
programme invited Bondevik to share his reflections to commemorate
World Mental Health day, where he stressed the need to raise public
awareness, promote open discussions on mental disorders and enhance
community involvement and investments in prevention and treatment.

Bondevik is known for his courage and resilience when he admitted his
suffering from depression while holding office as the prime minister
of Norway in 1998. His decision not only brought him positive support
from many but also played a role in challenging the stigma attached to
the mental illness.

"Fighting stigma around mental health – and creating more openness –
is important first of all for people with mental health problems, but
also for the society around. If people come earlier to the health care
personnel with their problems it will be easier and cheaper to help
them," said Bondevik.

He called for a consistent response to improve the environment and
facilities available to those suffering from mental illness. "It is
our common responsibility and challenge together to improve the
situation for the people that suffer from mental diseases also in
developing countries, where the economical resources are scarce," said
Bondevik.

"To give priority to the care for people with mental illnesses, we
must expand the knowledge about mental illnesses; we must strengthen
the integration of these people in the society and reduce the risk of
exclusion."

Dr Manoj Kurian, WCC programme executive for the Health and Healing
programme, thanked Bondevik for his message, saying, "We must commit
to greater engagement with the issue of mental health. We need to
promote a contextual and affirming interpretation of our holy
scriptures. As faith communities we need to combat stigma and affirm
the dignity of all those suffering from mental illness."

More information on WCC's work on health and healing (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=2a143315cbccae0d7e4d )

Next Coordination Meeting - Sept 29

2011-09-23T19:19:00.001-07:00

Next Coordination Meeting
Interfaith Awareness Week 2011
(December 4-10, 2011)

when:
Thursday, September 29, 2011
6:00 pm (~ one hour)

where:
Perkins Restaurant & Bakery (608) 238-5133
5237 University Avenue, Madison

Please reply and let us know you are coming.

If you need more information, contact either
Rev. Anne Wynne eannewynne@yahoo.com
Rev. John-Brian Paprock frjohnbrian@gmail.com

email us if you need to speak by phone and need a phone number

Different interpretations mark International Day of Peace

2011-09-21T19:37:00.001-07:00

Ecumenical News International News Highlights
21 September 2011

Different interpretations mark International Day of Peace

New York (ENInews)--The 30th anniversary of the U.N.'s International
Day of Peace and its 2011 theme, "Make Your Voice Heard," was marked
by a number of
different interpretations and expressions of the idea of peace. The
same day -- 21 September -- is called the International Day of Prayer
for Peace by
the Geneva-based World Council of Churches (WCC). This year, the WCC
asked the attendees from last May's International Ecumenical Peace
Convocation,
and anyone who followed the event, to offer a prayer for peace. The
prayers are being posted on Facebook. [498 words, ENI-11-0501]

ENI Online - www.eni.ch

Madison 9-11 Interfaith Service of Meditation/Prayer and Song

2011-09-08T10:06:00.001-07:00

Madison-area Urban Ministry is co-sponsoring an Interfaith Service of Meditation/Prayer and Song in commemoration of the tenth anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001. The service will be led by members of Dane County’s Muslim, Jewish and Christian communities and will be a time to mourn the victims of terrorism, torture and war worldwide. The service will be held from 5:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. at Grace Episcopal Church in Madison.
[JB+]

From: Lori Powell [mailto:lori@emum.org]
Sent: Thursday, September 08, 2011 10:53 AM

Dear Friends:

I apologize for this late notice but we finally received details regarding an Interfaith 9/11 Service to take place September 11^th that we are co-sponsoring. Please distribute this electronically if you are able to members of your faith community. Please make an announcement in worship this week-end as well as you are able. Thank you for helping us get the word out.

For those on Facebook, I believe Linda posted a heads up on Facebook last week.

Thanks for all you do!

Lori Powell

Madison-area Urban Ministry

Announcement:

In U.S., interfaith worship doubled since 11 September

2011-09-07T17:15:00.001-07:00

Ecumenical News International News Highlights
7 September 2011

In U.S., interfaith worship doubled since 11 September

Washington, D.C. (ENInews)--Interfaith worship services have doubled in the
decade since the 11 September attacks, according to a new study released 7
September, even as more than seven in 10 U.S. congregations do not associate
with other faiths. The survey by an interfaith group of researchers found
that about 14 percent of U.S. congregations surveyed in 2010 engaged in a
joint religious celebration with another faith tradition, up from 6.8
percent in 2000, Religion News Service reports. [455 words, ENI-11-0473]

ENI Online - www.eni.ch

Observing the Eve of the International Day of Peace

2011-09-06T13:01:00.001-07:00

Observing the Eve of the International Day of Peace: An Interfaith Roundtable Discussion

Inroads Ministry and the Interfaith Awareness Week in Wisconsin is observing the UN International Day of Peace, September 21, and the Week of Global Interreligious Dialogue, on SEPTEMBER 20, 2011 in Middleton, Wisconsin.

MIDDLETON, WI – This year much of humanity will conduct the largest global observance of the International Day of Peace ever on or around Sept. 21st. Thousands of organizations and hundreds of millions of people worldwide observe this occasion. Many events last for several days. Some will start on this year's 10th anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001; others will continue through Oct. 2, Gandhi's birthday and the International Day of Non-Violence. One focal point across the entire planet will be the minute of silence at 12:00 noon, in all time zones worldwide, on Sept. 21 - as requested by Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations.

2011 marks the Ninth Annual Week of Global Interreligious Dialogue. During the week of September 15-21, individuals and organizations around the world are encouraged to share their religious, spiritual, and cultural values and traditions in celebration of the United Nations International Day of Peace: “… a day of global ceasefire and non-violence, an invitation to all nations and people to honor a cessation of hostilities.” In previous years the Week of Global Interreligious Dialogue has been celebrated in communities in Iran, India, Israel, Jordan, Pakistan, Mozambique, Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Australia, Taiwan, Finland, the Philippines, the UK, and the United States. www.internationaldayofpeace.org , www.cultureofpeace.org , and www.pathwaystopeace.org .

Here is a link to a 3 minute informative and entertaining video about the International Day of Peace.

Although Interfaith Awareness Week in Wisconsin will be December 4-10, 2011, having events and exhibits throughout that week at the state capitol and other locations, it was deemed important to join in this international effort, even in a small way. Inroads Ministry, a pastoral ministry directed by Rev. Fr. John-Brian Paprock, has been the primary sponsor of Interfaith Awareness Week since 1998. The week is co-sponsored by the Greater Madison Area Interreligious Association.

Observing the Eve of the International Day of Peace

An Interfaith Roundtable Discussion

September 20, 2011

6:30 pm to 8:00pm

Middleton Public Library - Archer Room

7425 Hubbard Avenue, Middleton, Wisconsin

for library: 608-831-5564 www.midlibrary.org

for more information contact

Inroads: 608-242-4244 inroads@minister.com

http://www.interfaithsociety.blogspot.com/

The International Day of Peace was established by a unanimous resolution of the United Nations in 1981. Its mission is to provide a common time period for individuals, organizations and nations to create practical acts of peace on or near a shared date, and to bring together efforts from around the world whose ultimate focus is to promote peace and sustainability. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the International Day of Peace. In recent years, this observance has included significant portions of humanity due to the proliferation of wireless technology, computers and cell phones,

The United Nations announced earlier this year that the theme for this year's International Day of Peace 2011 is 'Make Your Voice Heard'. In doing so it thanked the thousands of organizations who have 'institutionalized' this observance worldwide.

Peace Day saves lives. Nations and governing bodies the world over are joining the call for peace through a range of activities including ceasefires, proclamations, and pledges for humanitarian aid. Religious groups and educational institutions across the planet are conducting both educational and community service programs. Many non-government organizations use this occasion as an opportunity to promote their year round efforts, whether their focus is on human rights, the environment, humanitarian relief, poverty, health care, disarmament or international cooperation. World leaders and public figures call for participation; businesses and professionals create various types of promotions; individuals can participate in many ways - even privately, or with friends and family. The combination of all of these activities creates long term impact, beyond the annual observance.

One such peace building effort, that Inroads Ministry participates with, is the Culture of Peace Initiative (CPI), which is a UN-designated Peace Messenger program established by Pathways To Peace that includes thousands of organizations from around the world. Pathways To Peace has been working with the United Nations to promote the observance of the International Day of Peace since its inception in 1981. The Culture of Peace Initiative has promoted peace by bringing together previously unseen and unheard voices working towards peace, as well as uniting the strengths of established organizations to help create a worldwide 'culture of peace' for future generations. For more information about Pathways To Peace, the Culture of Peace Initiative, and the International Day of Peace as well as listings of thousands of events worldwide, please visit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSr2gBsg9dI

for more information contact

Rev. Fr. John-Brian Paprock, Inroads Ministry director, 608-242-4244 inroads@minister.com

http://www.interfaithsociety.blogspot.com/

####

Interfaith efforts part of NYC 9/11 anniversary

2011-09-02T15:41:00.001-07:00

Ecumenical News International News Highlights
2 September 2011

Interfaith efforts part of 9/11 anniversary

New York (ENInews)--Interfaith services are planned to commemorate the tenth
anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, with advocates
acknowledging that their work has not been easy but has yielded tangible, if
sometimes overlooked, results. "Religious diversity is a gift," said the
Rev. Chloe Breyer, executive director of the Interfaith Center of New York.
"It strengthens the civic fabric of the city." President Barack Obama,
former President George W. Bush and other officials will attend on 11
September commemoration ceremonies in New York City. [547 words,
ENI-11-0467]

ENI Online - www.eni.ch

Religion Communicators Council calls for civil discourse

2011-09-02T09:41:00.000-07:00

RCC members and many of their organizations encourage responsible coverage
of faith angles for the 10th anniversary stories relating to 9/11.

During an August meeting, the 17- member board called for journalists and
bloggers to "pursue accuracy, respect and understanding of all people of
faiths and communities." The full statement is in the resolution that
follows.

RESOLUTION ON CIVIL DISCOURSE
DURING 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF 9/11

WHEREAS, The coming tenth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks on
the USA will bring about painful recollections of terrorism and its effects;
and

WHEREAS, The rhetoric at such times can become heated and distorted as it
intermingles the religious identity of participants in those heinous acts;
and

WHEREAS, The Religion Communicators Council encourages religion
communicators to adhere to the highest ethical guidelines in the
communication of religious faith and values in public discourse and to
foster understanding among faith groups; now, therefore be it

RESOLVED, That the Board of Governors of the Religion Communicators Council
calls for responsible discussion of religion and of all faith groups,
seeking the understanding and acceptance of religious communities; and be it
finally

RESOLVED, That the Board urges all who report and record news and register,
edit or publish opinions about faith communities and religious commitments
to adhere to the highest ethical standards of their craft and pursue
accuracy, respect and understanding of people of all faiths and faith
communities.

Adopted August 7, 2011 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

About the Religion Communicators Council:

The Religion Communicators Council http://www.religioncommunicators.org/ is
an interfaith association of more than 400 religion communicators working in
print and electronic communication, advertising, and public relations.
Members represent Baha'i, Christian, Hindu, Jewish and Muslim faith
communities. Founded in 1929, the council is the oldest public relations
professional association in the United States. Council headquarters is in
New York City.

Contact: Shirley Struchen, sstruchen@rcn.com or (212) 870-2402.

On the anniversary of 9/11

2011-08-31T20:59:00.000-07:00

Hello

In memory of the tenth anniversary of 9/11, I would like to offer you
and your readers of Interfaith Society a message of peace in a short
video and a pledge of tolerance.

http://myfellowamerican.us

If you are able to post or tweet about the video and the pledge, please
let me know. I am here if you have any questions.

Thank you so much,

Elizabeth
--
Elizabeth Potter
Unity Productions Foundation
myfellowamerican.us
facebook.com/MyFellowAmericanProject
@usmuslimstories

Time for Creation 2011: Trees and forests shall rejoice

2011-08-31T12:03:00.001-07:00

World Council of Churches - News

TIME FOR CREATION 2011: TREES AND FORESTS SHALL REJOICE

For immediate release: 31 August 2011

The World Council of Churches (WCC) has joined in a call to observe Thursday
1 September through Tuesday 4 October 2011 as a time for prayer, reflection
and re-dedication regarding care for and just use of God's gifts in nature.

For more than twenty years, increasing numbers of Christians throughout the
world have reserved these dates in September and early October as a time to
give thanks for God's creation and to join in common prayer and action for
the environment.

"A Time for Creation" is a modern addition to the liturgical calendars of
many churches, emphasizing the work of God as Creator. It arose from a
challenge issued by the late Dimitrios I, then the Ecumenical Patriarch of
Constantinople, in proclaiming 1 September 1989 as a day of prayer for the
earth and its ecosystems.

The Orthodox church year traditionally begins in September, so it seems
appropriate to turn worshippers' attention to the opening verse of the
Bible: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." The new
liturgical season of Creation has come to extend to 4 October, long
celebrated by Roman Catholics and others as the feast day of Saint Francis
of Assisi.

The year 2011 has been designated as the International Year of Forests, and
the WCC has appealed in particular for prayers and reflections to be offered
on forests and related themes, in the spirit of such scriptural passages as
this prophecy:
"For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and
the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field
shall clap their hands." - Isaiah 55:12
(NRSV)

In its public policy, the WCC has called for commitment to "eco-justice
(Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=a975887eb6d1fcb01839 )" and
has stressed the need for action to overcome such problems as planetary
pollution and other causes of climate change.

In a message (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=37c8191a261154522aa3
) delivered to the UN Climate Change Conference at Copenhagen in December
2009 (COP 15), a high-level ecumenical delegation told the meeting, "The
injustice is that those who are suffering the worst consequences of this
crisis have contributed the least to causing this situation. This is a
matter of justice and a call to moral responsibility. We would like to
underline the importance of legally-binding commitments to addressing this
crisis".

A separate statement (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=db69ae3df8bc41563edd ) on behalf of
the WCC and bodies representing other world religions recognized the
scientific evidence for human causation of climate change, and asserted that
"climate change is not merely an economic or technical problem, but rather
at its core is a moral, spiritual and cultural one."

Time for Creation resources (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=abdfc918916616d0152a )

Time for Creation on Facebook (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=a387c53d84cca520fb3b )

More information on the WCC and eco-justice: www.oikoumene.org/eco-justice
(Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=1361ee91aa13553028f1 )

End of Ramadan celebrations hailed by WCC general secretary

2011-08-31T11:53:00.001-07:00

World Council of Churches - News

END OF RAMADAN CELEBRATIONS HAILED BY WCC GENERAL SECRETARY

For immediate release: 31 August 2011

Christian and Muslims, together with leaders of other world religions,
should cooperate in "rallying people to form alliances for peace and
reconciliation with justice," according to the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit,
general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC).

Tveit sent greetings on the occasion of the Islamic festival of Eid al Fitr
(the end of Ramadan) in a letter to heads of Muslim religious communities
throughout the world. Taking note of July's violence in his native Norway
that has brought Christians and Muslims closer, and the momentous events
that continue to unfold in North Africa and the Middle East, Tveit called
for continuing action toward justice and peace.

Read the full text of the WCC general secretary's letter (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=e33f25e11652d39112bc )

9/11 event in Milwaukee

2011-08-24T16:01:00.001-07:00

From: pejacobi@aol.com
Re: Bel Canto Chorus and Milw Chamber Orchestra Free concert commemorating
10th anniversary 9/11

Dear Friends:

Mark your calendars and come!

Religious leaders from the Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee
will offer an invocation, read reflections and recite a Prayer for the
Future as participants in a free Bel Canto Chorus and
Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra concert that commemorates the 10th anniversary
of the 9/11 attacks and honors first responders.

This "United We Stand" outdoor event features a performance of Mozart's
moving Requiem and begins at 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 11, in Cathedral Square
Park on the city's east side. A live broadcast by Milwaukee Public
Television will be carried statewide. Prelude entertainment starts at 2:15
p.m., so bring a lawn chair or blanket and come early. (If significant rain
is forecast, the event will move into the nearby Cathedral of St. John the
Evangelist, 812 N. Jackson St.)

Prayer Flags

Starting at 2 p.m., Interfaith's Peace & International Issues Committee
will provide 1,000 prayer flags for people to write expressions of peace,
hope, healing and understanding for the victims and their families, the
first responders, members of our armed forces and their families, our
nation, and the countries of the world. Flags will be displayed on lines in
the park and be visible on the television broadcast.

