Religions for Peace - USA March 2007 E-Newsletter

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In This Issue:

From Our Executive Director…

RFP-USA Presents Interfaith Academies for Religious Leaders
Religions for Peace – USA is now accepting applications for its Interfaith Academies for Religious Leaders! The United States today is an increasingly multi-religious society, and many who are engaged in religious formation, training, and ministry are seeking opportunities to dialogue with people outside their religious tradition. Religions for Peace – USA is offering two Academies where people from diverse religious traditions can learn about each other’s faiths with and from each other.

The Interfaith Academy for Emerging Religious Leaders is a two-week course for people in the process of formation for leadership/ministry in their religious community. Applicants should be active in their religious community and known to the judicatories or administration of their community, either on the local or national level. While there is no age limit, this academy is intended for people in training for leadership, not for persons already ordained or otherwise recognized as leaders in their religious body (these individuals should apply to the Interfaith Academy for Religious Professionals).

The Interfaith Academy for Religious Professionals is a similarly-structured week-long course for people already active in religious leadership as clergy, professors, teachers, or in other vocations.

For more information, and to download an application, please visit here or send an e-mail to: interfaithacademy@rfpusa.org. Applications are due April 20, 2007.

A Team of Consultants Join RFP-USA
An exciting group of students from Baruch College’s School of Public Affairs, led by Dr. Fred Lane has joined the Religions for Peace – USA team as consultants. Over the course of the next few months, these bright, energetic individuals will be working to discuss ways in which RFP-USA can bring ourselves to the next level.

RFP-USA’s Website: Now in Spanish!
Our Associate for Multilingual Communications, Kaitlyn Meehan, has been working tirelessly to translate our website into Spanish, making information about Religions for Peace – USA more widely available. We are now proud to announce that the “About Us” pages have all been successfully translated. Check it out here!

Kaitlyn appreciates your input on the translated site and asks that any concerns or corrections be emailed to her at kaitlyn@rfpusa.org.

Religions for Peace Apparel Now Available
Religions for Peace – USA has now made it even easier to wear your message of peace splashed across your chest… or your bag, or your coffee mug, or your dog. With over five different designs to choose from, and more created each week, you can find the perfect gift for all the peacemakers in your life. All proceeds go to support Religions for Peace – USA.

Visit our new store here today! And if there's anything that you would like to see on a t-shirt, let us know. E-mail briana@rfpusa.org.

Living Peace Foundation’s Pilgrimage of Peace
Living Peace Foundation’s Steven Puzarne is leading an extraordinary interfaith journey through the Holy Land to support grassroots peace work. Participants will tour the country, visiting Tel Aviv, Nazareth, the Galilee, Jerusalem, Mt. Hebron, Bethlehem, Beer Sheva, Sderot, Qumran, and the Dead Sea, among other places, meeting with Israel and Palestine’s most inspiring peacemakers.

The trip is scheduled for May 7th-17th, 2007, For more information and to reserve your space, please contact: Cantor Steven Puzarne at 310-902-6329 or e-mail spuzarne@sbcglobal.net.

Council on American-Islamic Relations Video Contest
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is offering two $5000 prizes, to one Muslim individual and one non-Muslim individual, for one-minute long digital videos expressing the theme, "Let the conversation begin." The videos should support CAIR's objective to promote mutual understanding between Muslims and people of other faiths in America and throughout the world. Videos may be submitted up to April 15, 2007. For complete rules and regulations, go here.

A Centre for the World Religions Presents “A Spiritual Agenda for Peace”
A Centre for the World Religions, an interfaith peace organization combining meditation practice, dialogue and a concrete peace and social justice agenda, invites everyone to a UN Conference entitled “A Spiritual Agenda for Peace.” This one-day conference, which will be held on May 11, 2007, will serve as a follow-up of two previous meetings in 2005 and 2006, in promotion of a peace initiative that takes renewal of religion as a starting point for peacemaking in the political and economic arenas.

For more information, e-mail nyinfo@centreworldreligions.org and visit here.

Parabola Magazine Issues "Faith"
Parabola is a quarterly magazine devoted to the exploration of life's great questions, guided by the wisdom of the world's major religious traditions. They are committed to maintaining a truly interfaith publication, publishing an array of articles from a diverse group of leading religious thinkers.

