Polarized debates around migration, national identities and integration of Muslims in today’s society are increasing in Europe and North America.
The UN Alliance of Civilizations has invited two prominent personalities for a conversation on these issues: the New York Times journalist Roger Cohen, and the Philosopher and Muslim Scholar Tariq Ramadan.

The discussion will focus on the reasons immigration is perceived as negatively affecting coexistence in Europe, and why Islam is often depicted as incompatible with Western values. Together with the in-house and online audience, discussants will explore ways to better acknowledge European and American Muslims’ contributions to their societies, and examine what role these groups can have in supporting the integration of recent Muslim immigrants.

The conversation will be held on Monday, December 20th in London, UK, from 2h to 3h30pm, at the St Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation and Peace (78 Bishopsgate).

The in-house and online audience will be invited to put forward questions to the speakers in real time, by email or facebook.

Click here to learn more and view the event online

Katherine Marshall, Senior Fellow, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University, and featured presenter at the 2009 Parliament of the World's Religions

by Katherine Marshall
from the Huffington Post

The following interview is part of a series of conversations with activists working for development and peace, who draw their inspiration and often direction from their faith. This series, which also included an interview with Ruth Messinger of AJWS, is based on interviews led by Katherine Marshall, as part of policy explorations for the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University and the World Faiths Development Dialogue. The full interviews are here.

You serve as Director for International Affairs for the Community of Sant’Egidio. How did you first become involved with the Community ?

In 1973, I was a 15-year-old high school student, newly arrived in Rome from Brussels, where my father had worked. A small student group at my school invited me to join them in service in an outlying, very poor district. As a newcomer, I was happy to find friends but enjoyed even more the work we did. The children of the new, often illiterate immigrants faced many obstacles and we were able to help them in different ways. I became part of the student community and enjoyed that life. We prayed together each day before setting out for our work. We had long, intense discussions about how to live the Gospel, and how to bring about change. We were convinced that even young people and students could make a difference.

Then, while I was at university and afterwards, I worked with what we had come to call the Community, still in Rome’s poor areas, focusing then on adolescents and young adults. I became what you in the United States might call a community organizer.

Click here to read the full article

From The Daily Beast

I Am a Professional Laugher

I have been confronted with many difficulties throughout the course of my life, and my country is going through a critical period. But I laugh often, and my laughter is contagious. When people ask me how I find the strength to laugh now, I reply that I am a professional laugher. Laughing is a characteristic of the Tibetans, who are different in this from the Japanese or the Indians. They are very cheerful, like the Italians, rather than a little reserved, like the Germans or the English.

My cheerfulness also comes from my family. I come from a small village, not a big city, and our way of life is more jovial. We are always amusing ourselves, teasing each other, joking. It’s our habit.

To that is added, as I often say, the responsibility of being realistic. Of course problems are there. But thinking only of the negative aspect doesn’t help to find solutions and it destroys peace of mind. Everything, though, is relative. You can see the positive side of even the worst tragedies if you adopt a holistic perspective. If you take the negative as absolute and definitive, however, you increase your worries and anxiety, whereas by broadening the way you look at a problem you understand what is bad about it, but you accept it. This attitude comes to me, from my practice and from Buddhist philosophy, which help me enormously.

Take the loss of our country, for example. We are a stateless people, and we must confront adversity along with many painful circumstances in Tibet itself. Nevertheless, such experiences also bring many benefits.

As for me, I’ve been homeless for half a century. But I have found a large number of new homes throughout the vast world. If I had remained at the Potala, I don’t think I would have had the chance to meet so many personalities, so many heads of state in Asia, Taiwan, the United States, and Europe, popes as well as many famous scientists and economists.

The life of exile is an unfortunate life, but I have always tried to cultivate a happy state of mind, appreciating the opportunities this existence without a settled home, far from all protocol, has offered me. This way I have been able to preserve my inner peace.

Click here to learn more.

Jake Swamp-Tekaronianeken

Jake Swamp-Tekaronianeken, 69, the Wolf Clan Mohawk diplomat, author, teacher, chief, husband, father, grandparent and great-grandparent passed into the spirit world on October 14, 2010 at his home on the Akwesasne Mohawk Territory.

