Archive for the ‘CPWR’ tag
CPWR Trustee Reflects on 2010 Nobel Women’s Initiative
From No expectations. In my years of travel, I’ve learned to have no expectations so that when things happen, I’m pleasantly surprised or not disappointed. This is how I’m entering this trip: an all-important delegation to soak in the stories, sights and sounds, whatever they may be. After all, this is the time for listening and learning, the reason why we have two ears and one mouth.
As an American my friends run the gamut, and through these friendships I’ve learned about different faith traditions and cultures. A rabbi once told me that from communication comes understanding, from understanding comes respect and from respect comes love. You don’t have to be Jewish to know and experience these words of wisdom.
I have friends who have lived on a kibutz, and I have friends who own the land on which that kibutz was built after being taken from them by force. While we cannot role back the hands of time, we can look forward and see what we can do with our hands, together, in the interest of a just and safe Holy Land for all of its people.
Partner Cities Network Launches Peace Cities Initiative
PARTNER CITIES NETWORK
LAUNCHES PEACE CITIES INITIATIVE IN CONJUNCTION WITH
UN INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE
September 1, 2010
Chicago, IL – September 1, 2010 – The Partner Cities Network of the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions is pleased to announce the launch of Peace Cities, a city-to-city interfaith networking opportunity for self-organized grass-roots interfaith groups, made available through PeaceNext.org.
The Peace Cities program recognizes the on-the-ground work of over 70 partner interfaith communities and their leaders who work to foster interfaith cooperation, peace, and social cohesion. It serves to connect cities around the world that have hosted interfaith events in cooperation with the Partner Cities Network and the Parliament of World’s Religions (Chicago, USA 1993; Cape Town, South Africa 1999; Barcelona, Spain 2004; Monterrey, Mexico 2007 and Melbourne, Australia, 2009.)
Cities that have earned the designation of Peace City are able to post news about local interfaith events and to share resources with other Peace Cities through PeaceNext.org. Peace Cities are eligible to apply to join the Partner Cities Network through a fast-track application process.
The Peace Cities launch coincides with PeaceWeek, a global telesummit for building a culture of peace. A co-production of The Shift Network and The Peace Alliance, PeaceWeek is being held in conjunction with the UN International Day of Peace on September 21. This conference will feature over 50 leading international peacebuilders, pioneers, and innovators, and offer opportunities for personal growth and collective change.
The Peace Cities program of the Partner Cities Network invites all to participate in PeaceWeek, a global telesummit for building a culture of peace. A co-production of The Shift Network and The Peace Alliance, PeaceWeek is being held in conjunction with the UN International Day of Peace on September 21. This conference will feature over 50 leading international peacebuilders, pioneers, and innovators, and offer opportunities for personal growth and collective change. To join the PeaceWeek global conversations, please visit, www.peaceweek.info. Registrants will be able to participate for free in an unlimited number of live discussions and receive free access to the full library of event recordings.
The Partner Cities Network is also proud to partner with Odyssey Networks in “A Million Minutes for Peace” campaign. Our goal is to collect one million pledges to pray for peace for one minute at noon on the UN International Day of Peace. Please watch the 60-second video, and join us by pledging your prayer for peace.
Contact: Zabrina Santiago
Deputy Executive Director & Partner Cities Director
Phone: (312) 629-2990 x. 235
zabrina@parliamentofreligiong.org
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About the Partner Cities Network
The Partner Cities Network seeks to build and connect the interreligious movement worldwide. It serves to create a global dynamic that will bind cities together and facilitates the sharing of best practices to inspire opportunities for cooperative action among cities. Partner Cities will soon launch collaborative programming and innovative resource sharing through online resource centers, quarterly webinars, and regional gatherings.
Currently six international cities form the growing network, with eight cities completing the application process in 2010. Cities currently designated as Partner Cities are Chicago, Illinois, USA; Cape Town, South Africa; Barcelona, Spain; Monterrey, Mexico; Melbourne, Australia and San Jose, California, USA.
About Peace Cities
Peace Cities is an initiative of the Partner Cities Network. It seeks to bridge self-organized grass-roots interfaith initiatives in cities around the world through the Council’s social media platform, PeaceNext.org.
Cyber Dialogue: The Future of Interreligious Engagement
From Huffington Post
By Joshua M. Z. Stanton
If only our congregations were a thousandth as large as Lady Gaga’s fanpage on Facebook. That would mean that over 13,000 people would be members, with numbers skyrocketing by the day.
Many have suggested that the appeal of pop culture on Facebook (and Twitter and MySpace) is symptomatic of moral decline and perhaps even the end of religion — with the assumption, of course, that the two go together. But that fear has existed for generations, with every breakthrough in communication. Radio, records, and television were all thought to lead to the end of faith at one point or another. But there is no end to religion in sight. The idea that social media could somehow snuff it out after it survived centuries of technological advancement is unfounded. Religion is dynamic and has long been able to adapt to social change.