A letter of remembrance and hope by the Interfaith Conference Cabinet
will be printed in the program. We expect to have leaders and
representatives from many faiths and denominations join in the entrance
procession, stand on risers below the front of the stage as a sign of unity
and jointly recite the Prayer for the Future.

Interfaith Speakers

Representatives of several faiths and denominations will be among the
speakers on stage:

Rabbi David B. Cohen of Congregation Sinai will give the invocation.

Reciting brief reflections from their faith traditions will be:
> The Rev. Jamie Washam of Underwood Memorial Baptist
Church,vice-chair of the Interfaith Conference;
> Ahmed Quereshi, president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee;
> Hoko Karnegis of the Milwaukee Zen Center;
> Swarnjit S. Arora of the Sikh Religious Society of Wisconsin;
> The Rev. Suzelle Lynch of Unitarian Universalist Church West and
Southeast Wisconsin Unitarian Universalist Congregations;
> Frank Berentsen of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)
Milwaukee Meeting;
> Emily Joy Sielen of the Milwaukee Baha'i Community; and
> Urmila Bharadwaj of the Hindu Temple of Wisconsin.

Prayer for the Future
The Very Rev. Jeff Haines, rector and pastor of the Cathedral of St.
John the Evangelist, will lead religious leaders in a recitation of a Prayer
for the Future immediately before the start of Requiem.

For more details, go to www.belcanto.org or contact the Interfaith
Conference at (414) 276-9050.

About the broadcast, see:
http://www.mptv.org/news/press/release/?n_id=890

Jedis and Pastafarians: Real religion or just a joke?

2011-08-15T19:41:00.001-07:00

Ecumenical News International News Highlights
15 August 2011

Jedis and Pastafarians: Real religion or just a joke?

Washington, D.C. (ENInews)--When congregants of West Side Church and
the Christian Life Center in Bend, Oregon, awoke in June to news that
their churches had been vandalized, they expected to be frustrated.
What they
didn't expect was to be confused, Religion News Service reports. In
addition to the anti-Christian slogans scrawled on the walls of the
two buildings, the words "Praise the FSM" were painted everywhere.
After a Google search, they learned "FSM" stood for "Flying Spaghetti
Monster," the noodle-limbed deity of a fictitious religion. While the
vandalism seemed to be an isolated incident, it and other developments
have spurred a discussion among atheists about the usefulness of
so-called "joke" or "invented" religions in the nonreligious movement.
Some are wondering: has the joke gone too far? [865
words, ENI-11-0426]

ENI Online - www.eni.ch

Orthodox Peace Fellowship conference to focus on forgiveness

2011-08-12T15:09:00.001-07:00

Orthodox Peace Fellowship conference to focus on forgiveness:

UW professor Robert D. Enright, Kim Phuc to be keynote speakers

The North American Conference of the Orthodox Peace Fellowship has chosen Madison as the location for its 2011 conference, to be held Friday, Sept. 16 to Sunday, Sept. 18. “Forgiveness: Finding Wholeness Again” is the conference theme.

Robert D. Enright Ph.D., professor of educational psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, will be a keynote speaker. Enright is a founding member of the International Forgiveness Institute Inc., is the author of four books including “Forgiveness is a Choice.” He has appeared on “20/20” and “NBC Nightly News,” and his work has been featured in TIME, McCall’s Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, and the LA Times.

Some of the other speakers expected at the event:

Kim Phuc (the child depicted in the 1972 Pulitzer Prize winning photo, running naked after being burned in a South Vietnamese napalm attack);

Rev. George Morelli Ph.D. (chairman of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese Department of Chaplaincy and Pastoral Counseling Ministry);

Judith Toy (Buddhist cleric and author of “Murder as a Call to Love”);

Miroslav Volf (director of the Yale Center for faith and Culture and author of “Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace”);

Rev. John-Brian Paprock (pastor of Holy Transfiguration Orthodox Church, Madison, and author of “Neighbors, Strangers and Everyone Else”).

“‘Forgiveness’ is a topic that has much to do with ‘peace,” says Alexander Patico of the OPF. “Conflict between two individuals or two groups can cease, but often the seeds of future conflict are there, ready to germinate at the first opportunity. Without forgiveness, we achieve only a surface calm, not a reconciliation that is the foundation of true peace.”

Without forgiveness, says Patico, “inner peace remains elusive, as well. There are, however, many different ways to think about forgiveness – what it means and what conditions must exist for it to happen. The conference will explore those different conceptions, so that forgiving might become more feasible for all who take part.”

Additional speakers are in the process of being confirmed. The conference will also include films, food and fellowship. Non-members and non-Orthodox are welcome to attend.

The event will be held at the Bishop O’Connor Pastoral Center, 702 S. High Point Road, Madison. At the end of the conference, attendees can choose to attend Sunday services at Assumption Greek Orthodox Church, 11 North 7th St., Madison.

Information will be available about conference costs shortly; the organization plans to offer low-cost options for those with financial challenges or who are coming from greater distances.

Reservations must be received prior to Wednesday, Sept. 14. More information is available by contacting Patico at opfnorthamerica@gmail.com or Rev. Paprock at frjohnbrian@gmal.com or 608.242.4244

The Orthodox Peace Fellowship is an association of Orthodox Christians applying the principles of the Gospel to situations of division and conflict – in the home, the parish, the community, the work place, and within and between nations.

# # #

Religion communicators call for civil discourse about 9/11

2011-08-11T23:38:00.000-07:00

RCC board urges responsible coverage of faith angles in 10th anniversary
stories

A religion communicators group called Aug. 7 for responsible discussion of
faith groups in news coverage of 9/11's 10th anniversary.

The Religion Communicators Council urged journalists and bloggers to "pursue
accuracy, respect and understanding of people of all faiths and faith
communities." The statement was in a resolution adopted in Philadelphia by
the board of governors for the 400-member interfaith council.

The 17-member board called "for responsible discussion of religion and of
all faith groups, seeking the understanding and acceptance of religious
communities."

The anniversary of the 2001 attacks could "bring about painful recollections
of terrorism and its effects," the resolution said.
Rhetoric about the attacks "could become heated and distorted as it
intermingles the religious identity of participants in those heinous acts,"
the measure continued.

The council encourages communicators for faith groups to adhere to the
highest ethical guidelines in presenting religious faith and values in
public discourse.

"We encourage our members to consider having their faith groups adopt
similar resolutions on civil discourse," said Deb K. Christian, council
president. She is management team leader for UMR Communications in Dallas.

About the Religion Communicators Council:

The Religion Communicators Council is an interfaith association of more than
400 religion communicators working in print and electronic communication,
advertising, and public relations. Members represent Baha'i, Christian,
Hindu, Jewish and Muslim faith communities. Founded in 1929, the council is
the oldest public relations professional association in the United States.
Council headquarters is in New York City.

Contact: Shirley Struchen, sstruchen@rcn.com or (212) 870-2402.

Resolution On Civil Discourse During 10th Anniversary of 9/11

WHEREAS, The coming tenth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks on
the USA will bring about painful recollections of terrorism and its effects;
and

WHEREAS, The rhetoric at such times can become heated and distorted as it
intermingles the religious identity of participants in those heinous acts;
and

Adopted August 7, 2011, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Peace convocation to inspire prayer for 21 September

2011-08-11T05:00:00.001-07:00

World Council of Churches - News

PEACE CONVOCATION TO INSPIRE PRAYER FOR 21 SEPTEMBER

For immediate release: 11 August 2011

Each year on 21 September the World Council of Churches calls churches
and parishes to observe the International Day of Prayer for Peace. This
year the WCC is asking the 1,000 people who attended the International
Ecumenical Peace Convocation in Kingston in May 2011 to offer a prayer for
peace as a follow-up to that important event.

Each of the 1,000 participants, as well as all those who have followed the
events in Jamaica from afar, are being invited to compose a prayer. They
are invited to share it with members and leaders of their church, with
people they met at IEPC and within their networks. The WCC will post all
prayers received on Facebook (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=cc53e4ba96d621b45339 ).

21 September is also the UN-sponsored International Day of Peace.
Observances of the WCC prayer day began as part of the ecumenical Decade
to Overcome Violence (2001-2010).

More information on the International Day of Prayer for Peace:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=9ff4a701336975994d10 (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=01a0c5397da54248fdbf )

More on the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=68975a1d6f4c91b5e639 (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=e14ce8c1b1ce4e9a11ee )

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness
and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of
churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant,
Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million
Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman
Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit,
from the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.

Next Awareness Week Coordination Meeting

2011-08-09T22:47:00.001-07:00

Interfaith Awareness Week 2011
(December 4-10, 2011)

Next Coordination Meeting (please forward to others that may be interested)

when:
Thursday, August 18, 2011
6:00 pm (~ one hour)
(I may be a few minutes late - JBP)

where:
Perkins Restaurant & Bakery (608) 238-5133
5237 University Avenue, Madison

Last meeting: Carl Landsness wanted to help with the capitol noon program. Discussed some themes, music, keynote possibilities. Alice Pauser is very interested in the Middleton Library display for the month of December. John-Brian (Inroads Minister) discussed open houses and Middleton's annual program. Anne would like to have a community chant during the week.

Please reply and let us know you are coming.

If you need more information, contact either
Rev. Anne Wynne eannewynne@yahoo.com
Rev. John-Brian Paprock frjohnbrian@gmail.com

email us if you need to speak by phone and need a phone number

The World Sacred Forests to be Mapped Out in an Effort to Protect Natural Heritage

2011-08-05T15:33:00.001-07:00

The World Sacred Forests to be Mapped Out in an Effort to Protect Natural Heritage

From: David A Gabel, ENN
Published August 1, 2011 07:50 AM
http://www.enn.com/ecosystems/article/43012
World Sacred Forests Mapped Out

A team of scientists from the University of Oxford are working on a world
map which shows all the land owned or revered by various world religions.
This "holy map" will display all the sacred sites from Jerusalem's Western
Wall, to Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, to St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City.
Just as interesting, the map will also show the great forests held sacred
by various religions. Within these protected lands dwell a wide variety of
life and high numbers of threatened species.

The sacred land mapped out by the Oxford researchers is not necessarily
owned by a certain religious community, but rather contains sacred
connotations. They estimate that about fifteen percent of all land on Earth
is "sacred land", and eight percent of all land is owned by a religious
community. Much of the land held sacred is forest.

The Oxford researchers are focused on determining this land's value in
terms of biodiversity. They are from the Biodiversity Institute in the
Oxford Martin School. A lot of the sacred forests managed by the local
community, but receive no formal protection. The researchers hope that
their scientific study will help guarantee official protection from
regional and national governments.

Initially, efforts were only made to map out land controlled by the large
mainstream religious groups. Teaming up with the Alliance of Religions and
Conservation (ARC), the Oxford team decided to investigate religious land
controlled by all groups. The new initiative is in effect, as the team has
already planned visits to areas in India, Ghana, Japan, and elsewhere.
The first step in their research is to delineate where the sacred land is
by investigating where boundary lines. The status of the land and its
borders must be known before a biodiversity assessment can take place. The
researchers will also assess the land's value in carbon dioxide absorption,
its abundance of medicinal plants, as well as the value to the local
people.

According to Dr. Kathy Willis, one of the researchers at Osford's
Biodiversity Institute, "One of the key research themes of the Biodiversity
Institute is conservation beyond protected areas. With the help of emerging
technologies, the Biodiversity Institute researchers are developing tools
that can help evidence-based research."

"We urgently need to map this vast network of religious forests, sacred
sites and other community-conserved areas to understand their role in
biodiversity conservation," added Dr. Shonil Bhagwat, also on the research
team. "Such mapping can also allow the custodian communities, who have
protected these sites for generations, to secure their legal status."
For more information: http://www.biodiversity.ox.ac.uk/

Statement on the 66th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

2011-08-05T09:20:00.001-07:00

World Council of Churches - News

STATEMENT ON THE 66TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ATOMIC BOMBINGS OF HIROSHIMA AND
NAGASAKI

For immediate release: 05 August 2011

Each August 6 and 9 since 1945 there is a profound moment of sorrow and
reason for hope when the world remembers the dropping of atomic bombs on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 66-years-ago during World War II.

This year Rev. Dr Olav Fkyse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council
of Churches, remembers this tragedy as one that can never be repeated.

"For as long as nuclear weapons exist, each year brings us new reasons to
build a world where such a tragedy can never happen again," Tveit said in a
statement released Friday 5 August.

To read the full statement click here (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=cd0a49105127f57f0678 )

State Department tries to raise visibility of religion

2011-07-21T20:59:00.001-07:00

Ecumenical News International News Highlights
21 July 2011

State Department tries to raise visibility of religion

Washington (ENI). Often accused of ignoring religion as they craft foreign
policy, the White House and State Department are trying to show that
religion is a rising priority for U.S. diplomacy. The most recent case in
point: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in Istanbul last week (15
July) promoted a new U.S.-backed international agreement to protect freedom
of speech and religion, an accord described by her department as a
"landmark" change. [719 words, ENI-11-0381]

ENI Online - www.eni.ch

Interfaith leaders urge protection of federal poverty assistance

2011-07-18T07:54:00.001-07:00

Interfaith leaders urge protection of federal poverty assistance

Written by Wire Reports
July 15, 2011

Representing a growing movement of Americans concerned that the
Administration and Congress are enacting a budget deal that will place an
undue burden on the poor "while shielding the wealthiest from any additional
sacrifice," leaders representing the Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths
today launched a new campaign to encourage policymakers to maintain a robust
U.S. commitment to domestic and international poverty programs.

Inspired by a common spiritual conviction that God has called on all
Americans to protect the vulnerable and promote the dignity of all
individuals living in society, the interfaith coalition is aiming to protect
those struggling to overcome poverty in the U.S. and abroad and to exclude
programs that protect people in poverty from the budget deficit debates.

More than 25 heads of communion and national religious organizations,
including UCC General Minister and President the Rev. Geoffrey A. Black, are
spearheading an 18-month faith-based public policy campaign to urge Congress
and the Administration to exempt programs that assist at-risk families and
children in the U.S. and abroad from budget cuts. The campaign will consist
of high-level meetings with policymakers, a Washington fly-in of religious
leaders and daily prayer vigils among other actions.

The daily prayer vigils are being held on the front lawn of the United
Methodist Building (100 Maryland Avenue, NE, Washington, DC) near the U.S.
Capitol Building where the UCC's Justice and Witness Ministries Washington
office is housed. Led by a different religious organization each day at
12:30 p.m. EDT, the prayer vigils will continue throughout the White House
led budget negotiations.

To kick-off the campaign, the religious leaders sent urgent letters this
week to President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), House Speaker John Boehner
(R-Ohio), and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) stating that
"People who are served by government program - those who are poor, sick, and
hungry, older adults, children, and people with disabilities - should not
bear the brunt of the budget-cutting burden."

The religious leaders wrote, "We share our grave concern and dismay that the
ongoing conversations and negotiations regarding our nation's budget may
yield an outcome that places individuals and families struggling with
poverty at risk of even further hardship while shielding the wealthiest in
our nation from any additional sacrifice."

In addition, the religious leaders, writing as the heads of numerous
U.S.-based religious institutions and faith-based organizations that have
worked for decades in conjunction with federal programs to combat domestic
and foreign poverty, made it clear that religious groups would be unable to
make up the difference in funding if the government further cuts or
eliminates programs for society's most vulnerable populations. The
interfaith leaders warn that without a sustained federal commitment to
federal- and state-run assistance programs, religious organizations and
Houses of Worship while doing their best to help, cannot be the sole support
for the country's most vulnerable in their most pressing times of need.

In <http://www.ucc.org/news/pdf/Obama-let-07-13-11final.pdf>letters to
President Obama and Congress, the leaders further explained that "Houses of
worship and communities of faith cannot meet the current need, much less the
increased hardship that would result from severe cuts in federal, and
consequently, state programs. We need the public-private partnership that
has for decades enabled us as a nation to respond to desperate need, both
human and environmental."

