The National Preach-In on Global Warming is coming up - Feb 8 - 10 – and I am excited to say that the Bahá'ís of Grand Prairie have signed on! This event is a project of Interfaith Power & Light; its purpose is to "help clergy bring attention to this key moral issue [global climate change] of our time". We may not have clergy in the Bahá'í Faith, but that need not stop our Spiritual Assemblies from participating.

Love God Heal Earth is a compilation of essays, from leaders of 11 religions and denominations, that delve into the religious call for a transition to a sustainable way of life. While not devoid of science, this book presents a deeply spiritual, personal, and hopeful message that moves beyond the intellectual reality of global climate change. In other words, it is a powerful complement to the grim facts of An Inconvenient Truth.

E-mail from a co-organizer:

I hope you are able to attend the next meeting of IDEA at 1st Unitarian Church located at the southeast corner of Preston and Normandy across from the Park Cities YMCA. The focus of the meeting will be discovering our common vision and tossing around ideas for a project we could work on in the short term. We'll do potluck again and can use the church's dishes and glasses. (I've had special training on running the dishwasher!)

I suggest parking on the Normandy side in front of the church or in the parking spaces circling the Y. I'll have signs directing you. Looking forward to getting together.

Last Sunday I attend my first interfaith passover seder, at Mount Zion Temple in St. Paul. There were around 150 people present, from many different religions (though almost entirely white), commemorating together the Jewish liberation from Egyptian slavery. In addition to a traditional Haggadah "liturgy", representatives from six other faith communities were given an opportunity to speak about liberation or an exodus from their religious perspectives, and at the tables we had an opportunity to speak from our own perspectives, particularly with the "questions" aspect of the seder.

"O people! Consort with the followers of all religions in a spirit of friendliness and fellowship," Bahá'u'lláh commanded his own followers in His epistle of the Glad Tidings. In that spirit I, and three to four-hundred others, ventured to downtown Minneapolis this evening for Minnesotans Standing Together - A multi-faith prayer service for respect. The service began and ended with bagpipes, surrounding comments, prayers, songs, chanting, and meditation from the Christian (Lutheran, Unitarian, Catholic), Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Bahá'í, and Buddhist faith traditions (a Lakota speaker was unfortunately absent). These were words of unity, love, and respect for one another -- and a call to actively show those feelings, to uphold them in society in the face of enmity, rancor, and hate.

This year is the tenth anniversary of the charter signing of the United Religions Initiative. To mark the occasion, the URI has launched a brand-new, gorgeously-professional website. If you have interest in the world of interfaith action and cooperation that is "bound for peace", then I invite you to stop by the site. I've not been so involved with the URI's work in the past few years, but I am still proud to call myself a supporter of this dynamic, idealistic-yet-grounded organization.

As someone who is passionate about both interfaith cooperation and environmental action, I couldn't help but be struck by the project in Uganda that was highlighted in the recent URI Voice of the Youth newsletter. Today's New York Times has an article about the importance of solar cookers for mitigating the impacts of global climate change. It should have also touched on the problem of cooking & heating being a major factor in causing deforestation, and hence in resource conflicts.

While there may be a ceasefire right now, who knows what next week will bring?

An Interfaith Declaration for Peace in Israel and Gaza

Many of us have watched with dismay the unfolding events in the conflict between Israel and Gaza. In response, members and leaders of the Silicon Valley interfaith community have issued a joint "Declaration for Peace," which begins with these words:

We, members and leaders of the Silicon Valley interfaith community, are anguished by the events that have unfolded in Israel and Gaza. While some of us — guided by faith and conscience — may in other venues express stronger statements of sympathy either for Israel or Gaza, we share a commitment to engage with one another, even, and especially, during times of great stress. We also affirm our common humanity and our common belief that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must cease, that there is no violent solution to that conflict, that all human life is valued, and that all parties must cooperate to achieve a just and lasting peace on behalf of God's children who reside in the land we call holy.

(Received from, and forwarded with permission of, Rev. D. Andrew Kille via the NAIN mailing list. The full statement can be found on the South Bay Interfaith website )

This week’s terror attacks in Mumbai are unusual in their size and coordination, but that they occurred at all, sadly, is not shocking. While bombings in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan have fought for our attention, India has seen its own share of violence — since 2003, more than 700 people have been killed in bombings, violent counter-protests, and these latest attacks.

Responding to an e-mail discussion that started with the article Islamic Fascism: The Propaganda of Our Times.

There is little doubt that the language we use and hear shapes our perceptions — and action — in the wider world (cf Sapir-Whorf hypothesis). Is it accurate to call someone who is a "terrorist", who is a Muslim, and who is motivated by his religious beliefs, an "Islamic terrorist?"

(This post was begun on the 13th and finished on the 16th, though not published till later...)

