The Charter for Compassion

The Charter for Compassion is a wonderful endeavor being organized by an impressive group of scholars and religious activist. Voices from across the religious spectrum are blending in harmony in an effort to drown out hate and religious bigotry, calling people from all faiths to begin practicing compassion toward their fellowman. This mandate is based upon the idea that most of the world's major religions have some form of the Golden Rule as a guiding principle. The Charter for Compassion calls upon all these faiths to put this principle into action and thereby doing what religion is fundamentally designed to do: that is, make each of us better people and thus, create a better world for ourselves and our posterity.

Be sure to check out this site. Also, there is an opportunity for anyone wanting to participate in the writing of this charter to submit possible charters for review. I encourage everyone to get behind this wonderful venture; support it with your prayers and participation. Please, visit the site today!

Do Muslims/Islam get a bad rap?

I subscribe to a number of Google Alerts which notifies me of religious news based on my predetermined parameters. I get alerts for news related to all the major religions, including articles related to Muslims and Islam. One thing that I've noticed ever since setting these alerts up is that the overwhelming majority of Muslim related news is negative. If I were to base my opinion solely upon what the media considers newsworthy regarding Islam, I would definitely have to say that it is not a peaceful religion.

Obviously, I do not agree with this opinion. There are allot of good Muslims, both in the US and abroad. Many of whom have gone to great lengths to challenge this erroneous popular notion. You can no more judge Muslims by the actions of Jihadist as you can Christianity by the actions of right-wing anti-establishment isolationist who stockpile guns and spout anti-government propaganda.

One has to wonder what role the media plays in this anti-Islamic campaign. History abounds with the countless atrocities of the Christian religion. Millions of innocent people killed, martyred because their ideas or lifestyle somehow differed from that which was sanctioned by the church of the time. While I am myself a Christian, I feel no need to gloss over this dark and troubling time in my faith's evolution. Fortunately for Christianity, there were no airwaves or Internet where news can literally travel all the way around the world in the blink of an eye.

As a person who respects much of the world's sacred literature, I appreciate and honor the Koran as a book of life and instruction. While it may have its less comely parts (as a figure of speech), so does the bible or any number of ancient text used by many of the world's religions. We acknowledge that many of the stories and teaching contained in these books were crafted in different times where things now unacceptable were common place, such as slavery and the subjugation of women, among other things. However, it certainly doesn't negate the timeless truths that many of these sacred writings convey, including both the Bible and the Koran.

So, the question remains, does the media stimulate this anti-Islamic fervor? I think so. Peaceful Muslims meeting in Mosque around the world, practicing their religion while being respectful of others is just not newsworthy. Educated and perceptive people, however, should not be swayed by this negative propaganda. We shouldn't be ignorant of the fact that there are people, regardless of their religion, who will espouse hate and subject the world to violence, using religion as their excuse. We should not use their ignorance, however, to reject a huge segment of the world's population whose faith and practice is not threatening at all.

Buddhism for the Non-Buddhist Layman

Download Free Ebooks � Buddhism for the Non-Buddhist Layman

In keeping with the spirit of this blog, I just come across this free ebook that purports to explain Buddhism to the non-Buddhist in language that is easily understood. Unfortunately, I have not had the chance to read this so I can not substantiate its claims; but, I do have it on my agenda to do in the near future and will either append my opinion to this post or I will add another post about the subject. If any of you get the chance to read this, please update us in the comment section with your ideas about it. If your a Buddhist and either agree with or find fault with the manual, I would appreciate you writing an objective critique and we will post it here as a blog post under your name.

For the record, we are looking for authors of various religious persuasions that can speak definitively on their faith. To reiterate, the purpose of this site is to take an eclectic approach to faith in an effort to improve interfaith relations as well as invoke interfaith dialog. (While this is a blogging community, the potential for discussion is greatly enhanced by our comment feature via Disqus. If you do not already have a Disqus account we encourage you to open one now. It is free and will help take our ability to discuss topics introduced here to the next level.) Faith, regardless of our varying religious persuasions, is the one thing we have in common. All of us who hold some form of religious belief have some structure to it, regardless of whether its rigorous or casual. If interested in participating in this group effort, please check out this page for more information. We really do want and need your help!