The campaign was announced today via a teleconference featuring the Rev.
Canon Peg Chemberlin, President, National Council of Churches and Executive
Director, Minnesota Council of Churches; the Rev. Gradye Parsons, Stated
Clerk of the General Assembly, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.); Rabbi Steve
Gutow, President, Jewish Council for Public Affairs; the Rev. John L.
McCullough, Executive Director and CEO, Church World Service; Sister Mary
Hughes, OP, President, Leadership Conference of Women Religious; Dr. Sayyid
M. Syeed, National Director, Office for Interfaith & Community Alliances,
Islamic Society of North America; and the Rev. J. Herbert Nelson, Director
of Public Witness, Presbyterian Church USA.

During the briefing, Syeed, the National Director for the Office for
Interfaith and Community Alliances at the Islamic Society of North America,
spoke first about our responsibility to stand up for those who cannot speak
for themselves. He said, "It is our religious duty as part of the faith
communities to convey our concerns about the problems of the budget cuts
that will directly impact low income individuals and the dispossessed. We
are asking for a budget that should be just and equitable. It is our Islamic
duty because this is one of the pillars of Islam."

Gutow, president of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, added, "To hurt
the poor by trying to balance the budget or lessen the debt is a little bit
ridiculous." He went on to say, "We were known by our founders as a city on
a hill with a light of justice that emanated forth and we cannot and we must
not be any less than who we are."

Parsons, the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, Presbyterian Church USA,
was very poignant in his warning that cuts to domestic and international
poverty programs would have a devastating impact not only on individuals and
families facing economic hardship, but houses of worship across the country
that have worked in conjunction with federal- and state-led economic
assistance programs for decades.

Parsons said, "Churches alone cannot fill in the gap if the government's
social safety net is taken away. While doing their best to help, there's not
enough capacity in all those churches to meet the gap that would happen to
if the government was to abandon tradition and, the fundamental role of
providing a basic floor to give people the basic human needs of food,
shelter, and health care."

Sister Mary Hughes OP, President of the Leadership Conference of Women
Religious noted that "Because of the lag in current funding, homelessness is
up 15 percent in my state. There are usually one or more children involved
in each [homeless] family. There are faces associated with budget numbers."

Chemberlin, President, National Council of Churches, said "Extreme
politicians are threatening to stop Medicare and Social Security payments,
stop paying our men and women fighting overseas, plunge even more Americans
into unemployment, and completely abandon the poor, only so that they can
maintain a few tax loopholes for the richest Americans."

The interfaith coalition's campaign was summed up by McCullough, the
Executive Director and CEO, Church World Service. He said, "While we don't
know what may be the final outcome of the budget discussions between the
President and Congress, proposed cuts by Members of the House of
Representatives to humanitarian and development programs are drastic,
irresponsible, and fail to recognize the detrimental life and death
consequences to vulnerable people recovering from disasters and living in
poverty worldwide."

Students of diverse faiths seek understanding at Bossey

2011-07-14T22:49:00.001-07:00

World Council of Churches - Feature

STUDENTS OF DIVERSE FAITHS SEEK UNDERSTANDING AT BOSSEY

For immediate release: 14 July 2011

by Theodore Gill (*)

"Religions as instruments of peace" is the subtitle of a 2011 summer course
on "Building an interfaith community". Twenty-three students from more than
a dozen nations have assembled at the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey,
Switzerland for the course which runs from 4 to 29 July.

One of the early lecturers admitted that many observers today see religions
not as instruments of peace but as reasons for conflict. "Our hands as
religious leaders are not clean," said Rabbi Richard Marker of the
International Jewish Committee on Inter-religious Consultations.

The experience of too many nations and their governments, he added, "is that
religion is a cause of divisiveness that works against shared values."

Now in its fifth year, the institute's summer course on interfaith relations
brings together students of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim traditions for
a time of study, shared experience of one another's sacred spaces and
reflection on their own cultures, spiritualities and worldviews.

The student body is made up of nine men and fourteen women. Ten are
Christian, seven are Muslim and six are Jewish.

They have come from Latin America, western and eastern Europe, the Middle
East, Asia and Australia. Three are sisters from religious orders in
Colombia, Guatemala and Romania. Three students have come from Israel, and
three are Palestinians.

Danielle Antebi of Israel, whose academic background is in criminology and
international politics, was eager to join the course after her brother's
positive experience as a student last summer. "He is an archaeologist who
gives presentations on Israel in various places," she says, "and he wanted
an opportunity to meet people from different countries and hear their
opinions of Israel and of the relationships between people of differing
religions."

She concluded that a month at Bossey, overlooking Lake Geneva, would provide
her "a great opportunity to meet and interact with people representing a
number of cultures."

Charlotte Lindhé heard of the course from her pastor in the Church of
Sweden. Following her graduation from secondary school, she began an
ambitious programme of travel and backpacking that has taken her to China,
Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Future destinations include Greece,
India and North America.

"I hope to learn more about my own religion in relation to the beliefs of
others," she explains, "and I hope to be able to share what I learn with my
own parish and others when I return to Sweden."

She says that her interest in inter-religious activity was awakened while
visiting Israel and Palestine where she saw "religions existing side by
side, yet not really living together."

Move beyond tolerance of differences to appreciation

Mohammed Azhari of Australia, who pursued studies in Islamic teaching and
inter-religious dialogue during his graduate work in Damascus, sees the
course at Bossey as "a brilliant opportunity to come and encounter people of
other faiths. Here, we will begin by building community among ourselves,
hoping that this will be a first step toward some greater achievement."

Azhari sees the students asking themselves, "How do people attain peace
through prayer, through their beliefs? In coming to know one another as
persons, we will learn to respect each other. In this way we can move beyond
mere tolerance to appreciation, to acceptance even of what makes us
different. And this is for the best, since it is ignorance that leads to
conflict."

During the first week of classes, Rabbi Marker was joined in discussing
Judaism by Grand Rabbi Marc Raphaël Guedj, president of the Fondation
Racines et Sources (Roots and Sources Foundation).

Professor Fawzia Al-Ahmawi of the University of Geneva and Hafid Ouardiri,
president of the Ta'aruf (Interknowing) Foundation, are offering their
expertise on Islam, and Christianity is to be interpreted by several staff
members of the World Council of Churches (WCC) as well as by Professor S.
Wesley Ariarajah of Drew University in the United States of America.

Professor Odair Pedroso Mateus of the Ecumenical Institute, academic
coordinator for the 2011 summer course, champions this opportunity for
"promoting encounter, not provoking conflict", for asking hard questions and
exploring the possibility of "dialogue as a means of peaceful change" in the
world, for "encouraging community among civilizations, rather than a clash."

The Ecumenical Institute administration is sensitive to the variety of
dietary practices among the students, and spaces for worship have been
arranged appropriate to each of the religious traditions represented.

Founded in 1946, the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey is the international
centre for encounter, dialogue and formation of the WCC. It is related to
the University of Geneva through a covenant agreement with the university's
autonomous faculty of Protestant theology.

The summer course has been jointly organized by the Ecumenical Institute,
the WCC programme on Inter-religious Dialogue and Cooperation, the Ta'aruf
Foundation and the Fondation Racines et Sources.

[784 words]

(*) Theodore Gill is senior editor of WCC Publications in Geneva and a
minister ordained by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

WCC programme on Inter-religious Dialogue and Cooperation
(Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=8fc9aabfc1c15a2d279e )

Website of the Ecumenical Institute (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=65e84ad4b17b2ce1d7ed )

More information on the interfaith course (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=6136c982db162deb831c )

High resolution photos to illustrate this article may be requested free of
charge via photos.oikoumene.org (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=4ccd6dac11e4d3bd852d )

Interfaith Awareness Week 2011 - July Meeting

2011-07-12T11:00:00.001-07:00

Interfaith Awareness Week 2011

(December 4-10, 2011)

Event Coordination Meeting

when:

Thursday, July 28, 2011

6:00 pm (~ one hour)

where:

Perkins Restaurant & Bakery (608) 238-5133
5237 University Avenue, Madison

Please reply and let us know you are coming.

If you need more information, contact either

Rev. Anne Wynne eannewynne@yahoo.com

Rev. John-Brian Paprock frjohnbrian@gmail.com

email us if you need to speak by phone and need a phone number

9-11-11: A National Day of Reconciliation.

2011-07-12T10:50:00.001-07:00

The goal of the 9-11-11 Project is to make the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks into a national day of reconciliation between American Muslims and non-Muslims, be they Christians, Jews, people of other faiths or those who practice no religion.

You can help and we hope the website www.911-11.org benefits you and your members:

Please send us details of any interfaith events planned in your area observing the 10th anniversary of 9/11. We'd like to add them to our website both to publicize them and to encourage others to make plans. As you'll see, we're also interested in on-going interfaith efforts. (Please include the website or page address, if any, for the event or interfaith efforts.)

Please share information about this website and its resources with your members as an encouragement to plan interfaith events, be they on the congregation, city or regional level.

You are, of course, also welcome to link to our site from yours.
Thank you. Ralph Henn www.911-11.org

Americans are more sensitive to the sufferings of others

2011-07-03T15:29:00.001-07:00

'Americans are more sensitive to the sufferings of others'
July 03, 2011 19:06 IST
Rediff.com's George Joseph speaks to 'the hugging saint', Mata
Amritanandamyi in New York, about spirituality, compassion and human
values.

The questions were slightly controversial. But the answers were simple
and straightforward, may be possible only for someone who lives a life
of holiness such as Mata Amritanandamyi or Amma for millions of her
devotees worldwide.

Amma, who visits the United States regularly since 1987, spoke
extensively to rediff.com on many subjects at a posh penthouse owned
by one of her devotees in New York city.

One question was about the treasure, worth more than Rs 50,000 crore,
unearthed in the Sree Padmanabha Swami Temple in Thiruvananthapuram,
the family temple of the erstwhile kings of Travancore. Amma,'s
family, which belongs to Quilon district, were the subjects of the
king, before India's [ Images ] independence.

She saluted the wisdom and values of the kings who preserved such a
treasure. The kings and their relations could have moved part of it to
their places. "I have seen people from the royal family living in
abject poverty. Yet they did not take the treasure to help the family
members."

She says she has no right to comment about the treasure. It is for the
government and courts to take a decision. "But it is part of our
heritage and they should be preserved as much as possible or needed.
In Europe I have seen such places. An ancient agriculture land in
Italy [ Images ] remains the same way and people are not even allowed
to put a stone there."

"If there is still more left, it can be used for common good. It is
temple property, she says."

Another question was about the money and gold found at the chambers of
Satya [ Images ] Sai Baba of Puttaparthy after his samadhi. She says
her 'math' (monastery) does not keep gold worth more than Rs 15 lakh.
If more is to be kept, the math has to pay Rs 1,000 as tax for gold
worth Rs 100,000.

"Whenever we get more offerings it is used for the marriage of poor
girls. I only use an old crown worth Rs 500 given by a devotee long
ago."

She says that the math follows all the laws of the country. It follows
the rules of monastery (sanyas math), and it is on the model of
Ramakrishan Mission ashrams. She says she is not sure what rules Sai
Baba's temple followed.

The math is ruled by a trust consisting of 11 people. She says she
does not handle the money, but always keeps an eye on the accounts to
make sure they are maintained properly.

Many of the maths in India are owned or operated by families. But her
math follows the 'monastic order' which means that the charge goes to
the next sanyasin in line.

Coming to the spiritual side, she says that spirituality is increasing
worldwide. Love for the nature is also going up. At the same time,
numbers of those who plunge in to worldly pleasures and selfishness is
also increasing.

Asked about the belief that the world may come to an end in 2012, she
says that it's ending every day. "When people lack love and care for
others, the world is ending. Mere population does not make the world,"
she says.

Though she speaks mostly in her native tongue, Malayalam, she never
had a problem because of that anywhere in the world. "A child can
understand a mother's language, and vice versa."

She is unhappy that there are around 10 times more people in the jails
in the US than in India, she says Americans are generally more
compassionate to the sufferings of others.

"We can doubt if there is a God. But we cannot doubt the sufferings of
the people. If we show compassion to them, it is the best evidence for
belief in god. The culture may be different in the US, but people are
the same everywhere, like fire or honey."

She also spoke about her father, who had several businesses. When he
died he had six boats, and bequeathed one to her. She says she comes
from a village where girls were not allowed to go out alone after they
were 12.

There were restrictions. Some people opposed or attacked her
initially, but they too softened over the years. "For me, both stones
and flower are the same."

Though she has been hugging people for the last 40 years, she says she
was not exhausted by it. "Love does not get bored." She never felt
tired, she says, but adds that the body shows its wear and tear, as
years go by.

"Even gold and iron get withered over time," she reasoned.

When asked about her expectations 10 years from now, she says she only
lives in the present.

"If we live properly in the current moment, tomorrow will bring the
right results," she says. For her, no day is a bad day. She says her
life flows like a river and she has not thought of where it would end.

"The work or institutions were not the result of any planning. They
came into existence as a response to specific situations," she says.

When the tsunami occurred, she did not ask for help. But the help
came, regardless, from many parts of the world. "Even the poor sent
produce from their lands," she says.

When a journalist questioned her about living in a posh pent house,
she says she lives in ordinary places without amenities too. She never
thought of the abode or how big or small it was.

"After all, life itself is like a lodge. Bigger houses may not bring
peace or sleep.

Everything in the universe is interconnected," she says.

Image: Mata Amritanandamyi
http://www.rediff.com/news/report/americans-are-more-sensitive-to-the-sufferings-of-others/20110703.htm
George Josep in New York

OPF FALL CONFERENCE NEWS!!

2011-07-03T15:24:00.001-07:00

Announcing:

Orthodox Peace Fellowship - North America 2011 Conference
Madison, Wisconsin - September 16-18

Conference Theme: "Forgiveness: Finding Wholeness Again"

Dates: September 16-18, 2011
Place: Madison, WI
Venue: Bishop O'Connor Pastorl Center, 702 South High Point Road, 53719
Theme: Forgiveness: Finding Wholeness Again

Partial list of speakers ~

Bob Enright ~ professor of forgiveness studies, University of
Wisconsin/Madison; director, International Forgiveness Institute
Ms. Kim Phuc ~ Kim Foundation International [invited]
Rev. George Morelli, PhD ~ Chairman of the Department of Chaplaincy
and Pastoral Counseling Ministry, Antiochian Orthodox Christian
Archdiocese
Ms. Judith Toy ~ author, Murder as a Call to Love and ordained Buddhist cleric
Miroslav Volf ~ director, Yale Center for Faith and Culture; author,
Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace
[invited]
Rev. John-Brian Paprock ~ pastor, Holy Transfiguration Orthodox
Mission; author of Neighbors, Strangers and Everyone Else

as well as ~ films, food and fellowship

Friends,

Please be good enough to print out a copy of the attached flyer and
post it in your parish. You can also share it electronically with
anyone in your address book who you think might be interested in
attending. As always, we welcome non-members and non-Orthodox.

Information will be available shortly about conference costs. We will
endeavor to offer low-cost options for those who are
financially-challenged, or who are coming greater distances.

Yours in Christ,

Alex
Alexander Patico - opfnorthamerica@gmail.com

Dalai Lama to host 11-day peace festival in U.S. capital

2011-06-29T21:13:00.001-07:00

Ecumenical News International News Highlights - 29 June 2011

Dalai Lama to host 11-day peace festival in U.S. capital

Washington, D.C. (ENInews)--The Dalai Lama will visit Washington, D.C. next
month for an 11-day rally that is being billed as "the largest gathering for
world peace in history." The 6-16 July "Kalachakra for World Peace" aims to
"amplify the profound, unshakable commitment of (the Dalai Lama) to values
such as love, compassion, wisdom and interfaith harmony," according to
publicity materials, Religion News Service reports.

[303 words, ENI-11-0340]
ENI Online - www.eni.ch

An Effort to Foster Tolerance in Religion

2011-06-15T19:08:00.001-07:00

June 13, 2011
An Effort to Foster Tolerance in Religion
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN (NYTimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/14/us/14patel.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

CHICAGO — For a guy who is only 35 and lives in a walk-up apartment,
Eboo Patel has already racked up some impressive accomplishments.

A Rhodes scholar with a doctorate in the sociology of religion from
Oxford University, he has four honorary degrees. His autobiography is
required freshman reading on 11 college campuses. He runs a nonprofit
organization — the Interfaith Youth Core — with 31 employees and a
budget of $4 million. And he was tapped by the White House as a key
architect of an initiative announced in April by President Obama.

