To the Readers of TIO
by Paul Chaffee
This month I am stepping down as the editor of The Interfaith Observer. I do so happily confident that the Tri-Faith Initiative of Omaha, Nebraska will give new life to TIO, new resources reshaping it to address the interreligious needs of the world today, so different than those needs a decade ago.
Ten years ago, when TIO was in planning, interfaith was little more than a tiny footnote in the religious consciousness of the world. Though largely unnoticed, a spontaneous proliferation of grassroots interfaith activities was developing globally, which this new publication took as a challenge. TIO has feasted on interfaith history – you’ll find more than 30 history articles in the archive. One hundred and one stories have been devoted to the major international stakeholders, and 63 articles focus on smaller but dynamic interfaith organizations.
By subject? Sixty-nine stories have been devoted to “Environment/Climate,” and 13 address nuclear disarmament. Sustainable development, religious freedom, religious hatred/violence, the arts, and dozens of other subjects get extended treatment. Thirty-two stories address young adult interfaith, and 37 are devoted to women in interfaith. Altogether, nearly 1,500 articles, along with an aggregation of 1,200+ summarized news stories, help unpack an emerging interfaith culture. It has been an illuminating education, starting with me.
Editing stories from 482 contributors has offered an amazing perch from which to observe the people of the world’s religions getting to know each other, particularly now that ‘we live right across the street from each other.’ From this perch, it’s clear that today interfaith is much more than a footnote. Indeed, interfaith news is on TV and the web almost every day, too often telling tragic stories of interreligious violence.
Photo: Needpix
That violence is a perfect example of why interfaith relations are critically important now. In short, we need each other if we really care about promoting peace and justice in the world. Today the watchword in the aggregate interfaith community is engaged collaboration on tangible, shared goals, with the metrics and finances to make our efforts effective.
The issues are much sharper than a decade ago. Back then we didn’t know how much trouble the world faces. We all needed to be better educated about interfaith issues and history and how to transform strangers into friends and colleagues. Today we’re confronting conflicted countries and regions the world over, the escalating destructiveness of climate change, the millions who suffer poverty and oppression in the midst of humankind’s wealthiest era, the racial-ethnic-sexual-religious biases that bedevil cultures everywhere – clearly, the time has come, now that we’re getting to know and value each other, to join in healing our troubled world.
Tri-Faith Initiative is located at the very center of the continental United States, in Omaha, Nebraska. It is building an interfaith campus and initiating a major interfaith presence locally, nationally, and globally. TIO 2.0, so to speak, which should emerge this spring or summer, will be a major resource in Tri-Faith’s development, a tool in supporting the engaged collaboration with like-minded interfaith efforts the world so badly needs today.
Eight core values and goals have guided TIO through the years. The first one is the most important and will surely be at the heart of Tri-Faith’s revisioning: Promote diversity, inclusivity, and respectful relationships within and among religious and spiritual traditions.
Thank You
Several dozen friends and colleagues have been supportive of TIO from the get-go. In the early years Thomas Bonacci and the Interfaith Peace Project offered us a safe institutional cove. Don Frew and Kay Lindahl have been continuously engaged in the process since 2010. And for the past year and a half, Wendy Goldberg, executive director of Tri-Faith Initiative, has been helpful in honoring the past while figuring out how the publication should evolve with a change in editors, something I had asked for. So many, behind the scenes, have made this effort possible.
Photo: Marco Verch, C.c. 2.0
TIO readers owe a huge debt of gratitude to the small army of contributors, young and old, unknown and known, from around the world, people from a host of traditions who contributed their work and wisdom to TIO without pay. With their stories, their information and insight, they made this project valuable and a joy. From TIO’s beginning, most issues have had monthly contributions from Marcus Braybrooke, the ‘historian’ of the interfaith movement, and Ruth Broyde Sharone, an amazing storyteller whose life has been devoted to interfaith expressions, local, regional, and global.
We’ve quit counting, but Marcus and Ruth have each written 70+ stories since September 2011. Starting in 2015, Vicki Garlock has contributed more than 40 stories focused on interfaith education for children, the subject I take to be winner in the “most important-least noticed contest” in the interfaith arena. The gifts of the contributors are beyond measure, a lasting tribute in the effort to create a peaceful pluralist world.
Paul and Megan during a visit in San Francisco – Photo: Jan Chaffee
Five years ago Megan Anderson, then a college junior in a world religions class, asked if TIO would be interested in an article about the Interfaith Youth Core leadership conferences. Yes! Since then Megan’s fierce intelligence, stellar commitment, and editorial gifts have transformed TIO into an award-winning publication. Along the way she rebuilt the website, organized and formatted the archive, managed TIO’s social media, became the de facto photo/video editor, and worked with me editorially on the articles posted each month. As associate editor and webmaster, Megan Anderson deserves our kudos and blessings for her remarkable work. You can reach her in the future at maweiss@csbsju.edu.
Personally
Approaching my teens, I took a splendid year-long confirmation class at the International Church in Bangkok, Thailand, the country where my parents served as Presbyterian missionaries for nearly a quarter century. But I was stunned, near the end of the year, when the pastor showed up at the class, congratulated us, and said he assumed we’d be joining the church next month. Back home that day, I confronted Dad: “I’m just beginning to know what you believe. I don’t have a clue about what the Buddhists all around us believe, much less the rest of the world. And you want me to join the church?! Now?”
His response was instantaneous. “Not at all. Not at all!” I could join if and when I wanted to join. The next day he gave me a book about Christian sects and another surveying the world’s religions. He set me free. And I began the long quest to articulate my faith in a way that doesn’t make others wrong. In the light of that background you can see what a blessing this assignment has been, how gratifying to work with several hundred contributors from dozens of traditions, writers and artists striving to make a peaceful difference in our troubled world. They are one reason I live with hope for our grandchildren and their grandchildren.
Paul and Jan at United Religion Initiative’s Circles of Light Gala in 2019 – Photo: URI
I promised Jan, my dear partner and spouse, that TIO wouldn’t chew up more than five years of our retirement, and now we’ve gone ten! She’s forgiving, fortunately, and her support and wherewithal have made the publication possible. Could never have happened without Jan’s continual support, which is one of the many reasons I love her.
Being free from a publication’s inexorable monthly deadlines is a hallelujah moment for us. Next month we are taking a three-week vacation, which we’ve never done before. But our passion for seeing the faithful from all traditions sharing a common bond for the good of us all will never leave us, and that includes ‘spiritual but not religious’ and non-affiliated people. So I’ll hope to see you in the vineyard. You can reach me at chaffee123@gmail.com. The challenges in creating a healthy, peaceful interfaith culture are enormous, as are the rewards for prevailing and taking real steps, large or small, towards that dream.
Header Photo: Unsplash