Freedom for All

I recently stumbled across an excellent blog by the name of In My Lifetime. BK Hipsher, an Episcopal priest as well as a PhD candidate at Winchester University, UK, is the author. Back on November 17, she published a post entitled What if... I meant to get around to sharing this earlier but have been busy of late trying to get some things sorted out on my blog so my posting has been delayed a bit.

The post refers to the many demonstrations around the country against Proposition 8 in California and numerous other anti-GLBT initiatives that succeeded around the country this past election. Hipsher was amazed that so many people were moved to get out of their lazy chairs and demonstrate for justice, equality, and religious pluralism. Obviously, the issue at hand really hit the participants where they lived and thus blasted them out of their complacency and behooved them to become involved. According to the post, demonstrations took place in 300 major cities throughout the US .
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It is so easy for us to become passionate about the things that directly affect us. Let someone assault our religious freedom, our freedom to of speech; watch the NRA pundits pour millions of dollars into lobbying against any thing they deemed a threat. We are so prone to act when it affects us. But, Hipsher asked the question, what if we would react with the same fervor against any incidence of injustice in our world? The examples are overwhelming; one such example she mentions is the fact that 43 million people in this country do not have health insurance and thus, limited to no access to quality health care.

The point here is that we should be consistent, willing to fight for those who consistently can not fight for themselves. The millions of children in this country who are considered to be food insecure. The marginalized, mentally ill, and those who have no voice. At the end of Hipsher's post she states that she hopes "that one day we grow up and realize that until all of us are free, none of us are free. Until all of us have access to civil rights, none of us do. Until all of us have health care, none of us do. Until there is justice for ALL, there is no justice." There is absolutely nothing I can add to that but a hearty AMEN!

Choosing to see the world positively, if only for one day! Happy Thanksgiving!

No blog would be complete without a traditional Thanksgiving post. I know for me, I need to take more time to reflect upon the good things in my life that I have to be thankful for. It's so easy to get into a negative rut and spend more time complaining and contemplating the less than perfect side of life. Sure, things may not always be the way we want them to be but in the end we can find many examples of people who have it allot worse than us.

Over the last forty years, I am not so sure that I have always gotten it. But, I am learning that to be truly thankful means that we have to be equally as grateful for the difficult times as well as the good. It's the rough places in my life that has built the greatest character. It has been in the darkest hours that I have learned the most about what it means to trust. In betrayal, I have learned how to love; in loss, I have learned how to value the things that I have. Life is not always what we want it to be; however, it is fundamentally the one thing that we should be most thankful for.

I would be amiss today to fail to mention my wonderful family. My wife: a woman who does what she has to do and does it faithfully and with grace. She bears a burden she was never meant to bear. My disability has put allot on her over the years. There have been times when I have been so single minded, lamenting my woes, that I've forgotten just how important she is to me and to our entire family. She makes the world go round; our family would not survive without all that she does and all that she is. It is great to take this time to reflect on her and what she means to me; but, everyday should be Thanksgiving in that regard.

Nine beautiful children, all healthy, smart, and well adjusted, are mine to be grateful for. Twenty-one years ago when my first daughter was born, I never imagined that I would be sitting here, twenty-one years into the future, writing this with eight additional children. I was only nineteen at the time and just the thought of one little bundle of love depending on me for everything was almost more than I could handle. I could never of imagined having eight more children.

The Divine smiled on me though: happy is the man whose quiver is full of arrows! (Ps 127:5) My children have been the one thing that has always been constant in my life in adulthood. Jobs, relationships, geography, physical health, everything has come and gone, but my children have remained for me to love and to be loved by them. There have been times when I could not find within myself a good enough reason to get out of bed in the morning, but when I thought of them, I somehow gained the strength to get up and do what I needed to.

Today, I have four girls left in the house: ages ten to two. I have the next sixteen years, at least, to live in a home where I am the only male. Right now my oldest son is still with me, my last reprieve. But, he's soon to jump out of the nest and leave me behind, so to speak. I just shudder at the thought of being in chick flick hell, weeks where nothing I do is right or enough. Even in this, however, I am thankful. These four girls are so beautiful and it will be such an honor to watch them grow up and become women with character and integrity, intelligence and resourceful; all the things they see and emulate in their mother.