Mr. Patel got there by identifying a sticky problem in American civic
life and proposing a concrete solution. The problem? Increased
religious diversity is causing increasing religious conflict. And too
often, religious extremists are driving events.

He figured that if Muslim radicals and extremists of other religions
were recruiting young people, then those who believe in religious
tolerance should also enlist the youth.

Interfaith activism could be a cause on college campuses, he argued,
as much "a norm" as the environmental or women's rights movements, as
ambitious as Teach for America. The crucial ingredient was to gather
students of different religions together not just to talk, he said,
but to work together to feed the hungry, tutor children or build
housing.

"Interfaith cooperation should be more than five people in a book
club," Mr. Patel said, navigating his compact car to a panel
discussion at Elmhurst College just west of downtown Chicago, while
answering questions and dictating e-mails to an aide. "You need a
critical mass of interfaith leaders who know how to build
relationships across religious divides, and see it as a lifelong
endeavor."

Until Mr. Patel came along, the interfaith movement in the United
States was largely the province of elders and clergy members hosting
dialogues and, yes, book clubs — and drafting documents that had
little impact at the grass roots.

Meanwhile at the grass roots, inter-religious friction was sparking
regularly over public school holidays, zoning permits for houses of
worship and religious garb in the workplace. At many universities,
there is open hostility over the Israeli occupation of Palestinian
territories and the failure to find a peaceful solution.

Mr. Patel, who is Muslim, is not saying that his plan will solve all
those conflicts, just that the focus should be on what he calls "the
American project." Immigrants across the generations brought their
faiths, their biases and their beefs and "built a new pattern of
relationships" over here, he said, pointing out that English
Protestants and Irish Catholics eventually overcame their enmity on
these shores.

"When I go to a campus where the Muslim Student Association and the
Hillel are not talking to each other," he said (referring to the
national Jewish student group) this spring in a lecture at Columbia
University, "my question to them is, 'Who did you feed in Ramallah by
not talking to Hillel? Who did you keep safe in the south of Israel by
not talking to the M.S.A.?' "

There are many interfaith groups, but none like Mr. Patel's, where
youthful idealism and spiritual searching have been channeled by pro
bono consultants from McKinsey & Company into strategic plans,
templates and spreadsheets. The offices take up a whole floor in a
handsomely renovated industrial building. On one end is a small prayer
room. On the other is a bulletin board where the manager of foundation
development tracks grant applications worth millions of dollars.

At a staff meeting, which started and ended on time, two senior
leaders in T-shirts emblazoned "Better Together" walked everybody
through a PowerPoint presentation of the group's recent expansion.

By the end of the school year in June 2010, the Youth Core had trained
18 "interfaith fellows" who each recruited about 40 students on their
campuses. By this June, the Youth Core had trained leaders on 97
campuses, who engaged an average of 100 students, for a total of
10,000 participants — more than 10 times over the previous year. The
leaders are undergraduates, religious and nonreligious, who attended
summer training sessions led by Youth Core staff members, and then
returned to their campuses to organize interfaith events and community
service projects using the upbeat slogan, "Better Together."

The meeting ended when the vice president for strategy and operations,
Gabe Hakim, a former McKinsey analyst who wears a "What Would Jesus
Do" bracelet, recited his signature send-off: "Let's go make it a
norm."

Mr. Patel responded with his signature meeting closer, "Rock on."

Mr. Patel started the Youth Core in 2002 with a Jewish friend, a
$35,000 grant from the Ford Foundation and one full-time paid staff
member, April Mendez, an evangelical Christian who still works with
the organization as vice president for leadership.

Mr. Patel's parents were Indian immigrants from the Ismaili Shiite
sect (led by the imam Aga Khan IV), which is known for its
philanthropic work. But Mr. Patel spent his days at the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and afterward running away from his own
roots, searching for spiritual identity and purpose.

He read Dorothy Day and lived in Catholic Worker houses, volunteered
in a homeless shelter run by evangelical Christians in Atlanta,
practiced Buddhist meditation and made a pilgrimage to the Dalai Lama
in India (which is chronicled in his autobiography, "Acts of Faith,"
published in 2007 by Beacon Press). But when he visited his
grandmother in Mumbai and saw her taking in battered women, he
realized that his own tradition offered the ethic of service and
humanitarianism he had been looking for all along.

Now, during the work day, Mr. Patel flies from speaking engagements to
White House meetings to college campuses. Six university presidents
have signed paying contracts to have the Youth Core assess the state
of inter-religious relations and awareness on campus and devise
proposals on how to improve them.

The Rev. Michael J. Garanzini, president of Loyola University, a
Jesuit university in Chicago, said of Mr. Patel's group: "They don't
have the knowledge base or experience in theology, but they have
provided the data on where our kids are. The world we grew up in was
all Irish, Italian and German. Now it's Vietnamese, and Poles and
Jewish kids from Skokie. We are not automatically able to reflect on
their reality."

The White House initiative is the biggest breakthrough yet. Mr. Obama
sent a letter last month to 2,000 university presidents inviting them
to sign up their campuses for the "Interfaith and Community Service
Challenge" in the coming school year. So far, about 400 have signed
on.

Joshua DuBois, executive director of the White House Office of
Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, said Mr. Patel, who served
on the president's religion advisory council, and the Youth Core staff
were "critical early partners" in developing the new initiative.

"You have people who can cast a vision but then not implement the
vision," Mr. DuBois said in an interview. "Then you have people who
are great implementers but are not very inspirational. Eboo is a
unique leader who can do both."

At night, when Mr. Patel comes home to his apartment, his year-old
son, Khalil, is waiting at the glass door.

Mr. Patel tries to live the philosophy that exposure to other
religions enhances one's own. He and his wife, Shehnaz Mansuri, a
civil rights lawyer and a Sunni Muslim, have hired a South American
nanny who sometimes recites the Lord's Prayer to their two sons. They
send their 4-year-old, Zayd, to a Roman Catholic preschool.

"When Zayd talks about saints," Mr. Patel said, "I can tell him about imams."

New USIP publication on Women in Religious Peacebuilding

2011-06-06T19:47:00.001-07:00

From: Barbara Hartford

Dear friends,

Greetings of love and peace.

I've just received notice of a new USIP Publication that looks
interesting. It's entitled "Women in Religious Peacebuilding" by
Katherine Marshall and Susan Hayward. You can read about it here at
http://www.usip.org/publications/women-in-religious-peacebuilding

You may download it for free or you can request one from Renata
Stuebner at rstuebner@usip.org.

Blessings,

Barbara

For the Peace of the City, International Day of Prayerfor Peace 2011

2011-06-03T09:33:00.001-07:00

FOR THE PEACE OF THE CITY: INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER FOR PEACE SEPT. 21,
2011

(June 3, 2011) New Windsor, Maryland -- On Earth Peace is kicking off its
fifth annual campaign organizing community groups and church congregations
to participate in the International Day of Prayer for Peace (IDPP),
September 21. The scripture theme for the 2011 campaign is "Seek the peace
of the city--for in its peace, you will find peace" (Jeremiah 29).

In 2011, On Earth Peace is seeking 200 faith and community groups around the
world to plan public events on or near September 21. While anyone is invited
to sign up, On Earth Peace is especially seeking youth and young adults to
organize gatherings, events, services, or vigils as part of IDPP.

Registration means committing to organize a public prayer event focused on
violence, during the week of September 21, 2011. An introductory video,
organizing resources, and online registration for the International Day of
Prayer for Peace are available online at www.onearthpeace.org/idpp.

"While nations around the world stagger under economic devastation, endless
war, and corrupt politics, and while rural and urban communities alike fail
to thrive, the International Day of Prayer for Peace can be a doorway into
eliminating violence and bringing reconciliation in your community and our
world," said On Earth Peace Program Director Matt Guynn.

"On Earth Peace partner groups from previous IDPP events have gone on to
develop community leadership initiatives around issues of race, poverty,
militarism, corruption, and religious violence. September 21 is only one
day, but as you bring together new partners and community groups to pray, it
can awaken imagination and open a gateway to God's vision of abundant life,
revived hope, and deep peace."

An initiative of the World Council of Churches, the International Day of
Prayer for Peace is connected with the United Nations' International Day of
Peace, a time when the guns, armies and militias are called to go silent and
24-hour ceasefires are encouraged around the world. It is an opportunity for
people and grassroots groups to join in celebration, prayer, and sharing
together about their hopes for a more peaceful world.

Committed to stopping violence and building reconciliation, On Earth Peace
is an agency rooted in the Church of the Brethren. On Earth Peace extends
this 300-year faith legacy by equipping new generations of Christian
peacemakers and partnering with grassroots groups to build peace with
justice.

The Church of the Brethren is a Christian denomination committed to
continuing the work of Jesus peacefully and simply, and to living out its
faith in community. The denomination is based in the Anabaptist and Pietist
faith traditions and is one of the three Historic Peace Churches. It
celebrated its 300th anniversary in 2008. It counts some 123,000 members
across the United States and Puerto Rico, and has missions and sister
churches in Nigeria, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and India.

###

For more information contact:

Samuel Sarpiya
On Earth Peace
815-314-0438
idpp@onearthpeace.org

Peace message closes convocation, but work has only begun

2011-05-24T23:06:00.001-07:00

World Council of Churches - News

PEACE MESSAGE CLOSES CONVOCATION, BUT WORK HAS ONLY BEGUN

For immediate release: 25 May 2011

Participants at the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC)
released a message on Tuesday expressing their unified experience of a
week-long exploration of a just peace and to navigate a path forward as they
return to their homes and churches across the world.

Attempting to take into account each other's contexts and histories, IEPC
participants were unified in their aspiration that war should become illegal
and that peace is central in all religious traditions.

The message states: "With partners of other faiths, we have recognized that
peace is a core value in all religions, and the promise of peace extends to
all people regardless of their traditions and commitments.
Through intensified inter-religious dialogue we seek common ground with all
world religions."

The participants acknowledged that each church and each religion brings with
it a different standpoint from which to begin walking toward a just peace.
Some begin from a standpoint of personal conversion and morality.
Others stress the need to focus on mutual support and correction within the
body of Christ, while still others encourage churches' commitment to broad
social movements and the public witness of the church.

"Each approach has merit," the message, which was crafted by a seven-member
message committee chaired by Bishop Ivan Abrahams of the Methodist Church of
Southern Africa, states, "they are not mutually exclusive. In fact they
belong inseparably together. Even in our diversity we can speak with one
voice."

Abrahams said he trusts that IEPC participants will find their voices in the
message. "In many ways, this convocation is a milestone in the march toward
just peace," he said. "The words 'reaping' and 'harvesting'
have been intrinsic to the life of this convocation. This message is to
ourselves, to our churches and related organizations, and to the world that
is bruised and broken and that God so loves."

The message also acknowledged that the church has often obstructed the path
toward just peace. "We realize that Christians have often been complicit in
systems of violence, injustice, militarism, racism, casteism, intolerance
and discrimination. We ask God to forgive our sins, and to transform us as
agents of righteousness and advocates of Just Peace."

The message continued to address the four themes of the convocation: peace
in the community, peace with the earth, peace in the marketplace, and peace
among the peoples, allowing for specific emphasis on each theme and how they
complement to the ethical and theological approach to the pursuit of Just
Peace.

"Much more than a text"

The IEPC message captures only part of a truly historic event, said the Rev.
Dr Walter Altmann, moderator of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Central
Committee, as he received the IEPC message on behalf of the WCC.

"You take with you much more than a text; you take with you a profound
ecumenical experience," he said. "The complexity of the issues we have
addressed will certainly require further work, reflection and action."

The ending of WCC's Decade to Overcome Violence is also a new beginning, he
added. "As we return, each of us becomes a living message for the IECP," he
said.

More than 60 of some 1,000 IEPC participants commented on a draft message,
and their input was taken into account as the final message was crafted.

Moderating the comments was Metropolitan Prof. Dr Gennadios of Sassima of
the Ecumenical Patriarchate, vice-moderator of the WCC Central Committee.
"This final text belongs to you, and to us, and to all of us," he said, "and
this will be spread out around the world by the closing of this
convocation."

The IEPC participants responded to a reading of their final message with a
standing ovation. The general secretary of the WCC, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse
Tveit, expressed his pride to the IEPC participants who challenged
themselves and each other to reach new levels of understanding and
determination.

"We are called to be one in our witness," he said. "We also see that the way
to just peace has united us. This is a gift for all of us and we shall use
it well. This week has brought many signs of your commitment.
Sometimes we need to struggle. Sometimes we need to feel it isn't that
easy."

The participation of some 95 youth in the IEPC was also acknowledged during
the closing of the event. Sanna Eriksson, representing the Church of Sweden,
spoke on behalf of the young IEPC participants who planned activities and
had highly visible participation throughout the convocation.

"We rejoice that young people participated in this meeting in a wide variety
of roles," she said. "We thank those churches and organizations who sent
young people as their representatives."

The IEPC message also expressed profound gratefulness to its hosts in
Jamaica and the entire Caribbean region.

The Rev. Gary Harriott, general secretary of the Jamaica Council of
Churches, said that the entire Caribbean region was both proud and excited
to host the IEPC in Jamaica. "It was far more than planning an event, as
some very important relationships were established, which we hope will
remain intact even after IEPC," he said.

The final message may be complete but the work of the IEPC is only
beginning, said Prof. Dr Fernando Enns, who was moderator of the preparatory
committee for the IEPC. "We are only beginning to grasp the possibilities we
have when we really respect one another. The church shall not speak to the
marginalized; the church is where the marginalized are."

IEPC participants should celebrate their experience, he said, but should not
rest satisfied. "Our journey must continue," he said. "You and I, we shall
hold each other accountable. The church is either accepting the call to just
peace or it is not the church at all."

IEPC website (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=7366083924d120269d03 )

IEPC photo galleries (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=ca5f88266e611258b0e8 )

IEPC videos (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=c0a999959c99e5e84b2b
)

High resolution photos of the event may be requested free of charge via
photos.oikoumene.org (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=e39dd07ae65e676ac304 )

What does "God's security" look like?

2011-05-24T08:11:00.001-07:00

World Council of Churches - News

WHAT DOES "GOD'S SECURITY" LOOK LIKE?

For immediate release: 24 May 2011

As a 10-year-old schoolgirl, on 6 August 1945, at 8:15 a.m., Setsuko
Thurlow, then Nakamura, suddenly saw a brilliant bluish light flash outside
her schoolroom window. "I remember the sensation of floating in the air.
When I regained consciousness, in the total darkness and silence, I found
myself in the rubble."

She began to hear her classmates' faint voices: "Mom, help me. Dad, help
me."

Thurlow is a "hibakusha", a survivor of the Hiroshima atomic bomb, one of
two nuclear bombs dropped on Japan by the United States toward the end of
World War II. She is also a lifelong advocate against armaments.

Her vivid and painful memory washed over participants at the International
Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC) Monday in Kingston, Jamaica, on a day
when a panel discussion explored the theme of Peace among the Peoples,
examined critical concerns about obstructions to peace at the international
level, and considered what real security looks like.

Even though Thurlow's presentation was a recorded video, as she was unable
to attend the convocation in person, it remained a stark reminder of how
recent the use of the atomic bomb really was. It was only a generation ago
and since then the major world powers have developed and proliferated
nuclear arsenals that are, at best, mutually destructive.

Back in 1945, Thurlow said her help came in the form of a stranger's touch.
"Suddenly some hands started shaking my left shoulder, and a voice said,
'Get out of here as quickly as possible.'"

All around her, she said, were "bleeding, ghostly figures, burned black, the
flesh of their skin hanging from their bones. There was deathly silence
broken only by the moans of the injured and their pleas for water."

As survivors like Thurlow tell their stories, they recall the injustice that
260,000 innocent people perished post-1945 because of the effects of the
heat and radiation.

Governments tend to attempt to justify large-scale military action - at its
worst, nuclear warfare - in the name of "security," pointed out Dr Lisa
Schirch, professor of peace-building at Eastern Mennonite University in
Harrisonburg, Va., United States. She called into question what security
should mean to Christians.

"Jesus doesn't use the word 'security.' The language of the church is much
more about justice and peace than about security," she said.

"Security does not land in a helicopter"

When visiting Iraq in 2005, Schirch worked with Iraqis who were
peace-building at a community level. "They told me this: security does not
land in a helicopter; it grows from the ground up."