With the whole Global Council here [Antwerp] the past few days, the conversations and meetings have been longer and the time off consequently shorter. That doesn't necessarily mean more productive, mind you! More people always means more patience is required.

We spent Friday afternoon in the city of Brussels (Bruxelles), capital of Belgium and of Europe. There we met with a diplomat from the European Commission at their swanky headquarters; noshed on small sandwiches, juice and champagne with a deputy mayor at a former palace; and were treated to a wonderful meal courtesy of a local Catholic priest and lumber-yard owner. In other words it was interesting being there (most of the time), but not so exciting to try to write about. So I'll just share some photos instead.

I think I mentioned previously that Antwerp is very humid. The rooms in which we are staying are thus very warm; lacking air conditioning or fans, most of us initially opted to open our windows for the night. What we did not count on were the mosquitoes.

Over dinner tonight my wife and I were talking about the paucity of major news coverage of women's rights and justice. In the U.S., it seems that you are more likely to find an in-depth look at the current status of women in Afghanistan in a "fashion" magazine than in Newsweek or the other news weeklys. That is definitely a sad state of affairs. We talked about how so many people seemed to have felt that the plight of women was instantly and completely rectified after the overthrow of the Taliban.

Photo used by permission of Flickr user lakerae

I began typing this message while sitting in the business office at the Berkeley (California) Buddhist Monastery. I've been meeting today [Sat Feb 10] with the three trustees elected to represent North America on the United Religions Initiative (URI) Global Council (GC) as well as with other staff and volunteers. One of those trustees is Rev. Dr. Heng Sure, the head of the monastery. Every Saturday night he gives a "Dharma talk"; I missed most of it on the way back from a wonderful Turkish dinner. Perhaps 20-30 people where in attendance in person — Chinese, Vietnamese, and Caucasian Buddhists — as well as dozens more around the world through a webcast.

Way back in November I had entry discussing "science vs. religion", lamenting the growing "evangelism" of science. Since then I've been meaning to followup with a continuing theme of fundamentalism: specifically, agreeing that religious fundamentalism often stands in the way of applying scientific progress to social development and knowledge. I do not argue that with this group of arch-atheists. Perhaps I will come back to that theme another time. But today I want to look at the way forward — agreement on climate change.

Greetings in this time of the new Gregorian year, this time of pilgrimage, this time of commemorating the life and birth of great Prophets. At the link below you will find a fresh newsletter for the URI in North America. Produced three to four times per year, the North American Regional Update provides administrative/organizational news from the URI staff and Trustees; select stories from Cooperation Circles across the U.S. and Canada; and announcements of resources and upcoming events.

Links to the long defunct InterfaithNews.Net website removed April 2012

Reacting to religious fanaticism and the challenges of advancing and sustaining a more equitable civilization, a global interfaith movement has sprung from the grassroots of religion and spirituality. InterfaithNews.Net (INN) seeks to chronicle this movement by focusing primarily on positive interfaith and religious news, events, and resources.

Dear Readers,

When Joel Beversluis and I launched this site [InterfaithNews.Net] four years ago, we had a bulleted list of purposes for the site and newsletter:

Originally published in URI North America: Briefings.

Members of URI Cooperation Circles around the world have been engaging in a dialogue that has been both tense and constructive with regard to how to respond to the current war and humanitarian crisis in the Middle East. All perspectives are represented — some sympathize more strongly with the Palestinian and/or Lebanese suffering, some with the Israeli's living with the daily threat of terrorists' suicide bombs and rockets. The one thing that seems to be clearly uniting us is the need to recognize the humanitarian crisis on the ground — and more importantly react to it. We must be peacebuilders on the ground, helping those directly in need.

Links to the long defunct InterfaithNews.Net website removed April 2012

Reacting to religious fanaticism and the challenges of advancing and sustaining a more equitable civilization, a global interfaith movement has sprung from the grassroots of religion and spirituality. InterfaithNews.Net (INN) seeks to chronicle this movement by focusing primarily on positive interfaith and religious news, events, and resources.

Dear Readers,

As always, each description is followed by a link to the full article on the InterfaithNews.Net website. Please do stop by to read stories both heartwarming and deeply saddening, stories both reflective and action-oriented. Each story has a form at the bottom through which you may leave your comments and thoughts for other readers. On the right side of the main home page screen, you will also find links to several intriguing articles that cannot be legally copied to InterfaithNews.Net.

In my April editorial, I wrote, "If we are to prevent a firestorm of religious violence, we must take the lessons of interfaith dialogue into our workplaces, into social justice, into the halls of governance, into our places of worship. And we must share the stories of our success, the means to our actions, and the inspiration for our visions — that we might advance together towards a future that is sustainable, just, and spiritually fulfilling for people the world over."

If you have a story you would like to publish about interfaith cooperation, religious news, or multifaith resources, you may send it to xxxxxx for consideration.

Peace be with you,
Stephen A. Fuqua
Editor, InterfaithNews.Net