REPORT: Sixth Day of Prayer on Universal Children’s Day Celebrated
Building Interfaith Bridges with the Homeless
People of Faith and Immigration Reform
Citizenship for Just and Harmonious Societies
Joining the Parliament of the World’s Religions Listening Campaign
Faithful Witness in Southern Nevada
Grassroots Activists with a Global Outreach
‘Seeds of Peace’ Juxtaposes Meditation & the Engaged Life
Religions for Peace USA’s New Webinars Series
It’s Time for U.S. to End the Inhumane Practice of Torture
A Salute to America
A Mystic Vision with a Social Conscience
Boomers & Millennials Compare Interfaith Action
What does it mean to “mobilize” a movement for social justice in the Internet Age? The word “mobilization” has strong associations for the Boomer Generation, when organizing hundreds to march, rally or take part in a sit-in was the visible manifestation of social justice activism.
Building a Groundswell, Lighting Up the Network
When a dozen twenty-somethings gathered in my tiny living room in the fall of 2010, vexed about the firestorm of protest against Park 51, an Islamic center planned in Manhattan known as “the Ground Zero Mosque,” we had no idea that we were planting the seed for a movement.
Report – World Congress of Religions 2012
The World Congress of Religions 2012 was held in Washington, DC, November 30-December 2, 2012. It celebrated the 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, honoring his legacy of peacemaking, human rights, ending poverty, and women’s empowerment. Speakers paid homage to Swamiji as a visionary spiritual leader who introduced Eastern religion to the West. His image graced every session, and according to Dr. Pradip Ghosh, chairperson of the Congress, “Swami Vivekananda’s ideals of universal acceptance go a long way to foster peace and harmony among people of different faiths.”
The Power of Interfaith-Based Community Organizing
“Community Organizing” made it into national news when Barack Obama’s work history was vetted in 2008. Though the pundits made quick judgments, precious few know about the scope and power that interfaith-based community organizing generates in America today. PICO National Network is one of the largest players. It was founded in 1972 as a regional training institute to help support neighborhood organizations in California through an interfaith congregation-community approach. Rather than bring people together around particular issues such as housing or education, one model, this broad-based approach makes values and relationships the glue that holds community together. Today PICO has 44 affiliated federations, including LA Voice, and eight statewide networks working in 150 cities and towns and 17 states. More than one million families and one thousand congregations from 40 different denominations and faiths participate in PICO.
Rio+ 20: After the Speeches, the Work Begins
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon commented that after the speeches, the work begins. He has it right: after the speeches of the Rio+20 conference, the work charges civil society to insist on changes. Governments will not solve the environmental crisis for us. This massive international conference was a once-in-a-decade opportunity. The outcome document, [Secretary General BanKi-Moon at Rio+20] a product of months of negotiations dominated by nationalistic political interests, is far from revolutionary. To change our course away from environmental devastation we need more than a revolution.
Interfaith and Peace, Social Justice, and Respect for the Earth
“War no more.” That was the hope that inspired Charles Bonney as he explained in his opening address to the 1893 World’s Parliament of Religions. Bonney believed that a major cause of conflict was “because the religious faiths of the world have most seriously misunderstood and misjudged each other.”i One hundred years later, Hans Küng declared that there would be “No peace in the world without peace between religions.”ii
Social Justice as a Unifying Issue for Dharmic Communities
Religious communities are never the same once they reach America. In my view, they often become even more remarkable.
Clooney, Kony and Why Interfaith Matters
The Kony 2012 video has now amassed more than 83 million views on YouTube and triggered a response with which Invisible Children can’t keep up. To make things worse, this viral phenomenon has triggered assertions that have called the non-profit’s integrity into question on multiple levels. It sounds like a mess. But at least a significantly larger portion of the world’s population knows something about the horrors taking place in Uganda, right?