Iraq was just one country of many on the minds of IEPC participants as they
explored peace among the peoples in a discussion that ranged from nuclear
disarmament to ending all war.

The moderator of the discussion, the Rev. Kjell Magne Bondevik who is
president of the Oslo Center for Peace and Human Right and twice prime
minister of Norway, said he remembers the day in 2003 when U.S. President
George Bush called to solicit his support for the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

"And I said no," recalled Bondevik, as some 1,000 IEPC participants broke
into applause. "I cannot. First of all you don't have a mandate from the
U.N. And, from my ethical Christian perspective, using military means must
be the very, very last solution after you have tried all other peaceful
means."

The churches had a decisive, distinct voice in his decision, he said.
"Churches in Norway made a campaign against possible war in Iraq."

As Archbishop Dr Avak Asadourian, the Armenian Orthodox Archbishop of
Baghdad, listened, he said he would like Bondevik's message of Christian
peace to be communicated across the world. "I am sorry that other leaders
are not listening," he said. "During the past 32 years, all of Iraq has gone
through three wars and an embargo. An embargo by definition is also an act
of war. Iraqis have been in a very bad situation."

Asadourian took issue with the fact that Christians are now referred to as a
minority group within Iraq. "Christians in Iraq are not minorities.
Christians in Iraq are an important part of the Iraqi society. We are doing
everything we can for peace. By peace, in this sense, I don't mean only the
absence of war. By peace, I mean equality."

During the sessions, IEPC participants paused in groups to mull over the
idea that a Christian version of security could be created if churches would
become involved in a form of "early warning," that is, in getting messages
out from the ground about potential conflicts in ways that governments do
not.

"Here, women have a very special role to play," said Dr Patricia Lewis,
deputy director and scientist-in-residence at the Monterey Institute in
California, US, and panellist at the IEPC. "If you don't ask the women, you
don't know what's happening."

Lewis expressed her own deep faith that change will come. "People in the
military and people in positions of authority will understand that nuclear
weapons have almost no use militarily at all. They will also realize you
can't make small mistakes with nuclear weapons."

If churches expect to make an impact in stopping war and the proliferation
of nuclear weapons, they must move beyond declarative documents into the
realm of action, said Dr Christiane Agboton-Johnson, deputy director of the
United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research in Geneva, Switzerland.

"Women often suffer most seriously in a conflict despite their commitment to
ending the conflict. Can one consider that a document or a rule is enough to
deal with this sort of problem? I'm not convinced of that. Is the U.N.
prepared to move on from words to actions? They would do better to implement
what is written down."

Meanwhile, Thurlow and other nuclear bomb survivors will continue their call
for humankind to learn from the mistakes of the past: "No human being should
ever have to repeat our experience of inhumanity, illegality, immorality and
cruelty of atomic warfare," she said.

IEPC website (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=84ff5ca854d125930b2e )

IEPC photo galleries (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=16bb41aaf475603c8ddc )

IEPC videos (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=5b5c0d575678a7658383
)

High resolution photos of the event may be requested free of charge via
photos.oikoumene.org (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=eb00e77d63f4fffa3745 )

Bolivian shares indigenous theology at IEPC

2011-05-20T14:52:00.001-07:00

World Council of Churches - News

BOLIVIAN SHARES INDIGENOUS THEOLOGY OF "SACREDNESS WITH THE EARTH"

For immediate release: 20 May 2011

Sofía Chipana Quispe is part of the first generation of her family born in
the city. Her parents migrated to La Paz, Bolivia, from the Andean mountain
rural areas before she was born in 1952.

Despite growing up in an urban setting, Sofia has become a primary voice of
an indigenous theology that values living in dignity and sacredness with the
earth and respect for all forms of life.

She was able to share some of her wisdom and experience Thursday as
coordinator of a workshop on this theological perspective during the second
day of the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC) in Kingston,
Jamaica.

Thursday's IEPC theme was "Peace in the Community." Along with two other
representatives of the Aymara people in South America, Quispe offered a
reflection on peace based on ancestral values that have accompanied their
communities through generations and help them to seek peace and harmonious
relations in their communities.

"Qullan suma qamaña, Taika Utasana" (Living in dignity and sacredness in the
great house of Mother Earth) was the title chosen by the Aymara team to
explore how one can have dignity even in today's situations marked by
injustice.

The team said the concept of "ayllu" provides valuable clues for a holistic
view of peace. "Ayllu" is a community where one experiences an
interrelationship and interdependence between Mother Earth and human beings
and all creatures. "Everything is part of everything," says Quispe.

Celebration of justice

For the Andean communities, the rites, the celebration and practice of
justice are very important. "This is the way to peace restoration," she
said. The rite is a way to establish peace.

"So throughout my childhood, even living in the city, my parents always took
me to have contact with the grandparents in the countryside," Quispe said
describing the influences in her life that countered the pressures of an
urban setting.

Any prospect of peace is, for Andean people, the search for balance and
harmony among all beings that live in the same space.

According to Vicenta Manami Bernabé, one of the coordinators of the
workshop, the quest for just peace takes place in three levels: the rites,
the festivities and the experience of justice.

Bernabé and Quispe are part of the Community of Indigenous Women Theologians
of Abya Yala, a group supported by the World Council of Churches.

After starting work as a Roman Catholic missionary, Quispe lived for several
years among the Quechua people, of the Andeans regions as well.
"This experience was decisive to define my spirituality, because I
rediscovered the integral relationship that each person has with God's
creation," she said.

The Andean spirituality is unconditionally linked to the "Pachamama," the
Mother Earth. But it is also marked by ethical standards of living these
values within community and expressions of solidarity with others.

In many situations of conflict or need, the support comes from members of
the community. "Asking for and receiving help is an important part in
building our relationships more equally," Quispe concluded.

More information on the IEPC plenary on Peace in the Community
(Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=a49e1280652d764da899
)

IEPC website (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=68d86994026883cda31c )

The IEPC in social media (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=9d55a34cff7a7c82374f )

High resolution photos of the event may be requested free of charge via
photos.oikoumene.org (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=85d8294e3fcd0b13e0f2 )

Peace convocation opens with strong calls from global voices

2011-05-18T22:07:00.000-07:00

"The principle question we have to answer is what we as Christians can do
together in the face of growing violence, aggression, exploitation and
terror," said Archbishop Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk.

World Council of Churches - News

PEACE CONVOCATION OPENS WITH STRONG CALLS FROM GLOBAL VOICES

For immediate release: 19 May 2011

The International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC) formally opened on
Wednesday in Kingston, Jamaica, as theologians, faith leaders and the prime
minister of Jamaica welcomed some 1,000 participants from more than 100
countries.

Keynote speaker Canon Dr Paul Oestreicher, a globally recognized peace
activist, called for churches across all spiritual traditions to strengthen
their position on peace, even while recognizing their own history of
declaring war in the name of God.

"Under the sign of the cross, Christian nations conquered other nations," he
said. "In the crusades, they massacred the children of Islam. That has not
been forgotten. We, just like our brothers and sisters in Islam, regard
those who die in battle as certain of a place in heaven."

Oestreicher acknowledged that the path to peace is obstructed by political
complexities.

"At the moment war, once it starts, is held by most of our neighbours to be
honourable, probably necessary, and sometimes noble. Language disguises the
bloody, cruel reality," he said.

The Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of
Churches (WCC), moderated the convocation's opening session, which included
an opening prayer service, greetings, and stories of churches seeking peace
and reconciliation.

"I believe that God has called us here from many parts of the world to carry
from your countries your experiences," he said. "Many of you carry with you
the realities of the injustice of violence."

Those from the Caribbean region and Jamaica welcomed IEPC participants, many
of whom were visiting Jamaica for the first time.

Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding acknowledged his own country's history
of violence and, at the same time, its ingenuity and resilience in coping
over the decades.

"I genuinely believe that we were all created by the same God," he said.
"The challenge is: how can we transform our discussion into a shared set of
values that are universally accepted and sustained."

Theologians began asking the questions that IEPC participants will wrestle
with during the next week. Archbishop Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk,
chairman of the department of external church relations of the Russian
Orthodox Church, spoke of Christians and others across the globe who are
daily exposed to humiliation and threats.

"The principle question we have to answer is what we as Christians can do
together in the face of growing violence, aggression, exploitation and
terror," he said.

The IEPC comes at the end of a Decade to Overcome Violence, an initiative of
the WCC that strove to strengthen existing efforts and networks for
preventing and overcoming violence, as well as inspire the creation of new
ones.

The Rev. Dr Margot Kaessmann, a Lutheran theologian and minister in the
Evangelical Church of Germany, said that IEPC participants are part of a
long and complex journey that only begins this week.

"Our economies profit from violence and war that we lament," she said.
"Religion plays a vital role with regard to peace-making and overcoming
violence. It is time that religion refuses to be misused by pouring oil into
the fire of war and hatred."

The opening plenary was preceded by an opening worship and prayer service
filled with song and prayers for peace. The events of the afternoon were
closed with a prayer from Jamaican Archbishop Donald Reece of the Roman
Catholic Church. (Link: )

Both events were broadcast live around the world through a video stream
available through the IEPC website www.overcomingviolence.org
(Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=0f33e98764b929630db2 ). The
morning plenaries throughout the remainder of the IEPC will also be
broadcast live through a video stream from 10:30 am - 12:30 pm local time
(GMT - 5 hours).

IEPC website (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=674786e3f11b0ffe8b18 )

Text of the speeches at the opening plenary (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=61b5218c60180b0f78a9 )

The IEPC in social media (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=a36d69f80739e39bcd2d )

High resolution photos of the event may be requested free of charge via
photos.oikoumene.org (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=cbc9fc2ac5c961888df2 )

Inter-religious forum urges practical grassroots ties

2011-05-18T09:50:00.001-07:00

Ecumenical News International News Highlights
18 May 2011

Europe/Middle East forum urges practical grassroots ties

Warsaw, Poland (ENInews)--Inter-faith initiatives should focus on the
practical, non-political task of building grassroots relationships,
according to participants at an inter-religious symposium which ended on 15
May in Poland. "Such initiatives usually take place at a political level,
and consist of panels of experts speaking to passive audiences," said Yehuda
Stolov, founder and executive director of the Jerusalem-based Interfaith
Encounter Association, which promotes peace in the Middle East and sponsors
regular Palestinian-Israeli encounters. [709 words, ENI-11-0251]

ENI Online - www.eni.ch

Global Buddhist gathering urges faith-based social action

2011-05-18T09:48:00.001-07:00

Ecumenical News International News Highlights
18 May 2011

Global Buddhist gathering urges faith-based social action

Bangkok (ENInews)--Buddhists from as far afield as Lithuania and Uganda
gathered in Bangkok last weekend on the occasion of Vesak Day -- the annual
celebration of the birth, enlightenment and passing of Buddha -- and called
for both monastics and lay Buddhists to use their faith as a basis for
action in promoting social and economic development. [561 words,
ENI-11-0250]

ENI Online - www.eni.ch

Video streaming the peace convocation

2011-05-16T16:22:00.001-07:00

World Council of Churches - Media advisory

VIDEO STREAMING THE PEACE CONVOCATION

For immediate release: 16 May 2011

The World Council of Churches (WCC) will be web streaming the plenary
sessions and special events of the upcoming International Ecumenical Peace
Convocation (IEPC). The video streams will be live from the Mona campus of
the University of West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica, where the convocation is
being held, beginning Wednesday 18 May.

The streaming will be available through the IEPC website
www.overcomingviolence.org (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=3d96b1b342147f4f27cf ) and the
Jamaica Information Service
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=6500cd8ab44a3ca76c46 (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=f1ea6bf90847faead5d6 ).

Following is the web streaming schedule. All times are Jamaica local time
(GMT-5 hours) and subject to change.

For more information about the speakers and panel members please download
the IEPC handbook (pdf, 784 KB) (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=6ae2a91d711968561782
) at www.overcomingviolence.org (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=112bed2ef8cfd4c85cb2 )

Wednesday 18 May (time and speakers subject to change)
Time: 14:30 - 16:30
Plenary: Opening, DOV celebration, keynote address, greetings Scheduled
speakers:
* Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit
* Rev. Dr Paul Gardner
* Rev. Dr Margot Kässmann
* Metropolitan Dr Hilarion of Volokolamsk
* Canon Dr Paul Oestreicher

Time: 17:30 - 19:00
Opening Prayer and worship service

Thursday 19 May (time and speakers subject to change)
Time: 10:30 - 12:30
Plenary: Peace in the Community
Scheduled speakers and panel:
* Martin Luther King III
* Prof. Ram Puniyani
* Dr Muna Mushahwar
* Dr Deborah Weissman
* Dr Tania Mara Viera Sampaio
* Asha Kowtal
* Rev. Karen Thompson

Friday 20 May (time and speakers subject to change)
Time: 10:30 - 12:30
Plenary: Peace with the Earth
Scheduled speakers and panel:
* Rev. Tafue M. Lusama
* Sr Ernestina López Bac
* Adrian Shaw
* Lic. Elias Crisostomo Abramides
* Fr Prof. Dr Kondothra M. George
* Choir from Global Network of Religion for Children

Saturday 21 May (time and speakers subject to change)
Time: 10:30 - 12:30
Plenary: Peace in the Marketplace
Scheduled speakers and panel:
* Archbishop Valentine Mokiwa
* Omega Bula
* Fr Emmanuel Clapsis
* Rev. Dr Roderick Hewitt
* Rev. Garnett Roper
* Dr Rommel F. Linatoc

Sunday 22 May (time subject to change)
Time 17:00 - 19:00
Concert (time to be confirmed)

Monday 23 May (time and speakers subject to change)
Time: 10:30 - 12:30
Plenary: Peace among the Peoples
Scheduled speakers and panel:
* Setsuko Thurlow
* Dr Christiane Agboton-Johnson
* Dr Patricia Lewis
* Dr Lisa Schirch
* Archbishop Avak Asadourian
* Rev. Kjell Magne Bondevik

Tuesday 24 May (time subject to change)
Time: 10:30 - 12:30 and 14:30 - 16:15
Closing Plenaries

International Ecumenical Peace Convocation starts 17 May

2011-05-11T11:48:00.001-07:00

World Council of Churches - News

INTERNATIONAL ECUMENICAL PEACE CONVOCATION STARTS 17 MAY

For immediate release: 11 May 2011

With the voices of speakers including Martin Luther King III and German
Lutheran pastor Dr Margot Kässmann, the International Ecumenical Peace
Convocation (IEPC) will begin next week. This major ecumenical event
organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) is to take place at the
University of the West Indies (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=252398c30e02052869f8
) (UWI) in Kingston, Jamaica.

"Glory to God and Peace on Earth" will be the theme of the IEPC which aims
at witnessing to the Peace of God as a gift and responsibility of the
churches and the world. The convocation runs from 17-25 May.

The IEPC is the culmination of the Decade to Overcome Violence (DOV)
programme authorized by the WCC at its 1998 Harare Assembly and initiated in
2001. The event will bring some 1,000 participants from around the globe,
representing WCC member constituencies, ecumenical and civil society
networks working in the area of peace and justice.

Hosted by the Jamaican Council of Churches and the Caribbean Council of
Churches, the IEPC will be the major ecumenical event prior to the 10th
Assembly of the WCC in 2013 in Busan, Korea.

"The IEPC comes at a time when the world is experiencing significant
political paradigm shifts, and much of this is coming with violence and
conflict," said WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit. "This event
brings the peace movements and church leaders together and offers space and
time to explore the role of the church and religion as peacemaker. We will
ask one another what it means to follow Christ today and tomorrow."

"But peace is not just about ending conflicts," Tveit continued. "It is also
about seeking justice and building sustainable conditions for peace. We find
the need for just peace in the economy, peace among peoples and cultures and
peace within communities and with the earth."

A culture of just peace

The primary goal of the IEPC is to contribute to the efforts to create a
culture of just peace and to facilitate new networks that will focus on
peace in communities and the world.

Four thematic foci of the IEPC will be on peace in the community, peace with
the earth, peace in the marketplace and peace among the peoples.
These themes will be addressed through various components of the convocation
- spiritual life, Bible studies, plenary sessions, workshops and seminars.