In the most recent issue, “Faith,” Parabola presents an exclusive, in-depth interview with Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, the first woman to lead the nation’s 2.5 million Episcopalians, as well as a collection of original essays, interviews and stories related to questions of faith.

For more information on Parabola and its new issue on Faith, please contact Arthur Kurzweil by calling (212) 505-6200. To subscribe, e-mail newsletter@parabola.org.

Chinmaya Mission San Jose Offers Dharma Sevak Course
The Chinmaya Mission San Jose is offering a Dharma Sevak Course from June 15-29, 2007 at Krishnalaya, Piercy. Registration is now open for the course, which will be conducted by Swami Ishwarananda, Brahmachari Prabodh Chaitanya, and Brahmachari Girish Chaitanya on the topic of: Upanishad Saaram - Essence of the 9 Major Upanishads, and The Vishnu Sahasranaama

To register please visit here.

Intimate Evening With Authors of “The Faith Club”
On Tuesday, April 24, 2007, The Temple of Understanding will host an evening with the authors of “The Faith Club.” The event will include an exclusive presentation and book signing. Tickets are $50 per person. Donations of $250 or more receive a signed copy of the book. To RSVP, contact Sarah Martien at (212) 573-9224 ext 22 or email at sarah@templeofunderstanding.org.

NCC Marks 'World Water Day'
The National Council of Churches USA's (NCC) Eco-Justice Program is commemorating World Water Day with a new water stewardship resource for congregations, entitled, "Water Stewards: A Toolkit for Congregational Care of Local Watersheds."

"Water Stewards: A Toolkit for Congregational Care of Local Watersheds ," can be downloaded here by signing in to the eco-justice network. Also available for congregations in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed is a special edition resource entitled, "Stewards of the Bay: A Toolkit for Congregations in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed," which may also be downloaded here.

International Prize for Religious Harmony
A $500,000 gift from the family of Ishar Singh Bindra will establish an international prize to be given by Hofstra University to individuals or organizations that promote interfaith harmony. The prize, to be named for Guru Nanak, founder of the Sikh religion, will be given every two years. Winners will receive a prize of $50,000 and will be recognized at a gala dinner at Hofstra. The first award is planned for 2008.

Any living individual or organization that has contributed to the promotion of constructive dialogue and/or relations between faith communities is eligible for the prize. Nominators should provide a brief description of themselves (no more than 100 words) and a two page letter describing the individual or organization being nominated and the activities the nominator believes qualify the nominee for consideration. Nominators should explain why the nominee’s activities are of an exceptional nature. Nominations may be submitted in writing to Dean Bernard J. Firestone, Hofstra College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, 200A Heger Hall, 115 Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY 11549-1115 or as an electronic attachment to gurunanakprize@hofstra.edu. For more information, visit their website here.

All nominations for the 2008 prize are due by September 1, 2007.

Interfaith Relations Commission Offers PBS Documentaries at a Discount
The Interfaith Relations Commission is encouraging local churches, synagogues and mosques as well as other organizations to use the following PBS documentaries and accompanying study guides for public performance and stimulate dialogue:

"Three Faiths, One God: Judaism, Christianity, Islam" thoughtfully examines the religious beliefs and practices shared by Jews, Christians and Muslims to illustrate how many individuals in the Abrahamic faith communities are dealing with historical conflicts, yet remain dedicated to facilitating understanding and respect. "Three Faiths, One God" captures a broad range of voices and ideas of ordinary people and respected scholars in the interfaith field. The program contrasts the religious practices of the three faiths, including the rituals of fasting and marriage.

"Jews and Christians: A Journey of Faith" is a 2 hour, in-depth inquiry into the intertwined history of Jews and Christians. Produced by Auteur Productions, and based on the book by Marvin Wilson, Our Father Abraham: Jewish Roots of the Christian Faith, this video offers helpful insight into how Christianity and Judaism have defined themselves and developed in close sibling relationship. It shows the similarities and differences in liturgical practice, piety and theology that have been so often misunderstood in the long relationship between Christians and Jews, and includes footage of today's hopeful Christian-Jewish dialogues. A guide with additional written material is also available. For reviews and commentaries, go here.

