A joint effort between the Berkley Center and the Public Religion Research Institute, this groundbreaking survey explores how 18-24 year-olds view faith, values, and the 2012 election. The survey of 2,000 college-age Millennials provides new insights about the moral and religious values that animate young adults, and how these values impact their voting preferences and views on a range of issues including religious pluralism, social and economic inequality, immigration, and issues of race and gender. The survey also provides clues about what young people think about important political figures and political movements of the day.
RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY LEADERSHIP WORKSHOP 2012 1 May , 2012
Sunday, June 3 through Friday, June 8
Applications now being accepted
Hartford Seminary is seeking a diverse circle of participants in its RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY LEADERSHIP WORKSHOP, to be held Sunday evening, June 3 through Friday noon, June 8,on the Hartford Seminary campus. Made possible by generous assistance from the Shinnyo-en Foundation, this workshop will combine aspects of “training the trainers” with instruction about religious diversity and leadership per se. In addition to models and methods of leadership generally, the workshop will address such topics as leading youth in the multifaith context and in interfaith activities, formation of emerging young leaders, meeting the challenge of bullying, theologies and philosophies of religious difference, philosophies and models of dialogue, and multifaith efforts for the common good.
Guest presenters will include Janet Penn (Executive Director, Youth LEAD); Nancy Raines (Hospice Chaplain; formerly chaplain, Massachusetts General Hospital); Rev. Danny Fisher (Director, Buddhist Chaplaincy Program, University of the West); Joshua Stanton (founding editor, The Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue); and members of the Hartford Seminary faculty.
The week will include field trips to houses of worship illustrative of the changing religious landscape of Connecticut and New York. Seminar pedagogy will make use of large-group and small-group discussion, case-study method, and documentaries, guest speakers, and panel presentations. Participants will have opportunity to strategize, with input from colleagues, for their specific contexts and needs. Opportunity will also be provided for the group as a whole to share resources for multifaith education, ritual, dialogue, counseling, advocacy, and encouragement of productive dialogue and collaboration between religious groups at the intersection of religious and public life – thus improved ability to build community around common concerns.
The participation fee (which includes most meals) is $575. Applicants should email Tina Demo, Recruitment Officer (tdemo@hartsem.edu) by May 1, providing contact information and a brief description of the nature of their religious leadership or involvement in interreligious matters. Modest resources are available for financial assistance to help defray expenses (housing, transportation, tuition) for qualified applicants.
Questions about the workshop content should be addressed to Dr. Lucinda Mosher, Faculty Associate in Interfaith Studies, who will be the workshop’s coordinator and lead instructor (lmosher@hartsem.edu).
A Demographic Breakdown Of The World Of Religion 23 April , 2012
Originally posted on National Post: http://bit.ly/GJJSLJ
WWJD? A Non-Violent Conflict Resolution for Palestine 9 June , 2011
How could a person living under military occupation, experiencing first-hand suffering and humiliation, even think about loving the enemy, let alone urge family, friends and neighbors to do the same? This challenging message came from a young rabbi named Jesus in his “Sermon on the Mount.”
Of course, Jesus could have suggested we make peace with our enemies or negotiate peace agreements or peacefully resolve conflict; those statements would have been as shocking to the suffering Jews of that time. Instead, he entreated them to go further: to “love” them. This was the word he chose — a command to all those who seek to follow him.
Doing Church and Doing Justice: A Portrait of Millennials at Middle Church 9 June , 2011
The Public Religion Research Institute recently released a report on the Millenial generation and their relationship with religion, social justice, and cultural issues. The Millennial Generation, categorized as Americans between the ages of 18 and 29, are “the most ethnically, religiously and socially diverse group of people in U.S. history,” The Millennials are engaged in social justice activism and LGBTQ issues and take advantage of new technology to get their voices heard. The report discusses the Millennials’ overall disillusionment with the Christian church and a difference in values from older generations.
The main subjects of the report were Millennials that do affiliate themselves religiously, particularly members of Middle Church, a Christian Reformed church in the East Village led by Pastor Jacqui Lewis. Lewis described the church as “welcoming, artistic, inclusive, bold.” The Middle Church has a particular emphasis on social justice and LGBTQ issues and is thus particularly attractive to Millennials searching for a religion that coincides with their beliefs and worldview. Middle Church and the Millennials advocate for religion to act not as a theological or dogmatic institution, but as a vehicle for systemic change in the world.
Finding Meaning in the Death of a Teacher 9 June , 2011
Physically awkward, socially uncomfortable, mechanically rigid, and not balding, but conclusively balded, having lost it and pointing it out with a toupee. For high school students, that’s blood in the water. We’d regularly tease him; our pre-calculus class in particular was famed for its brazenness (and be sure we reveled in that notoriety). But because he wasn’t the type of teacher — or the type of man — who knew how to push back, he’d end up all but asking for more. I mean, he was a math teacher wearing a toupee. Did he expect differently?
One day, during passing time between classes, someone opened the door to our room and tossed a toupee into the room. While he was lecturing. I still remember how quickly everything stopped, as we watched the toupee fall to the floor, rather like a leaf, and our teacher’s voice first stumbled and then seemed to be sucked out of existence, leaving behind an unbelievable silence so perfect we could not imagine it hadn’t endured forever. If the room itself could be embarrassed, then the air was red in the face.