In fact, social networking sites may be of tremendous help to religious communities. They bring together people with strong religious convictions more than ever before. Just have a look at the “Jesus Daily” fanpage on Facebook, which has almost 3,000,000 members, or the fanpage for “Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him),” which has nearly 130,000. Imagine a religious congregation with 130,000 or even 3,000,000 members! The hundreds of thousands of people gathering on these fanpages are looking for religious inspiration, companionship, and community, and apparently they find it to one degree or another online.
Religion is in fact one of the most powerful forces in the age of social media. It is a core part of the landscape, with Facebook fanpages and Twitter profiles creating what some might consider to be virtual churches, synagogues, and mosques within the broader online panorama.
A number of websites are responding to the large and growing presence of religion in social media. Just take for example Patheos, which fills a gap in multi-perspective coverage of religious issues; the Washington Post, which has added the On Faith blog to its repertoire; the Huffington Post, which has similarly added the HuffPost Religion section to engage with challenging and timely topics; and the Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue, which recently launched the State of Formation project with the Parliament of the World’s Religions to engage seminary, divinity and graduate student leaders in online discourse on identity and current events. If anything, the challenge is not one of insufficient demand for religious content — the supposed indication of moral decline — but the presence of too few websites to fill it online.
A Call For Nominations from CPWR and Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue
From The Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue
Greetings,
We hope this finds you well. We are excited to announce that we are now accepting nominations and self-nominations for Contributing Scholars for our new blog, State of Formation, and we’d like to give you the opportunity to weigh in.
The current American discourse on religion and ethics is primarily defined by established leaders – ministers, rabbis, academics and journalists.
There is an entire population of important stakeholders without a platform: the up-and-comers.
To remedy this, the Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue, in partnership with the Parliament of the World’s Religions, is set to launch State of Formation, a forum for up-and-coming religious and philosophical thinkers to draw upon the learning that is occurring in their academic and community work. Articles will frequently reflect on the pressing questions of a religiously pluralistic society and challenge existing religious and philosophical definitions.
State of Formation is a community conversation between young leaders in formation. Together, a cohort of seminarians, rabbinical students, graduate students and the like – the future religious and moral leaders of tomorrow – will work to redefine the ethical discourse today, particularly as it is used to refract current events and personal experiences.
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Nominees should be currently enrolled in a seminary, rabbinical school, graduate program, or another institution for theological or philosophical formation. We are looking for exceptional and visionary young leaders who are currently learning about and reflecting on religious and moral issues. Does this describe you or a young leader you know? Please take a moment to fill out our brief online nomination form here or e-mail us your one-page nomination to chris@irdialogue.org. Nominations are due October 15, 2010.
Chicago Tribune publishes CPWR “Call to Solidarity”
From The Chicago Tribune
As anyone who has faced tragedy knows – be it an individual, family, community or nation – it is ultimately not the tragedy itself, no matter how unjust and terrible, but the response to it, that makes all the difference.
I know a courageous woman whose son was severely injured in a bombing while walking the narrow streets of Jersusalem. As he endured operation after operation, she sat for months by his bedside, pondering what to do. With every right to be angry, she chose instead to work for peace; something she has done for the past decade as an Israeli Jew, working tirelessly among Palestinian Muslim and Arab Christian women.
It is how we respond to the unimaginable tragedy of 9/11 that will make all the difference for those who live together in the United States, and for our enduring relations with those beyond our borders.
We must never forget what happened. We must continue to remember those who were lost, those who continue to mourn their colleagues, friends, and loved ones, and to renew our resolve to prevent such acts of wanton and cowardice violence in the future, both at home and abroad.
Just as importantly, we must use the symbolic character of 9/11 to once and for all make the crucial distinction between the true religious aims of Islam, and the morally disciplined and peace-loving ways of the Muslim community – with all of the inevitable imperfect striving that goes with any human endeavor of any kind, for that matter – and the despicable act of a misguided, murderous terrorist cell that has sought to hijack Islam with its baseless justifications of a righteous jihad.
CPWR Board Chair On Current Events in the U.S.
From Worldview/WBEZ 91.5
Imam Malik Mujahid hosts Friday prayers at several local mosques and is Executive Producer of the show Radio Islam. He’ll tell us about remembering 9/11 in the wake of growing Islamophobia and the floods in his native Pakistan. And on Global Activism, Gregory Gross, Clinical Manager at the Center on Halsted, talks with Jerome about his collaboration with Project Tariro, an HIV/AIDS prevention and support program in Zimbabwe.
Partner Cities to Co-Sponsor PeaceWeek
PARTNER CITIES NETWORK TO CO-SPONSOR
PEACEWEEK
A GLOBAL TELESUMMIT
September 14-21, 2010
Chicago, IL – September 1, 2010 – The Partner Cities Network of the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions, invites you to be a part of PeaceWeek, a global telesummit for building a culture of peace. A co-production of The Shift Network and The Peace Alliance, PeaceWeek will be held in conjunction with the UN International Day of Peace on September 21. This conference will feature over 50 leading international peacebuilders, pioneers, and innovators, and offer opportunities for participants to learn and dialogue with each other.
A celebration and exploration of all peace-seeking efforts, both individual and collective, PeaceWeek will unite peace leaders from around the world together for the largest virtual peace summit ever formed. The featured participants will address such issues as personal peace practices, global hotspots, social justice, and the economics of peace. The event will also host a Peace Day Council with the 13 Indigenous Grandmothers on a mission of peace.
To register for the summit and join the global movement of peace pioneers, please visit www.peaceweek.info. Registrants will be able to participate for free in an unlimited number of live discussions and receive free access to the full library of event recordings.
The Partner Cities Network is also proud to partner with Odyssey Networks in “A Million Minutes for Peace” campaign. Our goal is to collect one million pledges to pray for peace for one minute at noon on the UN International Day of Peace. Please watch the 60-second video, and join us by pledging your prayer for peace.
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The Partner Cities Network seeks to build and connect the interreligious movement worldwide. It serves to create a global dynamic that will bind cities together and facilitates the sharing of best practices to inspire opportunities for cooperative action among cities: www.parliamentofreligions.org.
Educate on the Plight of Baha’is in Iran
From Asian American Press
By David N. Sterling
For those who understand the sacredness of humanity as one universal and united family, or even of just basic human rights, it is not a burden to be aware of the numerous injustices and atrocities abounding in the world today but it is rather an opportunity to pray and speak out for peace and justice throughout the world for all people no matter what their ethnic or national origin, no matter what their cultural, racial or religious background.
Of both long past and recent concern is the plight of the Baha’is in Iran, the historic birthplace of their faith in 1844. From that time forward the persecution of Baha’is has been both severe and wide spread with some 20,000 martyred during its earliest years. More recently seven Baha’is have each been given 20 year prison sentences.
These seven have been falsely charged by the Islamic Republic of Iran of “espionage for Israel, insulting religious sanctities and of propaganda against the Islamic republic.” Their only offense to the Iranian government is of their being members of the Baha’i Faith which contradicts Iran’s agreement to abide by the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights and Religious Freedom. Considering the present ages of these seven the 20 year terms amount to life sentences.
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Thanks to the Imax film, “Arabia” currently showing at the Science Museum of Minnesota we can learn a few things about true Islam and by doing computer word searches on interfaith efforts like the Pluralism Project, the Parliament of the World’s Religions, United Religions Initiative and Religion & Ethics Newsweekly, to name only a few, we can learn the truths of both Islam and the Baha’i Faith as well as any and all other world religions.
In today’s world this has become extremely important to avoid any of us or our neighbors becoming extremists ourselves. Understanding, respect and cooperation between peoples of all faiths is the only way peace, justice, unity and the well being of us all will ever come about.
CPWR Welcomes New Nigerian Ambassador
Ambassador Ande, right, with Archbishop Desmond Tutu
The Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions is pleased to announce its newest international Ambassador, Emmanuel Ivorgba Ande.
Mr. Ande is currently the Executive Director of the New Era Educational and Charitable Support Foundation, which he founded in 2006 to engage local youth in interfaith dialogue. Mr. Ande has also been active with Interfaith Youth Core, facilitating a Global Interfaith Movement Project in Nigeria.
The Council is pleased to welcome Emmanuel to the Ambassador Program, a select opportunity for passionate interfaith leaders around the world.
To learn more about the Ambassador Program, please click here.
URI Releases New Toolkit to Support Faith Communities
From URI
Alarmed by the rising tide of Islamophobia and resulting backlash against the Muslim community that we have seen taking place across the United States as well as in other parts of the world, we here at the URI office in San Francisco were compelled to take action.
We are happy to share with you the URI Toolkit – Responses to Hostility Against Faith Communities. We invite our Cooperation Circles, particularly those in North America and Europe, to consider how you might integrate some of these ideas and resources into your ongoing work. Because Eid, the holy day that ends Ramadan, falls on or near September 11th this year, this is an opportune moment to reach out to Muslim communities and Muslim members of your community, and make an effort to transform the ignorance and fear into understanding and respect.
We were inspired by a toolkit we received earlier from the Council on American-Islamic Relations called their Teachable Moment Community Response Guide and wished to create a toolkit of our own, specifically designed for interfaith audiences. We have adapted portions of CAIR’s toolkit with their permission, and have also included some exceptional opinion-editorials by fellow interfaith organizers Eboo Patel from the Interfaith Youth Core and William Lesher from the Council for the Parliament of the World’s Religions. The toolkit includes a number of useful media resources, ideas for individuals, and ideas for how faith communities, interfaith councils and interfaith CCs can respond.