Swamp was one of the most respected and honoured Mohawk Iroquois leaders of the past century.  He was a member of the Mohawk Nation Council of Chiefs for over three decades, a position in which he served as a counselor, spiritual leader, legislator and ambassador. He was an exceptional orator with a powerful command of the Mohawk language.  He possessed great knowledge as to the cultural heritage of the Haudenosaunee and shared that wisdom not only with his people but at forums, conferences and classes across the planet. He was known not only for his knowledge but for his teaching skills which were defined by his unique sense of humour.

When Skennenrahowi (the Peacemaker) established the Haudenosaunee Confederacy 800 years ago he set standards for leadership which were embodied in Tekaronianeken. He was patient, compassionate, humble, generous, intelligent and kind.  Whenever he was called upon to serve the needs of the Haudenosaunee he did so without hesitation.  He established the Tree of Peace Society in 1984 to promote the teachings of the Skennenrahowi while advocating greater ecological awareness and sensitivity.  Swamp planted hundreds of Peace Trees in many nations, an activity begun with the founding of the Confederacy.  Through his example millions of trees have taken root around the world from Israel to Australia, Venezuela to Spain and in all regions of North America.

Jake Swamp was a founder of the Akwesasne Freedom School in 1979 and helped develop a curriclum which was based on the traditional values of the Haudenosaunee.  He managed Radio CKON at Akwesasne and not only oversaw its Native based programming but helped secure its status as the only Native licensed broadcast facility in the Americas.

Swamp served as Mohawk Nation diplomat in many instances. He addressed the Fourth Russell Tribunal in the Netherlands, was a delegate to the United Nations, met with leaders of foreign nations and advised representatives from the US Congress and Canadian Parliament.  He worked closely with Dr. Greg Schaaf to have the US Senate pass a resolution acknowledging the influence of the Haudenosaunee on the US Constitution and thereby initiated a revolution in the understanding of American history. He was a delegate to two sessions of the World Parliament of Religions where he was affectionately called “el jeffe”.

As a member of the Mohawk Nation Tekaronianeken took an active role in preserving the ceremonial activities of the longhouse people.  At each one of the rituals he rose from his seat as a Wolf Clan leader to address the people, with the beauty of his words calling their attention to those rituals which express the nation’s collective gratitude to the natural world for the blessings of life.  He presented infants to the people, gave advice to newlyweds and spoke words of condolence to those who suffered the loss of their loved ones.

There is another requirement for leadership set by Skennenrahowi, perhaps the most important of all.  Before one can become a leader that person has to have the love and support of  their family and must in turn love them; peace in the home brought about clarity in council.  Tekaronianeken was a devoted family man, married to Judy Point Swamp for 49 years. Theirs was a solid and stable union defined by mutual respect, admiration and a quiet yet powerful affection. Jake was a highly skilled ironworker, he was one of the legendary Mohawk “skywalkers”, traveling great distances to provide for his wife and children.  This determination to insure his family’s health and security was a legacy of his parents, the late Leo and Charlotte Papineau Swamp. Jake was the second child of fourteen, in a family raised to be self reliant,hardworking and creative. He is leaving behind seven children, twenty three grandchildren, and thirteen great grandchildren, many of whom are now assuming their own leadership roles within the Nation. He was a devoted lacrosse fan and an avid gardener and was rightly proud of the athletic skills of his family.

It is taught by the Haudenosaunee that whatever one does in life it is essential to leave things better than when they were found, to take into consideration the effect of one’s actions on the seventh generation into the future.  Throughout his wonderful life Tekaronianeken abided by this principle.  Through his books, his words and his actions he brought great honour to his family, his community, the Mohawk Nation and the Haudenosaunee.

Tekaronianeken was a good friend of the Parliament of the World’s Religions, and will be greatly missed by many in the interreligious movement.

Services for Tekaronianeken will begin at the Homemaker’s Building, River Road, Snye District of Akwesasne on October 16 with the funeral at the Mohawk Nation longhouse at 10 AM, Monday,October 18.

Flowers and other support may be sent to the Swamp family: Box 326, Cook Road, Akwesasne, NY 13655.

From The Bellingham Herald

Click here to read the entire article.

Rabbi Or Rose

Recently, we spoke with Rabbi Rose on new innovations in interfaith education within the seminary context, the future of the interreligious movement and what it means to live on the “growing edge” of life.