The videos and study guides can be ordered from the National Council of Churches at a discount. To order or for more details, please write to Sarosh Koshy at the NCC: skoshy@ncccusa.org.

The Golden Institute Online
The Goldin Institute Online is a new interactive forum for participants in the Partner Cities Network. This forum will enable the Institute to highlight the innovations and achievements of network associates, provide educational resources and deliver customized and relevant content to all participants.

In addition to regular features and profiles of participant projects, the Goldin Institute Online has long-range goals that include:
1. Educational Forum: Over the coming months the Goldin Institute Online will launch a series of courses and seminars highlighting innovative approaches to particular issues and new and exciting methodologies.
2. Project Management Tools: The Goldin Institute Online will provide members with a series of online project management tools based on good practices from the field. These tools will link members through online discussion boards and chats, as well as provide concrete strategies for the day-to-day difficulties of managing projects in a number of environments.

WCRP's Global Youth Network Receives Generous Grant
Religions for Peace International's (WCRP) Global Youth Network recieved a US$200,000 grant to support global initiatives that combat some of the world's most urgent problems: how to build peace, mitigate environmental damage, and fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

The International Youth Committe (IYC), established only 11 years ago, boasts members from six continents and diverse faith traditions. The IYC is the central governing body of the Global Youth Network. Its members met for a three day conference in February, during which they formulated concrete strategies and established relationships with other regional and national organizations and local governments.

The Global Youth Network has proved itself adept at uniting far-flung groups of committed young people to combat global problems. This grant acknowledges their successful efforts.

The Tent of Abraham: Stories of Hope and Peace for Jews, Christians, and Muslims
The Tent of Abraham explores the three major monotheistic religions through interpretations of the teachings of reconciliation in the Torah, the Quran, and the Bible. The book synthesizes the teachings of Judaism, Islam and Christianity into a unified whole using the story of Abraham. The story is used as a basis for peace and hope. Written by Saadi Shakur Chishti, a Scottish American Sufi, Rabbi Arthur Waskow, an American Jew, and Joan Chittister, a Benedictine sister, The Tent of Abraham provides readers with knowledge that brings the three major monotheistic faiths together.

Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know -- and Doesn’t
The United States is home to representatives of the world's major faiths, including Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism. American citizens, though, are shockingly uninformed when it comes to understanding the basic tenets of these religions and the differences among them. Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know - and Doesn’t, by Steven Prothero, confronts the challenges that America faces today due to religious illiteracy and makes the case that we ought to remedy the problem through education in public schools.

God's Breath: Sacred Scriptures of the World -- The Essential Texts of Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Sufism, and Taoism.
God’s Breath, by John Miller and Aaron Kenedi, gathers together the sacred texts of the world’s major wisdom traditions and presents them with enlightening introductions by noted scholars, leading thinkers, writers and spiritual teachers, including Huston Smith, Karen Armstrong, Reynolds Price, Stephen Mitchell, Marcus Borg, Joseph Campbell, Carl Jung, and the Dalai Lama. God’s Breath is an essential book for students of the world's religions because it gives the reader an opportunity to compare and contrast each text and gain an overall deeper understanding of religion.

God's Troublemakers: How Women of Faith Are Changing the World.
Katharine Rhodes Henderson profiles women leaders, who do work that is spiritually or religiously motivated. The book discusses women as socio-ethical entrepreneurs who have invented organizations or movements to repair the world. It is thematically organized and explores many of today's most relevant topics, such as the separation of church and state and the intersection of politics and religion. God's Troublemakers is based on extensive interviews with eleven women, including Sr. Helen Prejean, the anti-death-penalty activist, and Ruth Messinger, former Manhattan Borough President and current executive director of the American Jewish World Service.

Religion in the Media Age
Stewart Hoover, Professor of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Colorado, presents an intriguing thesis, that religion and media are not two warring entities, but inextricably linked and mutually affecting pieces of the modern age. Hoover explores this relationship and suggests that the rise of more diverse and accesible forms of media are responsible for some people pulling away from the orthodox, mainstream world faiths, and reinterpreting religion and spirituality in a very personal way.

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