From The Huffington Post

So the story begins like this. Four students, an Ahmadi Muslim, a Protestant Christian, a Sikh and a Hindu are crammed into a tiny dorm room at Princeton University. Each comes out three days later, having discovered the solution for world peace. Yeah, seriously.

Last weekend, Princeton University hosted the 5th Annual Coming Together Interfaith Conference (CT5), a conference designed to counter a growing threat to our humanity: the gap in interfaith relations. While there were far too many inspirational attendees to mention, adherents from virtually every faith participated. There was Tom the Confuscist, who also happened to be a brilliant stand-up comedian. There was Cameron, the aspiring Christian Minister and Emily, an atheist with a zeal for humanity. There was Muhammad, a Muslim from Wake Forest with an incredible voice for Quranic recitation, and Irteza from Stanford, with a talent for Bengali music. Who can forget David, an Orthodox Jew who passionately sang G-d’s praises during Shabbat, and Connor, who sang about his love for the Pope. Silent but profound was Sunil the Buddhist-Hindu, and due credit to Rahul, a devout Hindu who coordinated an excellent presentation on spirituality in action.

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From The Huffington Post

As analysts ponder and proffer views on the real and potential impact from revolutionary tsunami in Egypt, it is essential that we in the U.S. also learn valuable lessons presented by this teachable moment. One such lesson is the fallacy of the “clash of civilizations” theory.

For two decades politicians, pundits, preachers, and some scholars have explained the tumultuous international conflict as evidence of a “clash of civilizations.” We have heard this mantra so many times that many people assume it somehow describes the dynamic interaction between “the West” and the Middle East and Islamic cultures.

One of the most frequently asked questions since 9/11 — “Why do they hate us?” — has served to reinforce this simplistic and dangerously misleading framework for understanding.

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From The Huffington Post

For the sixth time, hundreds of religious congregations on six continents will participate in an event designed to demonstrate that the most exciting scientific findings pose no threat to deeply held religious belief. Indeed, the leaders and members of these congregations recognize that as science teaches us more about how the natural world functions, their faith becomes stronger rather than weaker. And, although there are some who find it difficult to accept, participants are fully comfortable embracing the basic principles of science without having to forsake the most important aspects of their faith.

The weekend of Feb. 11-13 is the sixth annual Evolution Weekend, an event sponsored by The Clergy Letter Project, an organization of more than 14,000 clergy members and scientists.

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From The Huffington Post

The following is reprinted with permission from Religion Dispatches. You can sign up for their free daily newsletter here.

Just as in the case of Tunisia, we’ve been caught off guard by the rapid pace of events in Egypt. Commentators are having a difficult time understanding the dynamics of the Arab world and especially the role of religion in this latest apparent revolution. Many wonder why this isn’t an Islamic Revolution, and are audibly breathing a sigh of relief that it isn’t — assuming that somehow Egypt would follow Iran’s rather unique trajectory in 1979 and thereafter.

So why isn’t Egypt’s revolution an Islamic one? And what sets Tunisia and Egypt apart from Iran? Due to the quickly shifting nature of events, I’ve recorded four reasons why Egypt’s uprising isn’t an explicitly Islamic one.

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From The Huffington Post

Since founding Buddhism for Development 20 years ago, Heng Monychenda has trained hundreds of Cambodian monks, nuns and community members in conflict resolution and social change. Katherine Marshall talks to him about using Buddhist teaching to contribute to Cambodia’s reconciliation and development.

What are some of the key Buddhist teachings that you draw on as a motivation for social engagement?

The Buddha’s first order, given five months after his enlightenment was to go out and reach the people, to proclaim the Dhamma, the way of life for the people. The Buddha taught that people could not find peace if they did not listen to the Dhamma. We encourage the monks to search out this original intention of the Buddha: That means getting the monks out of the pagodas, teaching and reaching out to people. We need to reflect carefully on the principles and laws of the Buddha that truly allow monks to do far more for the society within their daily lives.

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From The Huffington Post

We are passing through a season of singular national distemper where, for reasons best understood by social psychiatrists, the American people have entered into what can only be described as “open season” on Islam. Mosques everywhere, not just the “Ground Zero” mosque, are under attack; voters in Oklahoma have amended their state constitution to forbid state courts from considering Sharia law in their decisions (not that they had any intention of mastering that sophisticated legal corpus); otherwise “liberal” communicators debate whether First Amendment protections extend to followers of the Prophet Mohammed; and Muslims everywhere worry (rightfully) whether they have a place in the American mosaic.

Saddest to me, as a Jew, are the number of my co-religionists who are riding point on this peculiar crusade.

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From The Huffington Post

Bill McKibben is a leading American environmental writer and activist. Over the last two decades he has helped to educate and mobilize untold numbers of people on issues of global warming, alternative energy sources and localized economies.In 2010, Time magazine described him as “the world’s best green journalist.” In 2009, his organization, 350.org, planned what Foreign Policy magazine described as “the largest ever global coordinated rally of any kind,” with 5,200 simultaneous demonstrations in 181 countries.

As part of my preparation for the Jewish holiday of Tu B’Shvat — the Jewish New Year of the Trees (celebrated this year on Jan. 19-20)– I spoke with Bill about his current environmental thinking and work.

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From The Huffington Post

In my great grandmother’s house in Thanjavur, a small town in Tamil Nadu, every meal represented an elaborate ritual. Each night, she washed a fresh set of clothes for the next morning (always a colorful nine yards sari and its blouse) and hung them atop the highest clothing line on the balcony, to prevent anyone from inadvertently dirtying them. The following morning, she rose at 4:00 AM, while the rest of the house still slumbered, and took a bath to cleanse before cooking. Prior to touching any ingredients, she prayed, sitting in the main hall beside a faded wall covered with frame after frame of Hindu iconography. Only then would she start to prepare the meal.

When we sat down to eat, in a cross-legged row on the floor across from the prayer wall, the meal itself was systematic.

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From The Huffington Post

I will love thee, O Lord, my strength; the Lord is my stony rock, and my defense. — Psalm 18:1

When I was eight or nine, I was playing outside on a hillside near the sea in Rhode Island, where my family spent time during the summer. It was overcast. The air was heavily damp, opaque with mist at a distance of 150 yards. The sound of a foghorn bleated from an offshore buoy like a blind person groping in darkness. I was running around with my brother and friends, barefoot. The stiff blades of crabgrass and the sandy soil were abrasive and cold on my feet. Slivers of moisture hit my cheek as I ran.

Then, my foot ran across a rock whose rough face stuck up above the surface of the ground. And suddenly, inwardly, I felt something very different, coming up through the rock.

An enormous depth opened up from the earth into my body and suffused the air around me. I felt a remarkable presence, eternity packed into a nanosecond, a fullness of time. It was loving and stern, beautiful and awesome, silent and strong, all at once. It stopped me in my tracks.

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From The Huffington Post

Violence like the weekend shooting in Arizona is scary. Random violence, like the death of 9-year-old Christina-Taylor Green who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time this weekend is particularly terrifying.

In the face of such terror, we seek reasons and explanations. We want to know who and what is to blame, hoping that if we could figure that out and make it go away, we would be free of such horrors as the mass murder that occurred in a Tucson shopping center just 48 hours ago.

I appreciate that impulse, and even indulged it for a while, seeking to figure out who created the context which enabled and empowered the accused shooter, Jared Loughner.

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