CPWR:  We are here today with Rabbi Or Rose, who we are grateful to for sharing some of his time while he is in Chicago.  Rabbi Or Rose assisted in developing the Jewish programming for the 2009 Parliament.  He is the Associate Dean and Director of Informal Education at the Rabbinical School of Hebrew School.  Or is also a writer and social activist and has recently co-edited a book entitled, Righteous Indignation, A Jewish Call for Justice (Jewish Lights Publishing).  His next book, also a co-edited volume, is Jewish Mysticism and the Spiritual Life: Classical Texts, Contemporary Reflections (Jewish Lights, Fall 2010).

CPWR:In your work as an interfaith activist you have helped to launch a number of innovative programs.  How did you become involved with this movement?
OR: My involvement with the interfaith movement began with my family. I am blessed to come from a family in which both my mother and father were deeply engaged with interfaith efforts as far back as I can remember.  Among the many things I value about my parents was their ability to communicate to my siblings and me a great love for Judaism and an openness to learning from people from different religious backgrounds.  My brothers, sister, and I all went to Jewish day schools and summer camps and took many trips to Israel. The rhythms of the Jewish calendar guided our family life.  At the same time, my parents were in regular conversation with spiritual seekers from other traditions.  In fact, one of the most vivid memories I have from my childhood is celebrating Passover—the great Jewish festival of liberation—with my family and an eclectic group of Jewish, Protestant, Catholic, Sufi, and Humanist guests.

CPWR: Please share with us a teaching from your religious tradition that helps guide your work as an interfaith leader?
OR: There is a famous story in the Talmud about two heroes of early Rabbinic culture, Hillel and Shammai. The legend goes that these great sages were involved in an intense debate about a particular legal issue for three years—going back and forth, yes and no, discussing every imaginable answer. In a dramatic moment in the tale, a divine voice breaks through and states, “These and these are the words of the living God.”  Which is to say, God’s truth is greater than anything we can conceive of or articulate.  No one person or community possesses absolute truth.  It is a wonderful teaching about the need for a plurality of voices in the human search for truth and meaning, and the need for humility in this search.

The story continues and takes another interesting turn. The ancient rabbis ask, “But if both are words of the living God, why is it that the law follows Hillel?”  The answer is that Hillel was kind, modest, and careful to state the position of his opponent before stating his own position. This is a very powerful example of how to engage in serious and respectful dialogue.  Remember, these rabbis debated for three years, each arguing passionately for his position.  Hillel teaches us how to do so humanely.

While this story takes place within an exclusively Jewish context, I believe that it can also serve as a model for interaction across religious traditions.  We must learn how to engage in honest conversation, how to agree and disagree, and how to work together for the common good.

CPWR: In one of your presentations at the Parliament, you used an intriguing phrase to describe your approach to Judaism.  You spoke about the need to live on “the growing edge” of your tradition?
OR: Yes.  This is a phrase from my beloved teacher Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi.  Reb Zalman (as he is affectionately called) distinguishes between the “cutting edge” and the “growing edge.”  “I am not interested in the cutting edge,” he says, “because we don’t want to cut ourselves off from all that is beautiful and wise from the past. Like a tree, we need to be firmly rooted in the ground, but our branches must extend forth and touch the world around us.”  Another great modern Jewish thinker, Abraham Joshua Heschel put it this way: “We must be both inheritors and innovators.”  Of course, living this teaching requires constant care and refinement, knowing when to remain continuous with existing traditions and when to change.

CPWR: How do understand the significance of this teaching for your interfaith work?
OR: I feel called to participate in interfaith dialogue and action as part of the great human project of tikkun olam, of healing our broken world.  This involves humbly sharing with others the wisdom of my religious tradition and learning from other religious and secular traditions.  I view my interfaith work as a way of walking in Hillel’s footsteps.

CPWR: Speaking of tikkun olam, I want to thank you for your role in hosting the national CIRCLE interfaith conference last spring.  It was a very meaningful gathering for me because of the depth of the dialogue and because of the opportunity to be shoulder-to-shoulder with several luminaries of the interreligious movement.  Please share with us your experience of the conference.
OR: I have the great pleasure of teaching at the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College, one of the few trans-denominational Jewish seminaries in the country. We are also located next to Andover Newton Theological School. The fact of our proximity has allowed us to explore a wide range of interfaith educational initiatives, including joint academic courses, holiday gatherings, and service learning programs.  We are consciously seeking to create a holistic model so that members of our communities can meet and learn from one another in different contexts.