Can Religion Be Funny? Getting ‘Funatical’ By Laughing At Differences 11 April , 2011
A lot of people ask me what it’s like to be a Muslim comedian and if it’s possible to be religious and funny. I believe laughter and prayer helps people heal. Islam is not just something I practice, like working out or something. It’s how I aim to live my life. It makes me a peaceful person, easy-going, positive by nature, loving, caring, forgiving, firm and confident. It has taught me that we are all connected — we are all people, we all want peace, love and respect, we are all one and believe in a common message. We must love each other like we love ourselves. Just as Jesus said, “We even have to love the ones who don’t love us for if we only love the ones who love us, what reward is there in that?”
Frank Fredericks on NonProphetStatus: God, We Need Atheists 24 January , 2011
The discourse between evangelical Christians and atheists has been antipodal at best. Whether it is Richard Dawkins calling faith “the great cop-out,” or countless professed Christians using “godless” like an offensive epithet, we’ve reached new lows. In fact, generally the discussion quickly descends into a volley of talking points and apologetics. I abhor those conversations with the same disdain I reserve for being stuck in the crossfire between a toe-the-line Republican and slogan-happy Democrat, rehashing last week’s pundit talking points.
I believe we need to revolutionize the way we interact. As an evangelical Christian, I recognize that my community equates atheism with pedophilia, like some dark spiritual vacuum that sucks out any trace of compassion or morality. Even in interfaith circles, where peace and tolerance (and soft kittens) rule the day, the atheists are often eyed with suspicion in the corner — if they’re even invited.
Brad Hirschfield On Faith: Religion Must Fix What it Breaks 6 January , 2011
“Sadly, those who appreciate how toxic a role religion plays in global conflicts are often the most resistant to embracing the constructive capacity of those very same traditions in addressing the conflicts. Simultaneously, those who devoutly embrace a given tradition too often become apologists who refuse to acknowledge and address the damage done by significant numbers of those who share their faith.” READ MORE
A Recent Conversation 17 December , 2008
So, a friend and former roommate of mine, Daniil Leiderman, posted a valid and often unanswered question very eloquently on World Faith’s new Cause on Facebook. He has been the source of many great conversations that force me to articulate myself in different ways, and so I felt it would be interesting for you who read this. I attempted to respond with my personal thoughts, but I think this is a discussion that will continue on without a clear answer, but is still worth exploring.
Daniil Leiderman wrote:
True understanding between faiths is an admirable and worthy goal which has numerous precedents in human history. However the trouble comes in as religions seem to go through cycles of moderation and extremism.
In cycles of extremism seemingly moot issues become perevalent and make open discourse difficult–i.e. the Biblical and Koranic prohibition on idolatry, while apparently anachoronistic, became a major issue in the last decade or so beginning when the Taliban destroyed ancient statues of the buddha causing world wide protest in Christian and Muslim countries alike, followed by protests around the issue of Mohammed being visually represented in a Dutch political cartoon. How does one accomodate each dogma along with each possible degree of religious fervor–from the tolerant to the statue-exploding, to the western (quite possibly Eurocentric) willingness to treat nothing as beyond satire?
Another problem is that of interfaith tolerance between say Catholics and Satanists, or even the status of such faiths as satanism, wicca, astarte,Thelema or Scientology within the general question of religious tolerance. What to do about such “cults”, especially (back to satanism) when their foundation is defined by antagonism?
Frank Fredericks responds:
Very Good Question Daniil,
While I am no authority on the issue, There are some things I have stumbled across some concepts and approaches that allow for both maintaining religious strictness while acknowledging irreconciliable differences. Essentially, enough common ground can be made between two faiths which contain “exclusivity” clauses (e.g. Christianity or Islam).
Essentially, we can start by exploring shared values… While many paint religious relations in a dialectical manner, the religious with the most conflict have the most in common, in values and in shared history. This often leads to the creation of shared experiences… I as a Christian may have experienced the same questioning of my faith, or persecution for my faith, or what have you, as a Hindu, Satanist, or Athiest may. This is essentially shared humanity.
The next step is where I like to leave the common dialogue path, and why I don’t even like the term “dialogue.” Often times people feel they have to leave with something in agreement. I don’t. I think more important than “understanding” the opposing faith, is discovering the humanity of someone of the other identity. This is why at World Faith we focus less on talking, and we just want to get young people working together on community service projects (a shared value of faith traditions), as a means to build friendships with the “other.”
I think the problem lies is when people abuse religious language for politic gain. Your examples illustrate this effectively. Often times, among all religious traditions at some point, people will step forward with a tainted message that promotes fear, judgement, and ultimately hate. Yet when we look at religious traditions, if there is judgement, it is only for their god(s) to carry it out, or a spiritual law (e.g. Karma). I have found this true of virtually everyone religious tradition I have looked closely at.
So to break it down further, it is not that we do not promote (or discriminate) Moral Relativism. It is that we all are in pursuit of truth (which may be the lack of absolute truth for Moral Relativists). So let’s say one comes from a religion that forbids the consumption of pork. This moral believe does not require that the person admonish others for their swine-eating transgressions. Rather, they should live their life by their moral assumptions, and then use their interactions to show grace, humility, forgiveness, or whatever religious instruction they have on the topic. This, despite what many say about it, is the call by most faith traditions.
Now, I don’t believe we will ever get together and sing koumbaya, and I am generally annoyed by those who have such idealism (must be the New Yorker in me). However, right now, the extremists of all colors dominate the conversation of faith in society’s media and politics, though they are a tiny minority. We just have to mobilize well enough to reveal to everyone in the middle that they should not fear their neighbors, but that interaction, cross-religion friendships, and common action are safe, possible, and closer to the intent of faith traditions, so that the shared values and experience become mutual respect.
From the discussion board of the World Faith Cause on Facebook:
