WELCOME TO THE INTERFAITH OBSERVER (TIO)
In a world beleaguered with poverty and violence, an emerging interfaith movement offers opportunities to become friends with ‘the other’ safely, a first step in peacemaking. The whole human family is showing up in neighborhoods in countries everywhere, thanks to airliners, the internet, videocams, and so much more. This new diversity can terrify or delight us but will not go away. The strategic question – whether to choose ‘fight or flight,’ or, as those in the interfaith movement would suggest, to reach out.
In spite of the daily news, the great good news is that people everywhere, in fact, are reaching out. A thousand interreligious flowers and more are blooming across the globe. No one organized, planned or even predicted this surging proliferation of activity. It seems to be a natural human response when the races, religions, and cultures of the world interact freely with one another, face-to-face, on a daily basis.
The very spontaneity of this development in world religion means most of us involved don’t know the bigger picture, haven’t yet connected with brothers and sisters working on the same issues elsewhere. Amazing stories wait to be told, and multiplying resources deserve promotion. TIO aims to connect the dots.
On September 15, 2011, a group of seasoned interfaith activists and young adult leaders who care about these matters launched The Interfaith Observer, casually known as TIO. It is a monthly e-journal telling new stories, exploring new issues, identifying exemplary resources, and connecting us to each other. TIO will look for the big picture while providing hundreds of links to particular opportunities. For more details about TIO, click this link.
If interfaith dialogue and relationships matter to you, please subscribe to TIO. It is free, written and edited by volunteers with decades of hands-on experience in this new arena. It aims to be a provocative, useful source of hope. Thanks for passing this invitation on to anyone else you know who cares.
In peace and love,
