Editorial
We’re Back!
After a two-year hiatus, The Interfaith Observer is back, sponsored by Seattle University’s Center for Ecumenical and Interreligious Engagement (CEIE). Thank you CEIE!
In the two years we’ve been gone, the challenge in developing interfaith relations has received a body blow through the accelerating corruption of language and communication. Misinformation, false witness, massive social media abuse, and gaslighting, (that is, manipulating someone so as to make them question their own reality), are tools which threaten religious and civil discourse and civilization as we know it.
Photo: Pixabay
There is no magic pill to take to right this disaster. However, a small army of people around the world, ancestors as well as our neighbors, continue to provide clues about mutual respect, about openness to multiple points of view and an ethically grounded approach to issues like race, climate change, and the common good. Their work is TIO’s vineyard.
Our inaugural issue, in September 2011, focused on Deepening Interfaith Dialogue. One section featured five short ‘skillset’ articles by extraordinary interfaith practitioners: The Lost Art of Listening by Kay Lindahl; Rights, Responsibilities, and Skills of Dialogue by Patrice Brodeur; A Safe Place to Address Prejudice, Stereotypes, and Fears by Thomas Bonacci; The Language of Interfaith Conversation by J.W. Windland; and Guidelines for Engaging in Productive Interfaith Dialogue by Don Frew. You can find them in TIO’s archive and are as relevant as ever.
Photo: Pxhere
In rejuvenating TIO, we’re returning to the same arena by examining religious literacy, which turns out to be an empowering factor in religious freedom. TIO’s opening three articles this month unpack the meaning and importance of religious literacy and its critical relationship to religious freedom in a religiously diverse world.
Next come three compelling stories about what is possible when religious literacy wins the day, especially in difficult situations. The issue finishes with 15 “basics” about native African religious literacy, and finally a joy-filled article about the importance of children in the quest for religious literacy and freedom.
We’re happy to be back! We’ll be developing slowly. You can expect another full issue of TIO this spring. TIO’s monthly “Interfaith Roundup” is now available here.
Header Photo: Margaret Almon, C.c. 2.0 BY-NC-ND