Sacred Awakening Series

From Feb. 17 through April 3, 2010 Unity, Gaia Community, Intention Media, Integrative Spirituality, among many others will be sponsoring a teleseminar series called "Sacred Awakening Series: 40 Days with 40 Spiritual Leaders." This teleseminar is free for registration and features such spiritual teachers and leaders as the Association of Unity Churches' own president Rev. James Trapp, Buddhist social activist A.T. Ariyaratne, Hindu gurus Swami Chidanand Saraswati and Dattatreya Siva Baba, Buddhist scholar and teacher Tenzin Robert Thurman, progressive Christians Bishop John Shelby Spong and Matthew Fox, Buddhist monk Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi, Rabbis Lynn Gottlieb and Yehuda Berg, Muslim scholar Abdul Aziz Said, and many more.

I've already signed up for this teleseminar, which should prove to be quite spiritually stimulating. With such a diverse array of spiritual leaders specifically tackling the issue of "how we can live a truly sacred life" participating in this seminar will foster interfaith interaction and learning concerning a central religious issue - spiritual transformation (which is really what living the sacred life is all about). And, for those of us who are part of the Christian heritage, this seminar comes just in time for Lent. Sharing in this interreligious encounter will certainly help engender the spirit of resurrection, rebirth, and renewal of being that the Lenten season is truly, at its core, is all about. I, for one, will be participating in this seminar as a Lenten practice of personal and communal spiritual growth.

Join me in registering for this teleseminar at the online website.

New Thought Orgs Join Together at Parliament of World Religions

The Parliament of World Religions, which just met Dec. 3-9 this past year in Melbourne, is the largest interfaith gathering in the world. During the Parliament's proceedings, various New Thought organizations (including Unity School of Christianity) came together as a larger movement of spiritual traditions to convey New Thought perspectives on many of the critical social and environmental issues and to present a unified and cohesive identity on the international stage.

Also, as it turned out, there was held a Pre-Parliament Conference where The Association for Global New Thought, The Association of Unity Churches Intl, Unity School of Christianity, Agape International Spiritual Center, Affiliated New Thought Network, The International New Thought, Alliance, and others assembled to exchange ideas and learn from each other.

This shows an incredible move to interact and dialogue within the larger New Thought outlook on the world. It's an effort that shows great interest in developing mutual support and further understanding in the process of spiritual transformation. However, as a caveat, while dialogue among New Thought groups is wonderful we must be sure, as with any dialogue, that each distinct group doesn't get watered down into a generalized lowest-common denominator, doesn't loose its specialness and uniqueness. In other words, lets not emphasize unity at the expense of diversity, but rather promote a unity-in-diversity which recognizes common ground and connectedness while also affirming the differences and plurality of our situation. The Agape Center's beliefs, ideas, practices, and governance are not the same as Unity School of Christianity which is, in turn, not identical to the Association of Global New Thought. While their worldviews maintain many commonalities they are nontheless discrete traditions with differences in belief and practice. (In fact, these principles may also apply to the unity-in-diversity among individual people. More on this at a later time.)

For more information about the pre-Parliament New Thought Delegate Conference, visit www.agnt.org/powr.

Find information on the Parliament of the World's Religions at www.parliamentofreligions.org.

Watch this AGNT video for the 2009 Parliament of the World's Religions.

Common Tables "eLerts"

Common Tables, an organization that promotes and facilitates grassroots-style interfaith dialogue, has come out with a new feature called the "eLert." It's essentially a mass email list that sends people an email notification that brings attention to significant holidays from all the major world religions as they occur, along with a brief explanation.

Sign up for Common Tables' "eLert" here.

Patheos Launches Interfaith Dialogue on Religion and Education

Patheos.com, one of the world's foremost online forums for global dialogue on issues of religion and spirituality, recently launched a "Public Square" examination of the challenges and issues facing religious education from the perspective of the world's seven largest religious traditions.

To read a review of the recent dialogue forum see this article of the Religion News Service.

To find out more go to Patheos.com.

New Book about Delving into Another Religion

There's a recent book out by Benyamin Cohen called My Jesus Year: A Rabbi’s Son Wanders the Bible Belt in Search of His Own Faith which details his journey into another faith. Cohen, who is Jewish, took one year and went church-hopping throughout the Bible Belt to learn more about Christianity and perhaps to see how Christianity might influence him as a Jew.

He states, "I want Jesus to make me a better Jew." Interestingly, when he attended these many churches in the South, he went wearing a yarmulke and without any hint of hiding the fact that he was Jewish. Surprisingly, he wasn't driven away with pitchforks or anything. There were certainly interesting conversations that surely involved stereotypes, confusion, and misunderstanding, but this is all part and parcel of interfaith encounter. He ultimately comes to an understanding that people of faith come in all shapes and sizes and that we have much to learn from one another through dialogue and mutual participation in each other's practices.

I think this is a decent model for anyone interested in learning more about another's faith and transforming one's own. It's always good to start with reading about other beliefs, cultures, practices, etc. but we can't stay there. To really delve deep into another faith we must practice with the other, worship with the other, pray and meditate with the other, otherwise we're only scratching the surface of the wisdom and truth that could be disclosed in that encounter.

Read a book review by Benjamin Weiner, "A Jew in Church? No Big Deal."