One manifestation of this wonderful partnership was the national conference we held in April 2010.  In collaboration with the Boston Theological Institute, we brought together approximately 100 scholars, educators, activists and students involved in North American seminary education to explore the question of how best to educate future religious leaders for service in a multi-religious world.  What do our graduates need to know about interfaith dialogue and action to lead their communities effectively in the twenty-first century?  As you said, it was a joy to welcome this amazing group of veteran and young leaders to our campus.  It was both a powerful interfaith and intergenerational experience.  I was very impressed with the willingness of the participants to openly share their best practices and their challenges.  There was very little posturing and a lot of honest conversation.

CPWR: To date, much of your work at Hebrew College has been focused on Jewish–Christian dialogue and action.  Please share some of the blessings and challenges of this arrangement.
OR: The blessing, of course, is that with Andover Newton as our neighbor we have opportunities for rich and sustained conversation and action.  We can study together, eat together, rally together, and play together because of our proximity and because we have cultivated this relationship carefully.  But in such situations, one has to be careful not to inadvertently cultivate a new triumphalist sensibility.  We have to be careful not to create yet another exclusivist situation in which Jews and Christians are in and others are out.  This is why we are in active conversation with other organizations and institutions about the possibility of creating new partnerships.

CPWR: Given your experience with Andover Newton, do you think the presence of the religious “other” is necessary for a well-rounded seminary experience?
OR: I think it is important for several reasons: When seminarians engage across religious lines, they have the opportunity to share their beliefs, values, and practices with people outside of their usual circles of conversation.  This requires that they reflect carefully on their religious commitments and articulate them with clarity.  At the same time, students have the opportunity to learn about the spiritual journeys of their peers and about some of the riches of other spiritual traditions.  If these encounters are successful, students can explore their similarities and differences, learn how to agree and to disagree, and how to work together on issues of common concern.

CPWR: Interestingly, at one of the sessions at the national CIRCLE conference, a colleague spoke about the fact that it is often easier for your students to discuss what they have in common than it is to talk about their differences.  Do you agree?  If so, why do you think this is the case?
OR: I agree with that observation.  I think it is often more difficult for our students (and faculty) to articulate their differences because we are still so wounded by the legacy of past conflicts between Christians and Jews.  So we want to be careful to treat each other gently and respectfully.  But we also need to help each other say, “This is why I disagree.”  The question is whether we can then live into deeper relationship, knowing that we’re going to continue to disagree about some issues of real consequence.  If we can stay the course, we actually have the opportunity to experience each other’s humanity more fully.

CPWR: You have been involved in a number of different interfaith educational endeavors.  Recently, you were at the 2009 Parliament in Melbourne, and in addition to leading an observance and speaking, you helped to coordinate the program Educating Religious Leaders for a Multi-Religious World. Can you speak to us a little bit about this experience of bringing together seminary students and faculty from across the United States for this unique experience?
OR: It was a joy. I had the privilege of working with a number of very talented people in organizing the program. I worked most closely with Paul Knitter of Union Theological Seminary and Ellen Ott Marshall of Emory University.  Each participating school agreed to offer an interfaith course in advance of the Parliament based on the expertise of the faculty and the priorities of the institutions.  But we also created a set of common readings and questions for faculty and students to think about in advance of our meeting in Australia.  We were all invested in a common process before we arrived in Melbourne.

The sessions themselves were wonderful because they were dynamic.  Each meeting opened with a panel discussion in which students shared their responses to the questions we had posed in advance of the Parliament.  We then broke into small groups to continue the conversation.  It was exciting to step back at various moments and see a hundred or so seminarians and faculty from different religions and geographical locations engage in sacred discussion.  The buzz created by all of these conversations made for beautiful music.

And then, of course, what was so special about having this experience take place within the context of the Parliament was that we would leave our conference room, spill out into the halls, and join the thousands of other people that were there because they too were committed to building the interfaith movement.

CPWR: I read a heartwarming blog entry you wrote for the Huffington Post about an interaction you had with an American Sikh leader.  I’m wondering if you have any other personal stories that you might share with us?
OR: One story that I want to share is about the ritual that I led with my Hebrew College students on Shabbat morning.  As it happened, most of the people who attended were actually not Jewish. And among the participants was a young woman in her early twenties from Iraq.  Following the service, she introduced herself to me and we spoke for several minutes about the similarities and differences in our prayer rites.  She also explained that this was the first time that she had ever met a rabbi.  Before leaving the prayer space she asked if it would it be possible to take a picture together after Shabbat?  Touched by her request and her sensitivity to traditional Sabbath practices, I immediately said yes.  She then added, “I want you to understand that this is not just a picture for my scrapbook, I need to document this for my family and friends at home, otherwise I don’t know if they’ll believe that I had such a positive experience this morning given all that separates our communities—Jewish and Muslim, American and Iraqi.”  Needless to say, it was a very powerful moment.