"The IEPC will be an occasion to reaffirm the ecumenical family's commitment
to just peace by way of proclaiming a call to just peace,''
said Dr Mathews George Chunakara, director of the Commission of the Churches
on International Affairs who is heading the IEPC preparation and planning
team of the WCC.

"The IEPC will also be an occasion for seeking to assess and strengthen the
church's position on peace, provide new opportunities to establish
networking and deepen our collective efforts and joint commitments to
processes and avenues that will lead to a culture of just peace in a complex
world situation," Chunakara said.

On Sunday 22 May 2011, participants of the IEPC will join in a worldwide
event when churches are invited to celebrate (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=f34d60123619628b6846
)God's gift of peace. Those who take part will be together in spirit, song
and prayer with the IEPC participants in Jamaica, united in the hope of
peace.

Speakers at the convocation include King and Kässmann, the WCC general
secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, Rev. Dr Paul Gardner of Jamaica,
Ernestina Lopez Bac of Guatemala, Metropolitan Dr Hilarion of Volokolamsk of
the Russian Orthodox Church, Canon Paul Oestreicher of New Zealand and a
dozen others from churches and religious communities around the world.

The daily plenary sessions and discussions will be broadcast live via web
streaming. To watch the sessions, go to the IEPC web page
www.overcomingviolence.org (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=3635329af00be23aa46d ).

On Friday 20 May, a peace concert will be held in Emancipation Park,
Kingston, featuring a number of Jamaican acts including the Fab Five, one of
the top bands in Jamaica.

More information on World Sunday for Peace (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=41a603d6087bb0248bc8 )

How to participate online (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=9888f481f514445a81f3 )

More than 20 percent of atheist scientists are spiritual

2011-05-10T00:24:00.001-07:00

More than 20 percent of atheist scientists are spiritual

May 5th, 2011 in Other Sciences / Social Sciences

More than 20 percent of atheist scientists are spiritual, according to new research from Rice University. Though the general public marries spirituality and religion, the study found that spirituality is a separate idea – one that more closely aligns with scientific discovery – for "spiritual atheist" scientists.

The research will be published in the June issue of Sociology of Religion.

Through in-depth interviews with 275 natural and social scientists at elite universities, the Rice researchers found that 72 of the scientists said they have a spirituality that is consistent with science, although they are not formally religious.

"Our results show that scientists hold religion and spirituality as being qualitatively different kinds of constructs," said Elaine Howard Ecklund, assistant professor of sociology at Rice and lead author of the study. "These spiritual atheist scientists are seeking a core sense of truth through spirituality -- one that is generated by and consistent with the work they do as scientists."

For example, these scientists see both science and spirituality as "meaning-making without faith" and as an individual quest for meaning that can never be final. According to the research, they find spirituality congruent with science and separate from religion, because of that quest; where spirituality is open to a scientific journey, religion requires buying into an absolute "absence of empirical evidence."

"There's spirituality among even the most secular scientists," Ecklund said. "Spirituality pervades both the religious and atheist thought. It's not an either/or. This challenges the idea that scientists, and other groups we typically deem as secular, are devoid of those big 'Why am I here?' questions. They too have these basic human questions and a desire to find meaning."

Ecklund co-authored the study with Elizabeth Long, professor and chair of the Department of Sociology at Rice. In their analysis of the 275 interviews, they discovered that the terms scientists most used to describe religion included "organized, communal, unified and collective." The set of terms used to describe spirituality include "individual, personal and personally constructed." All of the respondents who used collective or individual terms attributed the collective terms to religion and the individual terms to spirituality.

"While the data indicate that spirituality is mainly an individual pursuit for academic scientists, it is not individualistic in the classic sense of making them more focused on themselves," said Ecklund, director of the Religion and Public Life Program at Rice. "In their sense of things, being spiritual motivates them to provide help for others, and it redirects the ways in which they think about and do their work as scientists."

Ecklund and Long noted that the spiritual scientists saw boundaries between themselves and their nonspiritual colleagues because their spirituality facilitated engagement with the world around them. Such engagement, according to the spiritual scientists, generated a different approach to research and teaching: While nonspiritual colleagues might focus on their own research at the expense of student interaction, spiritual scientists' sense of spiritualty provides nonnegotiable reasons for making sure that they help struggling students succeed.

Provided by Rice University

"More than 20 percent of atheist scientists are spiritual." May 5th, 2011. http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-05-percent-atheist-scientists-spiritual.html

What Americans Believe About Universalism and Pluralism

2011-04-21T12:03:00.000-07:00

The new Barna Update article examines how different generations think about
universalism and pluralism.
From: Barna Group
April 18, 2011

What Americans Believe About Universalism and Pluralism

Entering Holy Week of 2011, there has been more discussion than usual about
heaven and hell. Most Americans believe they, themselves, will go to heaven.
Yet, what do they think about the idea that there are many paths to the
afterlife? The latest Barna Update explores whether Americans embrace
inclusive or exclusive views of salvation as well as how they operate within
the multi-faith nature of society.

[...]

Universalism
Broadly defined, universalism is the belief that all human beings will be
saved after death. On balance, Americans leaned toward exclusive rather than
inclusive views. For example, 43% agreed and 54% disagreed with the
statement, "It doesn't matter what religious faith you follow because they
all teach the same lessons."

Similar splits in public opinion emerged for the statements, "All people
will experience the same outcome after death, regardless of their religious
beliefs" (40% agreed, 55% disagreed) and the sentiment, "All people are
eventually saved or accepted by God, no matter what they do, because he
loves all people he has created" (40% versus 50%).

However, even as millions of Americans believe God saves everyone, most
still place strong responsibility on human effort and choice regarding their
ultimate destiny. Nearly seven out of 10 adults agreed with the idea "in
life you either side with God or you side with the devil; there is no
in-between position" (69% versus 27%). And about half of adults concurred
that "if a person is generally good or does enough good things for others,
they will earn a place in heaven" (48% agreed, while 44% disagreed).

Pluralism
One aspect of exclusion and inclusion is how Americans' relate to faiths
other than their own, which is particularly important in a pluralistic,
multi-faith society. On the evangelistic side, a slim majority of Americans
(51%) believe they have "a responsibility to tell other people their
religious beliefs."

At the same time, more than three out of every five adults (62%) said it is
important "to have active, healthy relationships with people who belong to
religious faiths that do not accept the central beliefs of your faith."

In a mash-up of pluralism and universalism, 59% of adults believe that
"Christians and Muslims worship the same God even though they have different
names and beliefs regarding God." Americans are less likely to endorse the
idea that "the Bible, the Koran and the Book of Mormon are all different
expressions of the same spiritual truths," although 43% agreed, conforming
closely to the percent of Americans who endorse inclusive ideas about faith.

One of the interesting findings regarding Islam was the fact that residents
of Texas (62%) were equally likely as residents of New York (62%) to believe
that Christians and Muslims worship the same deity. Florida residents (58%)
were statistically similar. Yet, the inhabitants of the nation's most
populous state, California, were less likely than average to embrace this
view (48%).

...despite their own personal faith convictions, many born again Christians
embrace certain aspects of universalist thought. One-quarter of born again
Christians said that all people are eventually saved or accepted by God
(25%) and that it doesn't matter what religious faith you follow because
they all teach the same lessons (26%). An even larger percentage of born
again Christians (40%) indicated that they believe Christians and Muslims
worship the same God.

[...clipped to the end]

Read the full Barna Update
http://www.barna.org/faith-spirituality/484-what-americans-believe-about-uni
versalism-and-pluralism

ELCA Presiding Bishop Joins Interfaith Call for Middle East Peace

2011-04-19T14:32:00.001-07:00

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

April 19, 2011

ELCA Presiding Bishop Joins Interfaith Call for Middle East Peace 11-056-JB

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), and 32 Jewish, Muslim and
Christian leaders, said a new peace initiative by former Israeli government,
intelligence and security officials offers a useful sign for Middle East
peace. The initiative, along with previous Middle East peace initiatives,
offers "key principles and ideas for negotiations to achieve comprehensive
Arab-Israeli-Palestinian peace," the religious leaders said in a letter to
President Barack Obama.

More:
http://www.elca.org/News/Releases.asp?a=4750

For information contact:
John Brooks, (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org http://www.elca.org/news
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/elcanews
Twitter: http://twitter.com/elcanews

Advocacy Day a Big Success

2011-03-31T08:09:00.001-07:00

From: Wisconsin Council of Churches [mailto:wcoc@wichurches.org]

Advocacy Day a Big Success

Over 400 people gathered at Bethel Lutheran Church in Madison on March 15th for our "People of Faith United for Justice" Advocacy Day co-sponsored by the Wisconsin Council of Churches, WISDOM, Madison area Urban Ministry, Lutheran Office for Public Policy-WI, and the Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee.
Several terrific resources are available from Advocacy Day.

Go to http://www.wichurches.org/advocacy/people-of-faith-united-for-justice and find:

* 15 minute video clip from ELCA Bishop Bruce Burnside's keynote address
* Full text of Bishop Burnside's address
* A theological statement from Madison Rabbi Jonathan Biatch: "Religious Values that Lead to the Perfection of the World"
* Rally Speech from UCC Pastor Stephen Savides
* Summary of Health and Hunger issues in the proposed state budget
* "Effects of the Budget" summary from the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families (WCCF)

WCC Statement Forthcoming
The Wisconsin Council of Churches will be issuing a statement on the proposed state budget around Easter.

Indigenous World Prayer Gathering

2011-03-19T05:42:00.001-07:00

Indigenous World Prayer Gathering
Full Moon-March 19, 2011, 5-7 PM PST
http://www.fwii.net/events/indigenous-world-prayer

PRAYERS & SACRED SONGS FOR THE HEALING OF THE HUMAN FAMILY & MOTHER EARTH

Come join with us on this special Full Moon for a special two hour
radio and global internet prayer circle hosted by Chief Phil Lane, Jr.
with special guests Chief Arvol Looking Horse, Faith Spotted Eagle,
Jordan Big Horn, Firewoman, Deloria Many Grey Horses, Corrine Stone,
White Bear, Tony Alexis, Susan Powell, Dr. Lee Brown and other
Indigenous relatives.

You are warmly invited to call in and share a song or prayer from your
spiritual tradition during this special Indigenous world prayer and
sacred song offering.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/wvp/2011/03/20/indigenous-world-prayer-gathering

Interfaith dialogue is key to strengthening communication rights

2011-03-15T12:19:00.001-07:00

Interfaith dialogue is key to strengthening communication rights, says WACC general secretary

News Release, 14 March 2011

Mombasa, Kenya Interfaith dialogue can play a key role in strengthening the right to communicate and tackling questions of social justice, General Secretary of the World Association of Christian Communicators (WACC) said on 12 March.

Rev. Karin Achtelstetter was speaking at the 5th Commission meeting of the Interfaith Action for Peace (IFAPA) in Mombasa, Kenya, where representatives of the main faith traditions have gathered to discuss peace and the issues that threaten it.

She said communication for peaceful co-existence supported the emergence of tolerant and well-integrated societies at local, national and global levels.

"Peaceful societies are founded on political, economic, social and gender justice. Faith communities, as well as other civil society organisations and groups are uniquely positioned to advance mutual understanding, peace and justice, and the integrity of creation," said Achtelstetter in the presentation titled: Communication for Peace - A Task for Faith Communities.

IFAPA is a group that brings together Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Bahaâ€™i and the African Traditional Religion (ATR). It hopes to make the faiths cooperate and work together to promote peace. Nearly 75 participants are attending the meeting which is convening from 11-14 March.

Achtelstetter said communication for peace was an ongoing process that created understanding and consensus among communities, while building and strengthening sustainable human relationships.

"One way of contributing to this process, is 'peace journalism.' … Peace journalism is when editors and reporters make choices of what stories to report and about how to report them that create opportunities for society at large to consider and value non-violent responses to conflict," she said.

In Northern Kenya, WACC, which promotes communication for social change, has been supporting the Kenya Pastoralist Journalist Network (KPJN) carry out a peace education and awareness in the area. The project addresses cattle rustling, direct marginalization, resource competition, prevalence of small arms and light weapons. The network carried community outreach in 16 hotspots, imparting skills on peace education and conflict resolution to women pastoralists, pastoralist men, elders, rehabilitated ex-combatants at the village levels and specifically in grazing areas and watering points in the region. The project has helped establish relationships among clans reducing conflicts.

Still, Achtelstetter told the conference communicators played a significant role in reshaping the world and helped empower communities.

"Accessing and distributing relevant information, knowledge and tools will increase people's capacity to promote peace," said Achtelstetter.

She said WACC shared that vision of a society in dialogue, which deepens knowledge of diversity while affirming and respecting the integrity and distinctiveness of every religion, society, and culture.

"Its purpose is to strengthen communication partnerships and alliances that emphasise and promote common values, collaboration, and peaceful co-existence," said Achtelstetter.

**Read full presentation here...
http://www.waccglobal.org/component/content/article/2572:-communication-for-peace-a-task-for-faith-communities-.html

AN INTERFAITH CALL FOR A JUST AND EQUITABLE BUDGET

2011-02-22T07:55:00.001-08:00

From: Wisconsin Council of Churches
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2011 8:55 AM

PRESS RELEASE
February 22, 2011

For Immediate Release

AN INTERFAITH CALL FOR A JUST AND EQUITABLE BUDGET

Dear Friends,

Today, Tuesday, February 22nd, at 10:30 a.m. a "Calling for Justice" Press
Conference will be held on the front steps of Grace Episcopal Church, 116 W.
Washington St. in Madison. This press conference is convened by the
Interfaith Coalition for Worker Justice, Madison-area Urban Ministry, WISDOM
and the Worker's Rights Center to call on the Governor and State Legislature
to pass a budget that is equitable, protects both worker's rights and the
most vulnerable among us, shares the sacrifice among all sectors of our
community, including the business community and the wealthy.

Sacrifice Must Be Shared

Budgets are moral documents. They convey our values and priorities. As
people of faith we have sincere concerns that the Governor's Budget Repair
bill does not adequately protect the rights of workers, or the most
vulnerable in our state via Medicaid, BadgerCare. While we understand that
Wisconsin faces a difficult time economically, as people of faith we are
obligated to call for a budget that:

* Protects the most vulnerable among us. Medicaid, SeniorCare and
BadgerCare provide crucial medical services to hundreds of thousands of
individuals and families in our state and those individuals must be
protected.
* BadgerCare, a program providing health coverage to the working poor
must be continued to protect hard working families unable to access medical
insurance through their employers.
* Steep cuts in education funding and support for the social safety
net will have many unintended consequences that will be devastating and far
outweigh any short term financial saving.
* Throughout our shared holy texts we are called to treat workers
fairly. The rights of workers to collectively bargain must be preserved.
* The financial sacrifices must be shared. The Legislature has already
passed over one hundred million dollars in tax cuts for corporations, as
well as tax cuts for health savings accounts which are primarily used by
wealthier individuals. At the same time, public sector employees who
comprise a significant portion of the middle class are being asked to in
essence give up thousands of dollars in take home pay through increases in
their health insurance and pension, this is not shared sacrifice.

Following the press conference clergy will move to the Capital to hold a
prayer vigil as the Assembly takes up consideration of the Governor's Bill.

Madison-area Urban Ministry is an interfaith non-profit organization
supported in part by Dane County faith communities and focused on social
justice advocacy and direct services to individuals and families affected by
incarceration.

The Interfaith Coalition for Worker Justice is a coalition of congregations,
labor unions and concerned individuals in south central Wisconsin focused on
economic justice and workers' rights.

WISDOM is a statewide network of congregational coalitions affiliated with
Gamaliel Foundation focused on congregation based organizing and advocacy.

The Workers' Rights Center is a community center that assists low wage
workers in south central Wisconsin assert their workplace rights and work on
policy campaigns to affect change.

Please share this information with your colleagues and congregations. If you
have questions please feel free to contact us.

