Religions for Peace - USA February 2008 E-Newsletter

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In This Issue:

From Our Executive Director…

RFP-USA Lecture Series Moved to Fall
Religions for Peace - USA has formed a partnership with the Macaulay Honors College of the City University of New York to launch a lecture series. The lecture series will feature religious leaders from diverse communities discussing ways in which their communities were forced to adjust, or not adjust, to the changing world after 9/11. Originally slated to begin this spring, the lecture series will instead be launched in the fall of 2008.

Rise in Interfaith Activity
New data from the Hartford Institute for Religion Research shows the rise in interfaith activity post-9/11 from a statistical point of view. According to one survey, in 2000, only 7% of congregations reported participating in interfaith worship in the 12 months prior to the survey, and only 8% reported joining in interfaith community service activities. However, in 2005, interfaith activity among congregations had tripled, with a little more than two in ten, or 22% of congregations reported having participated in an interfaith service, and 37% of congregations participating in interfaith community service activities.

For more information about the Hartford Institute for Religions Research and these statistics, visit their website.

Interfaith Approach to End the War in Iraq
On Friday, March 7, there will be an interfaith demonstration in Washington, D.C. to protest the war in Iraq and show solidarity in protecting the sanctity of human life. Components of the event include workshops on peace activism, religious services from various communities, an interfaith service, and an optional march on the Capitol bearing petitions to end the war.

For more information and to sign up for events, please click here.

Christianity and the Holocaust Seminar
From June 16-20, the Committee on Church Relations and the Holocaust will be holding a seminar for professors of theology, ethics, and religion at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. The seminar will be a historical overview of churches during the Holocaust, the issues of anti-Semitism, contemporary interfaith challenges, and comparisons to other genocides.

Applications must be postmarked, emailed, or faxed no later than Wednesday, March 15, 2008. For more information, please visit their website.

Emergency Rescue Center Training
The New York Disaster Interfaith Services (NYDIS) is currently training houses of worship to act as emergency rest centers, which serve the public by offering hospitality and safe haven during emergencies. The program was launched on February 12, and citywide training is anticipated to begin in March.

If your house of worship is interested in participating, please contact NYDIS or register here.

The Power of Forgiveness
Journey Films has announced the national public television broadcast of The Power of Forgiveness, winner of the Best Film Award at the Sun Valley Film Festival. This film examines the physical, mental, and spiritual benefits that may be found through the act of forgiveness. The film includes stories and teachings from many faith traditions, interviewing figures such as Nobel Peace Laureate Elie Wiesel, Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh, Azim Khamisa on forgiveness and Islam, Rev. James Forbes of Riverside Church in New York giving a Christian perspective, and best-selling author Thomas Moore (Care of the Soul) on forgiveness from a spiritual perspective.

The broadcast of a one-hour version will begin in late March. For times and local listings, check out their website starting in early March. For more information on the full-length DVD version, click here.

Abrahamic “Prophetic Voices” Today
On Sunday, April 6, at Mishkan Shalom in Philadelphia, the Shalom Center will honor three national and three local individuals as "Prophetic Voices." The Shalom Center’s decision to recognize the extraordinary accomplishments of Jews, Christians, and Muslims at the same time serves as a testament to its desire to work towards peace, justice, and the healing of the earth. Those being honored are Reverend Bob Edgar, Ruth Messinger, RFP-USA board member Dr. Sayyid Muhammad Sayeed, Rabbi Rebecca Alpert, Iftekhar Hussein, and Beth Stroud.

For more information on the program or the purchasing of tickets, please visit the Shalom Center's website.

CFR Conference Call Series
The Council of Foreign Relations has announced the schedule and topics for the "Winter/Spring 2008 Religion and Foreign Policy Conference Call Series." The series seeks to engage religious leaders and scholars from around the country to participate in dialogues on global issues. Each conference call is headed by an expert or religious leader who will provide a forum for discussion. This series’ dates and topics are as follows:

March 12- Darfur and Beyond: Religious Organizations in Africa
April 15- U.S. Foreign Policy and the New Evangelical Agenda
May 6- the Israel/Palestine Peace Process

To participate in a conference call, either send an email or call Jessica Brandt at 212-434-9573. Invitations are limited to religious/congregational leaders and scholars.

NAINConnect 2008
Register now for NAINConnect 2008 in San Francisco! The theme for the 20th anniversary gathering of the North American Interfaith Network is “Embracing an Interfaith Future.” Due to space constraints, the program coordinators advise attendees to register early.

Please visit their website to register and for more information.

LEADD Interfaith Summer Camp Applications
The Interfaith Alliance Foundation is looking for rising sophomores and juniors in private, public, charter, and parochial high schools to participate in this year’s Leadership Education Advancing Democracy and Diversity program. LEADD is a week-long summer camp that brings together students from diverse backgrounds to share their faiths, learn about diversity, participate in team building exercises, and explore history. Much of the program will focus on the importance of religious freedom and the First Amendment, and why students should advocate for it. Students who are likely candidates for the LEADD program will be engaged in his/her religious tradition, curious about other traditions, and reasonably articulate about her religious practices, or rejection of those practices.

For more information, click here.