CPWR: Looking to the future, what advances do you hope to see in the next decade in the interreligious movement, both in the United States and internationally?
OR: One basic hope that I have is that interreligious cooperation becomes more of a civic norm in this country and elsewhere around the world.  We need to cultivate a stronger ethos of religious pluralism if we are to ever overcome the religious intolerance, bigotry, and violence that continue to plague humanity.  The current controversy over the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque” has demonstrated yet again just how much work we have to do to repair relations between religious groups and the need for interfaith education.

Among the many issues that we need to work on across religious lines is the health of our shared planet.  The environmental crisis may be the most urgent issue facing humanity, and religious communities have to play a positive role in the healing process.  We have to marshal the best of our spiritual and ethical teachings to address the great ecological challenges of our day and the accompanying political, economic, and social issues.

CPWR: Are there any other areas of social justice that you think are particularly important for interfaith activists to engage?
OR: Yes, there is a long list: poverty, malnutrition, HIV-AIDS, women’s rights, etc.  However, in order to address these issues effectively in interfaith contexts, we need to develop a worldview in which we can hold the tension of our similarities and differences and find creative ways to care for one another and for the planet as a whole?  This takes us back to the statement from Reb Zalman about living on the “growing edge.”  What does it mean to work on the growing edge of the interfaith movement?  I think it involves an embrace of religious pluralism, of the interconnection of all of life, and a shared sense of responsibility for the earth.

CPWR: Is there anything else you would like to share?
OR: I feel blessed to be a part of the interfaith movement at this moment in time because there are tremendous opportunities for cooperative work domestically and internationally.  I also want to thank all of the brave women and men who have come before us as interfaith activists, scholars, and sages.  It is my prayer that we worthy heirs to their legacy in our roles as both “inheritors and innovators.”

CPWR: As an interreligious activist and educator in your own right, we thank you for sharing your wisdom with us. And thank you for your time.
OR: Thank you.

FROM FIRE STORM TO ILLUMINATION:

Interreligious Reflections on the New York Center and Mosque Project

William Lesher, Chair Emeritus, Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions

What some in the media have referred to as “a fire storm” over the mosque debate in lower Manhattan is turning out to be a catalyst to launch a much needed national discussion (and tutorial) on Muslims in America.

Since this discussion was intensified by the exaggerated rhetoric and distorted claims of Pamela Geller, a conservative blogger in her post on May 6, a consensus seems to be forming among constitutionally committed citizens across the political spectrum.  Fair-minded people are agreeing that the Imam and his wife in charge of the mosque project, Feisal Abdul Rauf, Daisy Khan and their supporters, have every right to expand their center and include a new worship space on the site.  They have worked from and worshipped in this place for many years, two blocks from the World Trade Center disaster.  Even though current polls claim that 7 out of 10 Americans oppose the project, opponents can hardly argue that the project planners do not have a constitutional right to carry out their vision.  As one letter to the NY Times editor put it, “As a legal matter, there is nothing to debate.  If a church or synagogue could be constructed on this site, so may a mosque.  Period. The first amendment means at least that.”

The location of the proposed Islamic Center touches the raw nerve that has elicited often shrill claims ranging from insensitivity to the families of the 9/11 victims and desecration of hallowed ground to an international Islamic conspiracy to subvert the nation.  Given the fact that the vast majority of Americans know little of Islam and know almost nothing of the history and intentions of the center planners in lower Manhattan, it is not surprising that the barrage of misinformation that initiated and continues to stoke the current national discussion has filled this vacuum and created the sharp negative and often heated responses.

But now, as the national discussion continues, one might cautiously hope, even anticipate, that the time is right for a nation-wide learning process to unfold.  This could become a time for Americans of fairness and goodwill to take the time to listen and to learn from people in the interreligious community and from Muslims themselves about the importance, the variety, and the beauty of this second largest religion in the world. And to hear as well, about the healing potential for having a thoroughly American expression of Islam close to the site of Ground Zero.