Over the years its become a tradition in our family to sit together after the meal has settled and go around the room giving each person the opportunity to mention one thing they are most thankful for. When we first started doing it every one was kind of self conscious and awkward about it. But, I think it is becoming one of our more treasured holiday activities. Consequently, I challenge everyone who reads this blog today to do the same. Sure, you don't have sit around and say it out loud like we do, but just take some today to reflect on the good things in your life, the good people that surround you. Say thank you to someone who has meant allot to you. Hug your spouse today and tell them how you truly love and appreciate them. Gather your children together and let them know just how thankful you are that God chose you to be their parent.

I wish you all a happy Thanksgiving. Those in other countries where you do not celebrate the tradition, take some time today, regardless. to do what I've mentioned above. A thankful heart is not toxic. A grateful heart sees the world through the lenses of love, acceptance, and equality. Blessings to you all and may you all enjoy your time with friends and family!

Video and Petition: A Prayer and Pledge for President-elect Obama

Click on the link above and it will take you to the Sojourners website where you can personalize a letter to President Elect Barack Obama, pledging your support and prayers as he embarks upon sober and important mission. There is also a video pledge/appeal from Jim Walis to the Obama. Be sure to check that out as well. Here, however, is a sample of the letter:

"I am one member of a growing movement of Christians and people of faith who support a broad moral agenda that includes a deep concern for poverty, peacemaking, a consistent ethic of life, and care for creation. During the campaign, you said that, if elected, you would face powerful special interests trying to block change. You said you would need a citizen movement to support and push you." (click on link above for the entire letter.)

Barak Obama is not our Savior!

Yesterday morning I got up and after a cup of coffee and a few other morning rituals, I sat down to read over the daily headlines, peruse my favorite blogs, and check in on a few forums that I frequent. On one such forum there was a negative post regarding Obama's recent selection of Eric Holder for the Attorney General spot, pending confirmation, of course.

I am a disabled and a chronic pain patient and this particular forum is related to that topic. There has long since been great concerns among those who suffer from chronic pain that this country's so called War on Drugs has turned into a war against doctors who treat the chronically ill. I won't spend any time substantiating this but if you do some research I think you will find that the concerns are valid. We don't often worry about stuff like this until we are the ones facing the probability that a doctor, out of fear of losing his license, is unwilling to treat our chronic pain. Since the War on Drugs has and is a losing battle, allot of the resources are now being directed towards doctors and prescription drugs. This is being done for two reason: one, there are doctors out there who are abusing their privileges and flooding the streets with dangerous medication; and two, since the war against illicit drugs offers few measures for success, the DEA and DOJ have begun targeting their resources in areas where they can gain some visible successes so that they can convince the American people that their efforts are really making difference regardless of the statistics to the contrary.

Now, before I lose you here, let me just say that I understand that this is a religious oriented blog. This post, however, seems more political than religious. But, let me try here to make the religious point that I have in mind; that is, Barack Obama, while definitely an icon of change and hope for this countries' future, is not our Savior. Laying aside his rhetoric, promises, the assumptions many American people have made about him (such as the idea that he will bring some rationale and direction to a war on drugs that is getting out of hand), the fact is that Obama is just a man and a politician. I have great hopes that he will succeed in his endeavor to change America at home as well as our image abroad. I hope that he will return our sons and daughters to us who are fighting on foreign battlefields. But, in the end, these hopes are just that. Their not solutions yet, not by a long shot.

Jim Wallis, founder of Sojourners magazine and organization, recently published a book entitled The Great Awakening: Reviving Faith and Politics in a Post-Religious Right America . In this book, Walis outlines the plethora of issues facing America and our world: poverty, lack of quality health care, equity in death penalty cases, lessening the divide between the haves and have nots, among many others. He objectively points out that the President of the United States can only play a small role in bringing out real and consistent change in these areas. He then argues that the real responsibility here lies upon those of us on the grass roots level. He said that after the elections were over, regardless of who emerges as our next President, we have a responsibility to return to our communities and continue to grow social movements for change, citing that real change in this country has always come that way.