Image from Religion Dispatches.

New Book on Buddhist-Christian Dialogue and Science

B. Allan Wallace has written a new book called Mind in the Balance: Meditation in Science, Buddhism and Christianity. Though I haven't had a chance to purchase and read it yet, it looks to be a wonderful scholarly analysis of the inquiry into human consciousness through the meditative techniques of Buddhism and Christianity with the inclusion of modern scientific research into these practices.

"By establishing a dialogue in which the meditative practices of Buddhism and Christianity speak to the theories of modern philosophy and science, B. Alan Wallace reveals the theoretical similarities underlying these disparate disciplines and their unified approach to making sense of the objective world." (Center for Progressive Christianity)

Read the full review of Wallace's book at the Center for Progressive Christianity.

Watch a video of Wallace talking about his book.

Rabbis and Imams visit U.S. for dialogue

"A group of 28 imams and rabbis from 10 European countries arrived in New York and Washington this week for whirlwind visits to interfaith centers to break new ground on Muslim-Jewish relations and combat Islamophobia and anti-Semitism in each other's communities. They will receive instructions from teams of American rabbis and imams who will show the Europeans how American-style ecumenism works on the ground. It's the first visit of its kind to involve foreign Muslim and Jewish leaders coming to the U.S., where interreligious ties have a much longer history and track record of success." (J. Duin, Wash. Times)

I think this is a bit of a testament to the groundwork and success of interfaith dialogues between rather disparate religious groups in the U.S. Not that this kind of activity hasn't met success elsewhere, but due to the context of intense plurality and diversity characteristic of the U.S. there is more opportunity to work towards ecumenism and religious communities are often more likely to dialogue because its the only peaceable alternative to intolerant anger, hate, and violence that can come between different religious people.

Anyway, I'm pleased to see the U.S. being held up as a model for interfaith relations, in this case, for Muslim-Jewish peaceful interaction and learning.

Read the full article at Faith in Public Life by Julia Duin of the Washington Times.

Teaching the Dalai Lama's Monks: Better Religion Through Science

"A scientist/professor in an experimental program teaching science to the Dalai Lama's monks explains why this project is so much bigger than this one program, bigger even than working to reconcile religion and science." (RD 7.1.09)

These interactions between Tibetan monks and scientists are very important in the increased understanding between religious practitioners and scientists through dialogue. However, we must keep in mind that it's not simply religion that must be open to learning from science but also science drawing insight from religion as well (which I haven't seen as often). It's important that the religion-science conversation is truly two-sided -- a real dialogue rather than two disconnected monologues.

Arri Eisen has the story at Religion Dispatches.

Shedding 'Pro-Choice' and 'Pro-Life' Labels

Julie Polter of Sojourner's, God's Politics has written a piece about how the labels of "pro-choice" and "pro-life" are oftentimes ideological barriers that prevent people from coming together for social action on issues like teen pregnancy and other similar issues.

It's true -- the stereotypes we give each other and ourselves most often get in the way of understanding who the other really is and where s/he is coming from. I agree with Polter that labels like "pro-life" and "pro-choice" not only pigeon-hole us into black-or-white, cookie-cutter viewpoints, but it also frustrates the possibility of finding real common ground and communicating respectfully and intelligently about the issues.

This is just another example of how labels can block real dialogue between seeming enemies.

Read Polter's article at Faith in Public Life.

The First Issue of the Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue - May 1, 2009

For those who keep up with interreligious engagement and exchange throughout the English-speaking world, the inaugural issue of the Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue will be published this May 1, 2009. (Image to the left: From the homepage of Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue)

The Journal has been conceived and constructed by Joshua Stanton, a rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College, and Stephanie Hughes, a master's student at Union Theological Seminary. As stated on the website, the Journal is dedicated to increasing "the quality and frequency of interchanges between religious groups and their leaders and scholars." Managed and edited by a multifaith team of seminary students and scholars, this journal operates under a peer-review format. The overall aim of the Journal is to foster interreligious communication at the scholarly and religious leadership levels in the hope to help create a more tolerant and pluralistic society.

The Journal's aim is to 1) publish articles on research and scholarship taking place in seminaries, rabbinical schools, and other instititions of religious leadership; 2) promote innovative ideas for interfaith work; 3) identify problems and crises facing contemporary religious communities; 4) provide a forum for people of religious conviction (or none) to greater understand traditions other than their own; 5) use new technologies to promote the activity and practice of dialogue and engagement.

As there are numerous grass-roots and other organizations in North America and beyond that promote and engage in interfaith dialogue, action, and work, I feel that, although the Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue is not necessarily a novel endeavor, it certainly recognizes the need for a variety of forums for interreligious engagement and intends to serve in just such a manner. Specifically, it sets out to be a scholarly forum for religious leaders and academicians to learn more about other religious traditions and expand their knowledge-base concerning issues of interfaith relations. I feel the most innovative and exciting part of the Journal's work is its utilization of new online technology (esp. peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed published online forums, external links to more online dialogue, and a discourse archive linking people to publications of all types dealing with dialogue) to engender and increase interreligious exchange and understanding.

I trust this will be an intellectually stimulating, socially conscious, and spiritually enriching project. I encourage all who are interested in the least to get involved in any way you can. Peace!