Contacts:

Linda Ketcham, Director, Madison-area Urban Ministry 608-256-0906

Rabbi Renee Bauer, Director, Interfaith Coalition for Worker Justice of
South Central WI 608-255-0376 ext. 3

David Liners, WISDOM, 414-736-2099

Patrick Hickey, Director, Workers' Rights Center, 608-255-0376 ext. 2

WCC NEWS: Interfaith Harmony Week to be celebrated

2011-01-31T09:56:00.001-08:00

World Council of Churches - News

INTERFAITH HARMONY WEEK TO BE CELEBRATED

For immediate release: 31 January 2011

The annual observation of a world-wide Interfaith Harmony Week has been
scheduled for the first seven days of February beginning in 2011. One of the
groups that has endorsed the initiative was a global consultation of Muslim
and Christian organizations addressing the topic "Transforming Communities"
in November 2010. The consultation was convened at the Ecumenical Centre in
Geneva and was jointly sponsored by the World Council of Churches (WCC), the
World Islamic Call Society and A Common Word.

In his opening speech of the meeting in Geneva on 4 November, Jordanian
Prince Ghazi Bin Muhammad bin Talal invited participating organizations to
become involved in the UN-supported Interfaith Harmony Week.

The prince observed that "His Majesty King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein
proposed before the United Nations General Assembly the establishment of a
World Interfaith Harmony Week." On 20 October, the UN General Assembly
unanimously approved the resolution and adopted the first week of February
as Interfaith Harmony Week. Prince Ghazi described the concept as "an idea
which epitomizes the best of what this conference is striving to do."

The Transforming Communities conference members agreed to support and commit
themselves to promote the initiative.

The goal of the interfaith week, which is to be celebrated each year in
February, is to recognize "the imperative need for dialogue among different
faiths and religions in enhancing mutual understanding, harmony and
cooperation among people," according to the UN resolution, which is posted
on the World Interfaith Harmony Week website (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=6402c237302cf4b4c4b9 ).

"This is an important time for all of us involved in interfaith dialogue,"
said the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of
Churches. "By recognizing this week in our faith communities through prayer,
public statements and other expressions we will move toward promoting
inter-religious and intercultural dialogue."

"This is vital in times when there are many who seek to divide people of
faith instead of finding ways to enhance our lives together through the
elimination of all forms of intolerance and discrimination," he said in
comments on Monday.

The effort has received wide-spread support including endorsements from
religious and political leaders around the world.

Events being held around the world include interfaith luncheons in
Australia, prayers for peace and bell ringing in Austria, inter-religious
seminars in Pakistan, and an interfaith breakfast in Canada with Catholic,
Jewish, Muslim, Lutheran and Hindu leaders.

"We invite the member churches of the WCC to celebrate this week of
interfaith harmony by reaching out to people of other faiths in their
communities and thus showing the love of God and love of neighbour, the
primary themes of the week," Tveit said.

World Interfaith Harmony Week website (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=87be92ebbd5ca720c8d3 )

More information on the Transforming Communities conference
(Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=fa719af6844976b4c38e )

Interfaith Harmony Breakfast

2011-01-24T15:50:00.001-08:00

Another Madison area event for World Interfaith Harmony Week:

As part of the World Interfaith Harmony Week, Prairie Unitarian Universalist
Society, 2010 Whenona Drive in Madison, will host an interfaith potluck
breakfast, Wednesday, February 2 from 7-8:30.

Doors will open at 7 a.m. coffee provided, with breakfast starting at 7:30.
Please bring a dish to share. If you are unable to please come anyway. This
is a time for sharing and conversation and we welcome everyone. Music from
different spiritual backgrounds will be played throughout the morning.

For more information please contact Rebecca Malke at
youthcoordinator@uuprairie.org or call Prairie UU Society at 271-8218. For
directions please visit us at www.uuprairie.org.

WIHW Breakfast
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
7:00am - 8:30am
Prairie Unitarian Universalist Society
2010 Whenona Drive
Madison, WI 53711-4843
(608) 271-8218

World Good Neighbor Interfaith Harmony Gathering
Monday, February 7, 2011
7:00pm - 8:pm
Middleton Public Library
7425 Hubbard Avenue
Middleton, WI 53562-3196
(608) 831-5564 (library)
For more info about the event:
Inroads (608) 242-4244

Good Neighbor Harmony Evening

2011-01-18T21:19:00.000-08:00

Come to the Good Neighbor Harmony Evening

Love of God & Love of the Neighbor, or Love of the Good & Love of the Neighbor

Join a fellowship hour with people of different faiths for World Interfaith Harmony Week

as declared by the United Nations

http://www.worldinterfaithharmonyweek.com/

Monday, February 7, 2011

6:30 PM Gathering

7:00 PM Fellowship Event

Archer Rooms

Middleton Public Library

7425 Hubbard Avenue

Middleton, Wisconsin

An Interfaith Holiday Season: Interfaith Awareness Week 2010

2011-01-12T00:36:00.001-08:00

An Interfaith Holiday Season

Interfaith Awareness Week at the Capitol

WTDY - 1670 AM Radio, Madison, Wisconsin

by Lindsay Adjavor, news reporter - lindsay@wtdy.com

Originally four segments aired December 20-23, 2010 during the 12:30pm hour and the 5:30pm hour on WDTY - Madison 1670 AM

Listen to the four segment as a single ~17 minute podcast or streaming audio which features Rev. Fr. John-Brian Paprock, Rev. Anne Wynne, Ken-Adi Ring, Rev. Selena Fox, and Dr. Charles Cohen as well as the Call to Prayer chant from Dialogue International.

PODCAST
Podcast Title: Interfaith Society
Podcast RSS Feed: http://frjohnbrian.hipcast.com/rss/interfaithsociety.xml

OR Listen to the AUDIO STREAM, here:

You can also listen to each segment separately through these links - these pages include the anchor lead for each segment, written by Lindsay Adjavor, which will give you more of the original airing.

PART 1 aired 12-20-10: http://interfaithsociety.blogspot.com/2011/01/interfaith-holiday-season-part-1.html
PART 2 aired 12-21-10: http://interfaithsociety.blogspot.com/2011/01/interfaith-holiday-season-part-2.html
PART 3 aired 12-22-10: http://interfaithsociety.blogspot.com/2011/01/interfaith-holiday-season-part-3.html
PART 4 aired 12-23-10: http://interfaithsociety.blogspot.com/2011/01/interfaith-holiday-season-part-4.html

Please feel free to email Lindsay Adjavor with any feedback at lindsay@wtdy.com

World Interfaith Harmony Week, Feb 1-7, 2011

2011-01-05T17:17:00.001-08:00

From: inroads@minister.com
Sent: Wednesday, January 05, 2011 10:48 AM
[edited for interfaith society blog]

The first World Interfaith Harmony Week will take place in just four weeks. You are invited to be a participant and a leader in turning this new UN Resolution into a worldwide success.

HM King Abdullah II of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan proposed World Interfaith Harmony Week to the United Nations in September. It was adopted on October 20 after HRH Prince Ghazi's speech supporting this new global effort. This Resolution recognizes the importance of dialogue among different faiths and religions. It calls for participation of the world's churches, mosques, synagogues, temples and other places of worship to share from their own traditions or convictions, their "love of God and love of one's neighbour or on love of the good and love of one's neighbour."

The URI has officially endorsed World Interfaith Harmony Week. Charles and Yoland sent a letter of support that is posted on both our site and the official website for the Week, http://worldinterfaithharmonyweek.com/. This website also contains the resolution, background information and resources. In addition, this website offers you 2 ways to participate in this first observance.

1. You can send a short message of support for the first World Interfaith Harmony Week.

2. Share your plan for an event that will take place during the first week of February. You may plan something specific for World Interfaith Harmony Week or you may hold a regular [interfaith] meeting during this time frame.

May Peace Prevail on Earth,

Monica Willard
United Religions Initiative
United Nations NGO Representative
http://www.uri.org/

The purpose of the United Religions Initiative is to promote enduring, daily interfaith cooperation, to end religiously motivated violence and to create cultures of peace, justice and healing for the Earth and all living beings.

An Interfaith Holiday Season - Part 4

2011-01-05T16:59:00.001-08:00

Segment number three:
WTDY - 1670 AM Radio
Madison, Wisconsin

Original air date:
December 23, 2010 during the 12:30pm hour and the 5:30pm hour

Anchor lead:
"A few weeks ago, one event here in Madison aimed to bring about a broader understanding of that familiar holiday saying, peace on earth, and goodwill towards men. There were over twenty religious groups represented at Interfaith Awareness Week in the Capitols Rotunda,
many of them Madison-based. Today Lindsay Adjavor wraps up with part four of An Interfaith Holiday Season."

Listen to the AUDIO STREAM, here:

OR PODCAST
Podcast Title: Interfaith Society
Podcast RSS Feed:
http://frjohnbrian.hipcast.com/rss/interfaithsociety.xml

Please feel free to email Linday Adjavor with any feedback at lindsay@wtdy.com

An Interfaith Holiday Season - Part 3

2011-01-05T16:54:00.001-08:00

Segment number three:
WTDY - 1670 AM Radio
Madison, Wisconsin

Original air date:
December 22, 2010 during the 12:30pm hour and the 5:30pm hour

Anchor lead:
"December is upon us, and while everyone is in full holiday mode, celebrations around Christmas and New Years aren't the only ones happening. Interfaith Awareness Week brought all this to light a few weeks ago, with displays around the Rotunda made by local religious groups. Right now - Lindsay Adjavor continues with part three of An Interfaith Holiday Season."

Listen to the AUDIO STREAM, here:

OR PODCAST
Podcast Title: Interfaith Society
Podcast RSS Feed:
http://frjohnbrian.hipcast.com/rss/interfaithsociety.xml

Please feel free to email Linday Adjavor with any feedback at lindsay@wtdy.com

An Interfaith Holiday Season - Part 2

2011-01-05T16:48:00.001-08:00

Segment number two:
WTDY - 1670 AM Radio
Madison, Wisconsin

Original air date:
December 21, 2010 during the 12:30pm hour and the 5:30pm hour

Anchor lead:
"Madison is well-known for its cosmopolitan vibe, but in the same respect, Madison *also* has a lot of religious diversity. Highlighting this diversity was the focus of the 13th annual Interfaith Awareness Week, which was held in the Rotunda just a few weeks ago and the underlying message of the event fits right in with the holidays. Lindsay Adjavor continues with part two of An Interfaith Holiday Season."

Listen to the AUDIO STREAM, here:

OR PODCAST
Podcast Title: Interfaith Society
Podcast RSS Feed:
http://frjohnbrian.hipcast.com/rss/interfaithsociety.xml

Please feel free to email Linday Adjavor with any feedback at lindsay@wtdy.com

An Interfaith Holiday Season - Part 1

2011-01-05T16:42:00.001-08:00

Segment number one:
WTDY - 1670 AM Radio
Madison, Wisconsin

Original air date:
December 20, 2010 during the 12:30pm hour and the 5:30pm hour

Anchor lead:
"It's the holidays and most folks are rushing to get their shopping done and making plans with family and friends. But one annual Madison-based event, is encouraging folks to look at this season of peace on earth and good will toward men, from a different angle. Today, WTDY's Lindsay Adjavor begins her series on An Interfaith Holiday Season."

Listen to the AUDIO STREAM, here:

OR PODCAST
Podcast Title: Interfaith Society
Podcast RSS Feed:
http://frjohnbrian.hipcast.com/rss/interfaithsociety.xml

Please feel free to email Linday Adjavor with any feedback at lindsay@wtdy.com

MOVING PICTURES: THE SEASON'S VERY BEST FILMS

2010-12-23T08:07:00.001-08:00

This was written for the Winter Holiday Worship directory, but includes
films for winter spirituality in general. So, even as Christmas passes -
this list still has plenty of worthy, useful and helpful films to see. -
JBP+

MOVING PICTURES: THE SEASON'S VERY BEST FILMS
By Rev. John-Brian Paprock
Originally published in the 2010 Holiday Worship Guide
Capitol Newspapers - The Wisconsin State Journal
Sunday, December 19, 2010

Television has replaced the fireplace as the focal point for gatherings of
family and friends. But meaningful holiday observations can happen there,
too. Here are some conventional (and not-so-conventional) movies to watch
during this holiday season.

These films were intentionally chosen for spiritual or moral challenges they
pose. There are choices for the religious and non-religious viewer. All can
deepen appreciation for the holiday season. The films are listed in
alphabetic order not in order of quality or preference (my choice for the
three best holiday classics have been separated at the end).

Every attempt was made to choose quality films, technically as well as
artistically, so these can be considered the best. And all of the movies on
this list are available through the South Central Library System which
includes all public libraries in Madison and nearby communities. Enjoy.

To see the list:
http://frjohbrian.blogspot.com/2010/12/moving-pictures-seasons-very-best-fil
ms.html

Let me know what you think.

ONLY A FEW 2011 MULTIFAITH WALL CALENDARS LEFT

2010-12-14T22:14:00.000-08:00

THE FULLNESS OF THE YEAR UNFOLDS WITH THE

MULTIFAITH WALL CALENDAR 2011

The Multifaith Wall Calendar is an excellent source of accurate dates and descriptions of over 350 observances, including events from 14 world religions, and is an essential source of information for government, educational institutions, business people, travelers, and all who want to become enlightened global citizens.

 Holidays and festivals accurately dated and described

 Large, color-coded easy-to-read calendar grid

 Twelve original beautiful color images

 A beautiful calendar for the school, home and office

 A perfect gift

ONLY $11

Order the 2011 Multifaith Wall Calendar - Today!

For individual calendar, please send a check for $11.00 (+shipping) to:

Inroads Ministry
P.O. Box 5207, Madison, WI 53705
(608) 242-4244 ~ inroads@minister.com

2011 Multifaith Wall Calendar Order
You can email your order: inroads@minister.com
Your order cannot be processed until payment is received.

Yes! I would like to order _____ 2011 Multifaith Calendar(s)

INTERFAITH COOPERATION AND CITIZENSHIP

2010-12-14T16:00:00.001-08:00

Listen to the keynote address streamed below.

On Human Rights Day - A Capitol Celebration! in the Rotunda of the Wisconsin State Capitol with presenters and performers from the variety of living traditions in Wisconsin - 12 NOON – FRIDAY - DECEMBER 10, 2010

Keynote Address for Interfaith Awareness Week: “INTERFAITH COOPERATION AND CITIZENSHIP” given by Dr. Charles L. Cohen, Ph.D., UW-Madison Professor and Director of Lubar Institute for Study of Abrahamic Religions. Dr Cohen was introduced by Rev. Fr. John-Brian Paprock, Inroads Ministry.

Rev Fr John Brian Paprock introduces Dr Cohen

For a bio of Dr. Cohen and the noon program:
http://interfaithsociety.blogspot.com/2010/12/human-rights-day-in-capitol.html

RSS feed for podcast or download:

http://frjohnbrian.hipcast.com/rss/interfaithsociety.xml
Listen to audio of the keynote address here:

Capitol Celebration of Interfaith Awareness Week

2010-12-14T15:40:00.000-08:00

On December 10, 2010, Wisconsin's Capitol had a unique celebration.

After the mellow prelude by flautist HazelCat, the noon program was opened by Rev. Anne Wynne, one of the event organizers, beginning with Muslim Call to Prayer lead by Dialogue International, followed by the reading of the gubernatorial proclamation of Interfaith Awareness Week by Sauk Prairie High School senior and a solstice blessing from Rev. Selena Fox of Circle Sanctuary.

The closing followed Dr Charles Cohen keynote address. Ken-Adi Ring (Unity of Madison) played the Native American flute followed by Women With Wings from the Sufi Order of the West who led a Dance for Peace in the rotunda.

Some of the event leadership included, Rev. Selena Fox, Rev. Fr. John Brian Paprock, Ken-adi Ring, Gurdip Brar, Rev. Anne Wynne, and Alice Pauser. Lubar Institute of the Study of Abrahamic Religions staff present included: Sari Judge, director Dr. Charles Cohen, and Rohany Nayan

Human Rights Day: Lessons from Uganda

2010-12-14T15:22:00.000-08:00

Human Rights Day: Lessons from Uganda

L-R: Thom Feroah, Victor Ochen, W. A. Schmidt and Rev. Fr. John Brian at the Wisconsin Capitol

Even though Human Rights Day is over, there is wonderful information on the visit to Wisconsin by Victor Ochen of the African Youth Initiative Network, including audio from Jean Feraca's show and from his talk at Lowell Hall. I was honored to meet Victor Ochen along with W.A. Schmidt, Chair of the Governor’s Commission on the United Nations, and Thom Feroah of the Underwood Foundation and the founder of the recently created Center for Global Health and Peacebuilding (sponsor of Victor's trip and the photo exhibitions and film screenings) at the Capitol Celebration of Interfaith Awareness Week on Friday.