The Interreligious Movement in the US and around the world has been building bridges of understanding among religious communities, including Islam, for the last few decades.  Many religious people in the US are affiliated with local interreligious councils or with national and international organizations like United Religions Initiative (URI) or Religions for Peace (RFP) or have participated in one of the four modern Parliaments of the World’s Religions (PWR) with which I am affiliated. These people have led the way in this historic movement to develop knowledge, understanding, and respect for religious and spiritual communities of the world, many of whom have growing numbers of adherents in our towns and cities, states and nation.

People affiliated with the growing interreligious movement know about the great diversity that exists within Islam, not unlike the wide spectrum of beliefs, traditions and behaviors among different sectors in the Christian and Jewish communities. They know what William Dalrymple wrote about in an illuminating Op-Ed piece in the New York Times entitled, “The Muslims in the Middle,” that Islam is not a monolithic religion.  Rather it is as complex as Christianity and Judaism, with as many, perhaps more divisions, sects and traditions, some in opposition to others, as is true of every major religious group. Dalrymple helpfully teaches in his article how “Feisal Abdul Rauf…is one of America’s leading thinkers of Sufism, the mystical form of Islam which in terms of goals and outlook couldn’t be farther from the violent Wahabism of the jihadists.  His videos and sermons preach love, the remembrance of God and reconciliation…..But in the eyes of Osama bin Laden and the Taliban, he is an infidel-loving, grave-worshipping apostate…”

Members of the interfaith movement are also leading the resistance to the resisters and need to do so more and more.  In another New York Times article describing protests against mosques in several communities around the country, Laurie Goodstein focuses on Temecula, Ca.  There she writes: “In late June …members of a local Tea Party group took dogs and picket signs to Friday prayers at a mosque that is seeking to build a new worship center on a vacant lot nearby.”  She goes on to say that an estimated 20 – 30 people turned out to protest the mosque.  But then Ms. Goodstein states what many of us think is the real story in Temecula, “that the protesters were outnumbered by at least 75 supporters” who affirm the right of the Muslim congregation in Temecula to expand their mosque.  Something good is happening in Temecula when, less then a decade after 9/11, local citizens know and act on the difference between their mainstream Muslim neighbors and the terrorists whose actions violated the most basic tenants of Islam. It’s too bad that the NY Times headlined the Goodstein article, “Across Nation, Mosque Projects Meet Resistance” and missed the positive thrust of the Temecula story.

Speaking from the experience of the Parliament of the World’s Religions, the 2004 Parliament in Barcelona, Spain focused major attention on the issue of Religiously Motivated and Experienced Violence.  After several days of intense workshop discussions, participants from across the interreligious spectrum, agreed that the minimum responsibility of religious communities  is to come to the aid of any religious community whose house of worship is the target of an attack, vandalism, threat or destruction.

The recent Parliament in Melbourne, Australia in 2009 featured a strong focus on Islam.  Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf himself was a major presenter leading or participating in six interreligious programs with the following titles: “Applying Islamic Principles for a Just and Sustainable World”;  “Sacred Envy Panel: Exploring What We Love about Our Own Faith, What We Admire in Others and What Challenges Us in Both”;  “Purifying the Heart and Soul through Remembrance of Allah”; “Dhikr As An Islamic Devotional Act for Inner Peace”; “How Islam Deals with Social Justice, Gender Justice and Religious Diversity”; and “Islam and the West: Creating an Accord of Civilizations.”  How much could such a teacher of Islam help to bridge the gulf of misunderstanding about this great faith tradition by continuing his long and much admired ministry in lower Manhattan where he has built an international reputation for promulgating a modern version of Islam?

So, while some call it a “fire storm” and do their best to make it so, there are other voices that seem to be gaining strength.  Among the shouting and the uninformed outrage that sometimes seems ubiquitous, I sense that  responsible media outlets and people in the interreligious movement are grasping the significance of this moment and are helping to seed the discussion with historical facts, accurate information and a commitment to understanding and respect.  If this trend continues we will all learn important things about ourselves and about the most recent global religious tradition to enter the mainstream of American life.

From The Washington Post

By Katherine Marshall

When South Africa was emerging from the dark shadows of the apartheid era, Malaysia was one place it looked for successful examples of how to address the difficult legacy of racial inequality. Malaysia’s Malay citizens (about 60 percent of the total) lagged behind other groups and helping them to “catch up” was a deliberate government policy.