I appreciate many of the ideas and initiatives of President Elect Barack Obama but my enthusiasm is tempered by the fact that there is a higher power at work in the world today. The future of this country, my future and the future of my children, does not rest in the hands of a mere man. He must do his part but we must do ours as well. We must get up out of our complacency and stop expecting government to do what we ourselves should do. The fight for social justice, whether for race equality, LGBT issues, eradication of poverty, I, immigration reform, religious tolerance issues, the fight is ultimately resting upon our shoulders. May the divine help us in this endeavor!

Compassion – Make a Donation – Sponsor a Child

Can people of different faiths coexist together intimately?

For many Christians there are two scriptures that serve to regulate relationships for them:

• Amos 3:3 "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?"

• 2Cor 6:14 "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
  

Regardless of whether or not the interpretation of these passages is correct or not, they are used as is to discourage the development of relationships with people who do not agree with or adhere to their particular religious perspective. It is considered to be unequally yoked to be friends or romantic partners with a non-Christian, regardless of whether or not that person is an adherent of another faith or not. This is an exclusive mentality that tends to invalidate any faith besides its own; to become relationally engaged with people unlike themselves is to break a fundamental rule.

Now, it would be a violation of the spirit of this blog to make light of this practice and the ideals behind it. There are many good conservative evangelical Christians that take this to heart and feel that it is a non-negotiable rule. And, in many ways, there are good reasons for it. All of us have heard the statement that there are two things you simply can not talk about in public or even family gatherings: politics and religion. How many uncomfortable settings have we endured and relationships strained because of conflict in these areas. Thus, it would appear that this prohibition, this need to agree so to speak, is warranted.

To be honest, I've felt this way for much of my life, no matter what religious persuasion I was operating from at the time. I have been an evangelical Christian, a Wiccan/pagan, an agnostic, etc, and today I am a left leaning liberal progressive Christian (now there is a label for you!). Throughout each season in my life, I naturally gravitated toward those people with whom I had the most in common. This is just human nature.

My question, however, is does it always have to be this way? Notwithstanding the scriptures mentioned above as well as the natural inclinations of our human nature, is there not something of value to gain from developing relationships with those who are vastly different from ourselves? Obviously these are rhetorical questions, but is my faith so secure and complete so as not to be affected by intimate relationships with people of different faiths? I would hope so.

If the ideals of religious pluralism and tolerance are to prevail in our day, we are going to have to be willing to live and let live. This means that we must acknowledge that each person is on their own spiritual journey; a work in progress, an evolution if you will. Regardless of of how their faith measures up to ours, their spiritual journey is equally as valid as our own. This is not a matter of right and wrong. It is a matter of freedom to follow the dictates of one's own heart. Each of us are free to develop our own ideas of of the divine and to formulate beliefs and opinions about how life is to be lived and how God is to be understood. It only becomes detrimental when we try to impose these ideas and understandings of God as the only legitimate way.

Tolerance is the key and we must learn to practice it in every sphere of our lives; in our families, marriages, and places of employment, etc. How rich our lives would be if we could share our faith with others and learn from them as well? The chasm between groups is man made and it can be bridged or removed altogether with some concerted effort. I happen to know this from personal experience.

This subject is more than abstract to me because my wife and I are very different in our religious beliefs. As I've stated before, I am more liberal than her in just about every area. Contrarily, she is more of an evangelical Christian and more conservative than I am. I would like to say that it has not been problematic but the fact is, it has. And, I would like to say that because I am the liberal one and inclined to represent myself as being more open minded, that she has had the greatest difficulty adjusting to our situation. But, unfortunately, I am not sure that is true. Ideological differences between people who are intimate can be a difficult hurdle to overcome.

One of the first things I had to do in coming to grips with our differences was to give her permission to not be like me. That may sound haughty; I mean, as if she needed my permission for anything. But, on my side, I had to give her the same latitude that I wanted myself. Shakespeare's famous quote in Hamlet is most applicable here: ”This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.” Just as I must have the freedom to live out my spiritual and religious convictions, so should she be given the same freedom to be true to her self.

Because of our love and commitment to one another, we have made allot of progress in this area of tolerance and giving the other the space to be who and what they are. Fact is, her faith and convictions have positively affected me in too many ways to share here. I am thankful for how she sees God and she has helped me to be more sober and circumspect in how I relate my current beliefs with those I held in the past. To use a common cliché', its so easy to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Thankfully, I am learning that I don't always have to relinquish every thing in my effort to embrace new and fresh ideas.