See and Hear More:

Here On Earth: Radio Without Borders - Lessons From Uganda
http://wpr.org/HereOnEarth/archive_101209k.cfm

Related Links can be found at http://wpr.org/HereOnEarth/archive_101209k.cfm

Including:
United Nations Human Rights Day
Victor Ochen’s Madison Lecture, 12/10
Victor Ochen’s Green Bay Lecture and Human Rights Day events, 12/9
Pulitzer Center’s project on the Lord’s Resistance Army
PBS News Hour segment on a rehabilitation center in Uganda

Audio from Victor Ochen’s Rotary Lecture in Milwaukee (12/7/10)

UN World Interfaith Harmony Week - February

2010-12-14T09:18:00.001-08:00

United Nations General Assembly Accepted by Consensus World Interfaith
Harmony Week

by Judy Lee Trautman

I recently received an email from HRH Prince Ghazi of Jordan, the personal
envoy of HM King Abdullah II, that imparted wonderful news of a resolution
of the United Nations to designate the first week of February every year as
the World Interfaith Harmony Week. Hopefully NAIN member organizations will
want to support this wonderful week. Indeed, we ought to celebrate the
spirit of this week every day. Here is the text of the email:

In the Name of God

Dear Friend,

Salaam. Forgive the intrusion. I am writing to seek your help and
involvement. On October the 20th 2010 - a few days ago - the United Nations
General Assembly unanimously established the World Interfaith Harmony Week.
The resolution was first proposed by H.M. King Abdullah II of Jordan on
September 23rd 2010, and I myself had the honour of introducing and
explaining it at the UN. (Please see enclosed speech with resolution at
end.) The operative text of the Resolution says, remarkably:

World Interfaith Harmony Week

The General Assembly,
1. Reaffirms that mutual understanding and interreligious dialogue
constitute important dimensions of a culture of peace;
2. Proclaims the first week of February of every year the World Interfaith
Harmony Week between all religions, faiths and beliefs;
3. Encourages all States to support, on a voluntary basis, the spread of the
message of interfaith harmony and goodwill in the world's Churches, Mosques,
Synagogues, Temples and other places of Worship during that week based on
Love of God and Love of the Neighbor, or based on Love of the Good and Love
of the Neighbor, each according to their own religious traditions or
convictions;
4. Requests the Secretary-General to keep the General Assembly informed of
the implementation of the present resolution.

We believe this idea has the potential to do a lot of good in the world by:

(1) 'Co-ordinating and uniting the efforts of all the interfaith groups
doing positive work with one focused theme at one specific time annually,
thereby increasing their collective momentum and eliminating redundancy.
(2) Harnessing and utilizing the collective might of the world's
second-largest infrastructure (that of places of worship - the largest being
that of education) specifically for peace and harmony in the world:
inserting, as it were, the right 'software' into the world's religious
'hardware'.
(3) Permanently and regularly encouraging the silent majority of preachers
to declare themselves for peace and harmony and providing a ready-made
vehicle for them to do so. Moreover, if preachers and teachers commit
themselves on the record once a year to peace and harmony, this means that
when the next inter-religious crisis or provocation occurs, they cannot then
relapse into parochial fear and mistrust, and will be more likely to resist
the winds of popular demagoguery.'

However, your help is very much needed. Specifically, we need and gratefully
ask you to:
(1) Write a personal email or letter of support for this initiative and post
it at www.worldinterfaithharmonyweek.com at the appropriate place:
(2) Forwarding this email to all those on your email list who you think
might be interested in it and them to their friends and so on as much as
possible (please do not worry about this email address as it is set up for
this purpose and I will not be using it for anything else).
(3) Posting any resources you think would be important to theme of the World
Interfaith Harmony Week at www.worldinterfaithharmonyweek.com at the
appropriate place.
(4) Organizing yourself an event or simple a sermon or a lecture or an event
on the first week of next February on the theme of Interfaith Harmony.
(5) Recording you event at www.worldinterfaithharmonyweek.com at the
appropriate place according to your own country.

Harmony and Peace need work, and the real beneficiary of love and charity
towards our neighbour is always ourselves, but we fully appreciate if you
cannot do any or all of this and thank-you anyway,

Salaam and best wishes,

Ghazi

The full text of Prince Ghazi's speech is to be found at
http://www.acommonword.com/en/component/content/article/421.html

The Newsletter of the North American Interfaith Network, Inc.
Late Fall 2010
www.nain.org

Human Rights Day in the Capitol

2010-12-09T12:38:00.000-08:00

On Human Rights Day - A Capitol Celebration

In the Rotunda of the State Capitol featuring presenters and performers from the variety of living traditions in Wisconsin

12 NOON – FRIDAY - DECEMBER 10, 2010

Keynote Speaker

“INTERFAITH COOPERATION AND CITIZENSHIP”

Dr. Charles L. Cohen, Ph.D.

UW-Madison Professor and Director of

Lubar Institute for Study of Abrahamic Religions

Charles L. Cohen is Professor of History and Religious Studies. A specialist in colonial British North America and early American religious history, he received the Allan Nevins Prize of the Society for American Historians for his work on the psychology of Puritan religious experience and is an Organization of American Historians Distinguished Lecturer, 2008-11. He has won the Emil Steiger Distinguished Teaching Award and a Phi Beta Kappa Teaching Award from UW-Madison. Prior to becoming LISAR's founding director, he ran UW-Madison's Religious Studies Program. He is co-editor of and a contributor to both Theology and the Soul of the Liberal State (Lanham, MD: Lexington Press, 2010; with Leonard V. Kaplan), and Religion and the Culture of Print in Modern America (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2008; with Paul S. Boyer). He is also working on Religious Pluralism in Modern America, with Ronald Numbers, which is contracted to Oxford University Press.

The noon program:

MUSICAL PRELUDE ~ HAZELCAT

CALL TO PRAYER - Dialogue International

INTRODUCTION - Rev. Anne Wynne, GMIA Vice President

INTERFAITH AWARENESS WEEK - Proclamation read aloud by senior from Sauk Prairie High School, Sauk City

SOLSTICE BLESSING - Rev. Selena Fox, GMIA President

KEYNOTE INTRODUCTION - Rev. John-Brian Paprock, Inroads Ministry Director

KEY NOTE ADDRESS - Dr. Charles L. Cohen, Ph.D.
FORGIVENESS TO HAPPINESS (UNITY/ACIM) - Ken-Adi Ring, Native American Flute

CLOSING - WOMEN WITH WINGS

Interfaith Awareness Week is sponsored by Inroads Ministry, (GMIA) Great Madison Inter-religious Association, and many are religious and faith groups.
For more information: (608) 242-4244 ~ inroads@minister.com

Good Neighbor Interfaith Celebration/Gathering

2010-12-07T14:05:00.000-08:00

Interfaith Awareness Week proclaimed for 5th by Middleton's Mayor - December 5-11, 2010

On Wednesday, December 8, 2010, join an open dialogue with a multi-faith panel discussion of “A Faith Crisis in Middleton”

Gathering 6:30 pm - Multifaith Panel 7:00 pm

Panel includes Iranian, Eastern Christian, Unitarian and other religious and faith perspectives

audience is encourged to participate

Middleton Public Library ~ Archer Room
7425 Hubbard Avenue, Middleton

The event is free and everyone is welcome.
Part of the 13th Annual Interfaith Awareness Week

For more information:
inroads@minister.com or 242-4244 (Voice Mail)

The World of Faith Traditions Displayed at the Capitol

2010-12-03T11:15:00.000-08:00

The Interfaith Awareness Week displays in the Capitol rotunda for December 5-10, 2010

(previous year picture above)

13th Annual Interfaith Awareness Week Proclamations
American Hindu Association – Wisconsin
Baha'i
Beloved Community
Benedictine Women
Deer Park Tibetan Buddhist Center
Dialogue International
Eckankar
Episcopal Church in Wisconsin
Greater Madison Interreligious Association
Islam – Madison Dawa Circle
Lubar Institute for the Study of Abrahamic Religions
Multifaith Calendar by Inroads Interfaith Ministry
Orthodox Christianity in Wisconsin
Presbyterian Church in Wisconsin
Roman Catholic Church in Wisconsin
Sikh
Sufi Order of the West
Unitarian Universalist
United Methodist Church in Wisconsin
Unity of Wisconsin
Yuletide by Circle Sanctuary and other area Pagan groups

In addition, Interfaith Awareness Week acknowledges the “Holiday Tree;” the Freedom from Religion Foundation Solstice declaration; the Dane County Evangelicals Jesus declaration and the Hanukkah Menorah (which was discontinued last year, but may return under different leadership this week) that inspire and complement the intent and purpose of Interfaith Awareness Week.

Other Opportunities during Interfaith Awareness Week

2010-12-03T11:08:00.000-08:00

Here are some other opportunities

“To learn more about each others' beliefs in the spirit of community”

~ DECEMBER 2010 ~

December includes holy days for many area religious traditions.
The main holy days in December 2010 are:

o ADVENT (preparation for the Birth of Jesus Christ) continues through December 25 in most churches (for a small number, it will continue through January 6)

o HANUKKAH (Jewish) beginning December 1 ~ A menorah is lit each evening for a week.

o ST. NICHOLAS DAY is December 6th in Eastern Orthodox Christian tradition. This is the saint that Santa Claus is based.

o MUHARRAM (Muslim) beginning December 7 is the beginning of the Muslim year and celebration of the first Islamic community at Medina. ASHURA is a Shi’ite holy time for the first ten days of Muharram, with a festival December 16.

o WINTER SOLTICE is sacred to several traditions including Shinto, Wicca and Native American.

o CHRISTMAS (December 25) marks the birth or NATIVITY of Jesus Christ. Some Orthodox Christians will celebrate this festival on January 7th. Armenians, on January 6th.

o Traditional “Winter” holy days for Hindu, Baha’i, and Sikh fall in November this year. In addition, HAJJ & EID AL-ADHA (for Muslims) fell on November 15 & 16 ~ these are the days of pilgrimage. The Eid (festival) observed even when not on pilgrimage.

In addition to the Interfaith Awareness Week events and open houses, here are more opportunities:

SUNDAY

Christian Churches have regular Sunday morning services – check the Worship Directory in most local newspapers. Many other religious groups meet for weekly gatherings on Sundays out of convenience, including Buddhist, Sikh and others.

FRIDAY

Muslims Gather for mid-day Community Prayers at Madison Area Mosques and Campus locations

SATURDAY

Jewish Services begin Friday at Sunset, usually at home, and then gather Saturday at Madison Area Synagogues and Campus locations

Open Houses Begin Sunday

2010-12-03T10:58:00.000-08:00

Interfaith Awareness Week
Open Houses throughout the week
December 5th-12th, 2010

Sunday 12/5/10

Holy Transfiguration Orthodox Chapel
10:00 am. Children’s Sunday
621 N Sherman Avenue, Suite B3 (Cambridge Place), Madison, WI 242-4244

Madison Eckankar Community (Ancient Wisdom for Today)
10:30 am. Wil-Mar Neighborhood Center, 953 Jenifer Street,Madison WI
Eck Worship Service followed by pot luck and fellowship.

American Hindu Association
10 am-12noon. Hindu Temple and Cultural Center of Wisconsin 2138 S Fish Hatchery Rd,
Fitchburg, WI 53575. Worship Service followed by fellowship.

Grace Episcopal Church
116 West Washington Ave (on the square), Madison, WI. Our normal worship service on Sunday, Dec 5th is at 10am. It includes Communion and will be followed by a festive coffee hour.

Wednesday 12/8/10

Madison Interfaith Dialogue
10 am –Noon Madison Interfaith Dialogue at
Holy Wisdom Monastery Retreat House Middleton, WI
Monthly meeting of Madison's oldest interfaith group. Join in the sharing about Sacred Time across spiritual traditions. Free and open to the public. More information, contact George Hinger: 608-271-8559

Fifth Annual Good Neighbor Interfaith Celebration/Gathering
6:30 pm at the Middleton Public Library~ Archer Room 7425 Hubbard Ave, Middleton, WI
Join an open dialogue and panel with a multi-faith panel “A Faith Crisis in Middleton”
For more information: inroads@minister.com, 242-4244(voice mail)

Thursday 12/9/10

Baha'i
7:00pm at the, Baha'i Center, 324 W. Lakeside St., Madison, WI
An inspiring program followed by food and fellowship

Friday 12/10/10

Madison Dawa Circle (Islam)
5 pm. 2617 E. Washington Ave., Madison, WI
608-242-99371 or 608-242-9937
Prayers and fellowship
There is also a program Friday Dec 3rd --The theme is Love

Saturday 12/11/10

Circle Sanctuary(Nature Religions)
Noon - 3 pm. The Interfaith Open House begins with a potluck meal at Noon. At 1 pm, Senior minister Selena Fox will present a talk, "Deck the Halls: Herbs & Trees of Winter Solstice." Spiced hot cider will be served throughout the afternoon. Guided tours of the preserve will be available. Call (608) 924-2216 (608) 924-2216 or email: events@circlesanctuary.org for more details.

THE 13th ANNUAL INTERFAITH AWARENESS WEEK

2010-11-11T14:08:00.000-08:00

THE 13th ANNUAL INTERFAITH AWARENESS WEEK

“encouraging citizens to learn more about each others' beliefs in the spirit of community.”

The Proclamation of Interfaith Awareness Week has been made by

Wisconsin’s Governor, the Dane County Executive, the Mayor of Madison and the Mayor of Middleton

Displays of World Religions in the Capitol Rotunda

Monday thru Friday ~ December 6 - 10, 2010

><><><><

On Human Rights Day A Capitol Celebration
In the Rotunda of the State Capitol Featuring presenters and performers
From the variety of living traditions in Wisconsin

12 NOON – FRIDAY - DECEMBER 10, 2010

Keynote Speaker:
Dr. Charles L. Cohen, PhD, Director of the Lubar Institute for the Study of Abrahamic Religions UW-Madison

><><><><
[ 5th Annual Good Neighbor Celebration/Gathering , December 8, 2010 will be a sepaprate entry ]
[ Open houses of various places of worship will be held during the week - a list will be a separate entry ]

For more information
(608) 242-4244 voice mail
inroads@minister.com

Madison Area Interfaith Thanksgiving Celebration

2010-11-08T17:05:00.000-08:00

Interfaith Thanksgiving Celebration

Sunday, November 21, 2010

2:30 pm Gathering music

3 pm Program ~ followed by social sharing of food** and beverages

Listen, learn, enjoy and share music, meditation, prayers, readings and other sacred expressions of Thanksgiving from a variety of spiritual traditions and communities in the greater Madison area.

Keynote Speaker: Rohany Nayan, presenting "Come Ye Thankful"; she is a doctoral candidate at U.W. Madison in the

area of Literacy Studies. Her research focus is on immigrant families, especially Muslim families, in examining their literacy

practices and identifying development of Muslim children in the U.S. For four years she was the principal at the local

Islamic school (Madinah Academy of Madison). She is actively involved in organizing local Muslim communities in the U.S.

and encouraging dialogue among the various communities of faith. She attends the 3 Islamic Centers in Madison whenever

she can.

Bring canned goods or a cash donation for Dane County Food pantries.

**Please bring appetizers, desserts or finger foods to share.

Free childcare for ages birth through age 10 will be provided.

Lakeview Lutheran Church, 4001 Mandrake Road, Madison

at the corner of Northport and Mandrake

Sponsored by: Greater Madison Interreligious Association (GMIA); also sponsored by: Benedictine Women of Madison- Holy Wisdom Monastery, Circle Sanctuary, Deer Park Buddhist Center, Inroads Ministry, KARING Hypnotherapy Asso. and Wellife Mind, Body, Spirit Expositions, Interfaith Coalition for Worker Justice of South Central Wisconsin, Lakeview Lutheran Church, Madison Baha’i Community, Madison Eckankar Community, Madison Interfaith Dialogue, Madison Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), Madison-area Urban Ministry, Memorial United Church of Christ, Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ, , Springdale /West Blue Mounds Lutheran Parish, The Crossing Campus Christian Center, Tri-Unity Wellife Assoc., Inc., Westminster Presbyterian Church, Wisdom’s Well Interfaith Spirituality Center, and others.