Malaysia is justly proud of its record in managing what at one time threatened to be a conflict-ridden transition. It also takes pride in its distinctive Muslim culture and in the way its religious and ethnic diversity works in a fast-changing society. But behind Malaysia’s new prosperity, seen in glittering skyscrapers and tangles of freeways, there are lively debates about what lies ahead.

Malaysia’s challenges involve above all its diverse ethnic, religious and economic identities, and today’s debates turn on how the three are intertwined. By constitution, Malaysia is a Muslim nation and its population is majority Muslim. Malays and Islam are tightly linked. That translates, among other things, into legal tussles over whether one can renounce being a Muslim. Malaysians are trying to identify how the country’s Islamic identity is distinct and how much latitude there is for different strands of Islamic thinking; how much can Malaysian Islam change as the country modernizes? The country’s minorities are largely Chinese and Indian, and they are mostly Buddhists and Christians. How do their rights balance with those of the Malay and Muslim majority, in law and in the society?

…

An example of the way Malaysian Islam is changing was the recent popular reality TV show that selected a young “cool” imam (Muhammad Asyraf Mohammad Ridzuan) from among 10 finalists; the others were voted off the program one by one, just like “American Idol.” The idea was to make Islam more appealing to young people and to make them associate religion with inspiration rather than caning and morality raids. The finalists were chosen from 1,000 candidates, faced written and practical tests on religion each week, and were quarantined in a mosque dormitory and banned from using phones, the Internet and television. They had to persuasively steer youngsters away from sex and drugs. Imam Muda had almost 94,000 Facebook fans when I last checked.

Click here to read the entire article.

From Earth Spirit Voices

by Andras Corban Arthen

One of the most important events of the Parliament of the World’s Religions – the Indigenous Assembly – was, quite likely, the least visible: attendance was by invitation only, and it was held in a former convent several miles away from the Exhibition Center, where most of the other programs took place.

In keeping with one of the Parliament’s seven main themes (and as mentioned in these pages prior to the event), the idea of convening an Indigenous Assembly in Melbourne was, from the beginning, a major focus of the Indigenous Task Force’s plans – we wanted to create a space wherein the international representatives of Indigenous traditions traveling to Melbourne would get a chance to meet with their counterparts from Australia and the South Pacific to discuss issues of mutual relevance, and perhaps even come up with a joint statement to be delivered during one of the Parliament’s plenary sessions. Our initial plans called for a three-day assembly which, for the first two days, would be limited exclusively to the Indigenous delegates, then opened on the third day to include representatives from other cultures and religions. Unfortunately, budgetary and time constraints forced us to scale back our plans and keep the assembly to one day.

Early in the morning of Monday, 7 December, about fifty Indigenous representatives, volunteers and translators traveled to the Abbotsford Convent near Victoria Park, some six miles away. Most of us had already had breakfast, but upon arrival we were offered juice, pastries and other refreshments as we waited for everyone to arrive.

The proceedings started with a brief introduction by Task Force chair Omie Baldwin, followed by a traditional welcome to country by Auntie Joy Murphy Wandin, senior elder of the Wurundjeri people who are the traditional “owners” of the land that includes Melbourne. Wominjeka Wurundjeri Balluk yearmen koondi bik (“welcome to the land of the Wurundjeri People”), she intoned, as she did probably a dozen more times during the course of the Parliament; but each time she spoke those words they were like music, as fresh and as heartfelt as if she were saying them for the very first time, and we felt, indeed, very welcome. Auntie Joy had some very kind words to say to those of us who served on the Task Force and organized the event, and gave each of us an Aboriginal flag as a gift.

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From The Wisdom of the Labyrinth

Acclaimed cultural historian, cosmologist, Passionist priest, and Earth scholar, Thomas Berry, was among the first of our world’s religious leaders to suggest that the earth ecological crisis is fundamentally a spiritual crisis. Thomas Berry dedicated his life to The Great Work of our time which he described simply as “moving the human community from its present situation as a destructive presence on the planet to a benign or mutually enhancing presence.” Dr. Mary Evelyn Tucker and Dr. John Grim, co-founders and co-directors of The Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale and The Thomas Berry Foundation, join host Robin Bradley Hansel to share their stories and reflections on Thomas Berry’s life, his work, his writings, and his passionate dream for our Earth community.

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