Lastly, I am not sure that there is an appropriate way to end this article, so I am not going to try. What I hope is that we can continue this discussion in our comment section. This should be an ongoing conversation among people of faith. Some questions for discussion: can two people get married and stay married with opposing belief systems? How can we introduce issues of faith in our relationships in a way that is non-threatening and productive? How do we reconcile our right to formulate beliefs and opinions about how life is to be lived and how God is to be understood with the civility of respecting other people's right to do the same thing? With a Mosque on one end of a street and a Synagogue on the other, how do we coexist together, pooling our resources to make positive changes for the community at large? These are all pertinent issues facing our world today.

Meet me in the comment section to continue this discussion.

Bishop Gene Robinson: The Man Behind the Rhetoric

The name Gene Robinson invokes varied responses; a plethora of emotions and polarized opinions surround this man about the legitimacy of his ministry. Being the first openly gay man ordained as a bishop has brought him allot of notoriety, much of which I am sure he would gladly relinquish if possible.

Robinson's case has served to bring the divide within the church regarding homosexuality into sharper focus. For many years now homosexuals have lobbied among most of the mainline churches for recognition and equality. Some churches, such as the United Church of Christ, Episcopal Church USA, Evangelical Lutheran Church of American, just to name a few, have officially sanctioned the ordination of homosexuals to the ministry. Others, such as the Presbyterian Church USA have sanctioned compromises that allows the issue to be taken up within local bodies and decided there rather than taking an official stance that's sure to invoke a schism. There are a few mainline denominations, the United Methodist Church being the first that comes to mind, that is still holding to its standards; but the opposition is alive and well in the UMC and continues to challenge the general church to accommodate the growing number its gay and lesbian constituents.

Amid this worldwide debate within the church catholic, men like Gene Robinson are reduced to symbols and icons of the ongoing struggle. Many people formulate opinions and ideas about Robinson without having any first hand knowledge regarding the man himself. However, I think the first thing we need to do in this debate is to humanize these people who represent a departure from how its always been done. In so doing, I think it will bring a realism and compassion to the polemic that is not currently present. It is real easy to herald against ideals and to spout biblical mandates and prohibitions, especially when we are dealing with abstracts. But, we must realize that these mandates, positions, and prohibitions affect real people; people with real lives and aspirations whose future depend upon the ultimate conclusion of this controversy.

While its not a place one would normally go for information on the lives of religious icons such as Gene Robinson, GQ magazine ran an article about him in its June 2008 edition. I know this is old news per se, but I've found that allot of people missed this article and I think its an important read. No matter where you stand on the issue of homosexuality in the church, I think seeking to know the people behind the issue is important. GQ did an excellent job on this article/interview and I gained a deeper respect of Bishop Gene Robinson.

Go here to read this article.

There is also an excellent podcast that accompanies this article. I highly recommend it! You can listen to it here.

Religious Pluralism: Seeing Religions Again with Marcus Borg

Best-selling author Marcus Borg, Professor in Religion and Culture, uses an interdisciplinary approach to examine the role and importance of religions and religious pluralism in contemporary life in this presentation at UCSD.

The Sunni-Shia Divide, and the Future of Islam

If you are anything like me, the animosity between groups within the same religion has often been perplexing. In particular, the divide between the Sunni and Shia Muslim groups in Iraq has cause allot of Muslim on Muslim violence. Today, on Speaking of Faith, this divide will be discussed and analyzed. You can find a station in your area here. If there is not a station in your area or you miss the broadcast, you can listen to the podcast.


Here is the information on the feature taken directly from their site:


The Sunni-Shia Divide, and the Future of Islam
(November 20)
We seek to understand the Sunni-Shia divide in Islam. My guest Vali Nasr says that it is not so different from periods of Western Christian history. And he says that by bringing the majority Shia to power in Iraq, the U.S. has changed the religious dynamics of the Middle East.

Just Say No to "Religious Tolerance"?

Setting a Higher Bar "Religious tolerance" may sound warm and fuzzy, but that doesn't cut it for Gustav Niebuhr. Mere "tolerance" of other faiths feels begrudging, he says, and we can do better. The good news is, people do--every day. Niebuhr tells us the stories you won't find in police reports or press releases, stories of ordinary people searching for common ground.