Zoroastrian Delegation Participates in UN Commission
The Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America (FEZANA), a member of Religions for Peace-USA, will participate in the 52nd Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) taking place Feb 25 – March 7, 2008. The Zoroastrian delegation, including Mantreh Atashband, Afreed Mistry and Shekufeh Zonji, Homi D. Gandhi, RFP-USA board member, Farah Minwalla, Sanaya Nawaz and Tahmoures Hormozdyaran, Behram Pastakia, and Dolly Dastoor, will take part in a panel on Feb 29th attempting to answer the question, Why does extreme poverty still exist given decades of immense international charitable work?

They will show that the key to this answer is the manner in which development work in impoverished communities has been taking place. The prevalent top-down approach of charity usually empowers the “givers,” in most cases government bodies, as opposed to the individuals in need. The panel will present an example for an alternative approach, namely micro-financing, where the power imbalance is corrected and the true work of development, that is empowering individuals to re-build their own lives and communities, can begin.

For more information on the 52nd CSW please click here. For more information on FEZANA please click here.

UN Comission on the Status of Women, 2008 Session

The 52nd session of the Commission on the Status of Women was held at the United Nations headquarters February 25 - March 7.

Religions for Peace International co-sponsored three events. The first was “Gender Architecture in our Religions: Walls and Windows, Progress and Challenges,” sponsored with Ecumenical Women 2000. Panelists included Ms. Karima Lanyero, Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative Women’s Program, Uganda; Ms. Lilit Varzhapetyan; Rev. Inez Torres Davis, Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; Mrs. Majida Al Kalidi, Head of the Women’s Department, Al Hakim Foundation, Iraq; and the Ven. Dr. Grace Chung Lee, Won Buddhism International, who served as facilitator.

The second event was “Faith-Based Responses to Gender-Based Violence as an Atrocity Crime," co-sponsored with Faith & Ethics Network for the International Criminal Court. Panelists included Mr. Andre Laperriere, Executive Director, Secretariat of the Trust Fund for Victims, ICC, The Hague, Netherlands; Ms. Kate Burns, Senior Policy Advisor for Gender, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), UN ACTION Against Sexual Violence, New York; Ms. Karima Lanyero, Acholi Religious Leaders Women’s Program, Uganda; and Sister Isabelle Izika, Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, DR Congo.

The final event, “Iraq for All Iraqis,” was co-sponsored with the Al-Hakim Foundation and Ecumenical Women 2000. Panelists included Ms. Layla Al-Khafaji, Member of the Iraqi Parliament, Al-Hakim Foundation, Iraq; Dr. Michele Fedoroff, Deputy NGO section, USA; Rev. Kyoichi Sugino, Director, Inter-Religious Council Development, Religions for Peace-USA; Rev. Kathleen Stone, Ecumenical Women, USA; Dr. Bayan Al-Hakim, Al-Hakim Foundation, United Kingdom; Dr. Jafar Jawad, Al-Hakim Foundation, USA; and Dr. Mohammed Mohammed Ali, Iraq, who served as moderator.

Opening the Covenant: A Jewish Theology of Christianity

Professor Michael Kogen's wonderful new book focuses on Jewish-Christian dialogue. Opening the Covenant works by dissecting shared texts and similar theologies. It presents an interpretation of the Torah with its sister religion as an extension of the mission to become a "Light unto the nations," that is, Judaism as a guiding light of morality for the world. In analyzing Christian doctrine, the author emphasizes its foundation in Jewish scripture by leaders who considered themselves to be wholly Jewish. Kogan explores the work of past theologians, Jewish and Christian, who have also attempted to bridge the gap between the two religions. The book ultimately rejects exclusivism and is both succinct and accessible, the author forming an easy report with readers that will carry them through to the end.

The Divine Deli: Religious Identity in the North American Cultural Mosaic
In The Divine Deli, author John H. Berthrong examines the latest wave of spirituality, in which Christians are “MRPing,” or multiple religious participation. In a response to the multitude of houses of worship from faiths of the Middle East, Far East, and South Asia and the growing prevalence of interfaith marriages, Christians have been incorporating spiritual aspects of these religions into their own. An example of this is the Catholic use of the rosary, an idea brought by to the west by Muslims, who got the idea from Buddhists. Berthrong discusses how the use of symbols, prayers, chants, ideas, and practices borrowed from other faiths is enriching and invigorating the Christian spirit.

One Heart: Universal Wisdom From the World’s Scriptures
This great little book places the scriptures of the world’s religions side by side for comparison on a variety of topics. Look up drinking, for example, and you will see responses from Native American Religions, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Taoism and Confucianism. One Heart is an easy-to-read reference that attempts to illustrate the inherent commonalities across the world religions.

Praying With Our Hands
In this book, author Jon Sweeney makes the argument that we pray not only with words, but with our bodies as well, particularly our hands. Praying With Our Hands incorporates short essays and striking black and white photographs to demonstrate the use of hands in prayer in Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism. The pictures show Shakers weaving baskets, Jewish women lighting candles on the Sabbath, and Christians receiving the Eucharist. Images also show believers breaking bread, washing each other’s feet, clasping hands at the dinner table to say grace, and counting rosary beads. This book is instructive and inspiring.