If the above player does not work for you, you can access the program here.

To go to the Interfaith Radio site where you can find more similar podcasts, click here.

Living with Religious Pluralism

Religious pluralism has long been an interest of mine. Being raised in a conservative pentecostal church, I was led to believe that people unlike us were not saved. Our discrimination even encompassed Catholics as well as Protestants of non-pentecostal denominations. Faith for us was extremely discriminatory and we took the "there are few who find it" of Matthew 7:14  seriously. We were an exclusive few that had the whole truth. Any idea of diversity or divergent approaches to faith were quickly dispelled. 

As an adult, however, I have come to value diversity and believe that there are many ways to arrive at the same place. Each of us are unique individuals with our respective ideas and logic, invested with reason and rational minds that process the world around us in different ways. There are many ways to look at the world and various worldviews that are equally as valid as any other. It is an extremely impious and supercilious attitude that concludes that there is only one way to approach the divine and eternity. 

Christian scriptures record Jesus saying:  "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6) This is one of a number of so called "I am" statements in the book of John where Christ claims certain exclusive functions regarding the divine and eternity.  One must deal with these claims to exclusivity en route to a viable understanding of religious pluralism. Do we reject these claims? Can we reinterpret these claims? 

The rise of a global community forces people of different faiths to coexist together far more so than ever before. Exclusive claims have a far greater potential for harm and discrimination today than at any other time in the history of the world. Different cultures are meeting and being intertwined at an unprecedented rate. It is commonplace in our world to go to school, work, and live next door to people whose religious ideas are completely different than ours. Many of our preconceived notions about these faiths and their adherents are being destroyed. As a result, people are confused about how they should act towards those different from them. 

In light of all these developments, I think that we should reevaluate our faith and its truth claims. Especially those of us whose religion makes universal truth claims such as those stated above regarding Jesus. This certainly does not mean that we abandon our faith. But, in order to live peacefully with those around us, we must learn to coexist in a way that does not harm our fellowman nor do any harm to our respective faiths. There are a  number of criterion that should govern us in this pursuit. 

The single greatest value needed in this endeavor is respect. We must learn to respect the right of others to express and live out their faith in the world. This respect implies tolerance; tolerance of different opinions, different values and lifestyles, different religious priorities and practices. We do not have to understand or even agree but we must afford others the right to be who they are and to believe what they choose to believe because to do so is to protect one's own freedoms in these areas. 

Another response to religious diversity is love. Obviously, this is not romantic love but love that prefers others above oneself. Love that is patient and understands that all are God's children regardless of what they believe. Christian love, in particular, teaches us that love does not strive contentiously, is not arrogant and rude, always insisting on its own way. It is a love that values everyone the same without limits regarding religious persuasions. Love that is gracious and merciful; love that gives of itself to others and seeks to understand and meet the needs of others. 

Accordingly, in this climate of religious pluralism, we need to learn to listen and to do so intently. When we listen to one another closely we may find many areas where we agree rather than disagree. Listening helps to avoid assumptions which often lead to misunderstandings and unwarranted animosity. Listening implies that we can actually learn from those different from ourselves; it serves to neutralize pride that can dig chasms between people that are unnecessary. Listening implies an honest effort to truly understand what the other person is saying. 

Dialog is another necessary commodity in our effort to deal with religious pluralism. We must be willing to sit down at the table and really communicate with each another. This opens the possibility within each party of the prospect of change. Rather than always taking an either/or approach, through in depth dialog, we can sometimes embrace a both/and avenue.  It may get a bit sticky here, but genuine communication in this arena implies that we are willing to accept the idea that there are aspects of our faith that can be enhanced by a deeper dialog with those of different faiths. 

Religious pluralism is here to stay. We can fight it but in doing so we are actually fighting our fellowman. Consequently, we must learn to live with it, deal with it in a proactive way. We must learn to engage it in an effort to not only understand the beliefs of others but to more fully understand our own beliefs. This will help us identify those areas of our faith that are negotiable and those areas that are not. An ancient Jewish proverb states:"[i]ron sharpens iron, and one person sharpens the wit of another." (Proverbs 27:17)