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Collaborative Organizations

Religious Leaders Agree to Resistance Agenda

Religious Leaders Agree to Resistance Agenda

by Bud Heckman

It is an understatement to say that America is in a very tense political situation. The rabble rousing of the political cycle and unpredicted election of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States have brought to the forefront very difficult public discussions and challenging situations. 

Women Transforming the Globe

Women Transforming the Globe

From Women's Earth Alliance and United Religions Initiative

URI and WEA come together at a critical time – when efforts to build bridges across nations, learn from each other, and activate people power are needed more than ever. Our partnership enables both organizations to reach deeper and wider, catalyzing a global ripple effect that begins in our communities. The time is now.

Sustainable Development Goals Engendering New Partnerships

In 2007, an Op Ed appeared in the International Herald Tribune, entitled “You gotta have faith at the UN.” A play on words, the article posited that the shifting sands of geopolitics and concerns surrounding available developmental resources, were demanding a rethink of multilateral institutions and traditional forms of global developmental partnerships.

Dharmic Religion Finally Finding a Place in European Interfaith

Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs Coming to the Table

Five Interfaith Resources to Make 2013 a Green Year!

Happy New Year! While everyone is still thinking about New Year’s resolutions, why not consider making 2013 the year you reduced your carbon footprint and helped the community at large by planting a sustainable vegetable garden.

Collaborative Peace Groups

In today’s world, one could be easily be made to believe that religion primarily fosters hatred and violence. But the reality is that religious people and organizations have often been at the forefront of interfaith relations and restoring peace in violent regions. On International Day of Peace, HuffPost Religion is proud to share this list of national and international religious organizations that are working to promote peace on local, national and international levels.

Rio+ 20: After the Speeches, the Work Begins

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon commented that after the speeches, the work begins. He has it right: after the speeches of the Rio+20 conference, the work charges civil society to insist on changes. Governments will not solve the environmental crisis for us. This massive international conference was a once-in-a-decade opportunity. The outcome document, [Secretary General BanKi-Moon at Rio+20] a product of months of negotiations dominated by nationalistic political interests, is far from revolutionary. To change our course away from environmental devastation we need more than a revolution.

Peacemaking – Seeking, Finding, Starting

Turning the final page of Eboo Patel’s Acts of Faith, I felt what only comes from finishing a great book: a mixture of equal parts exhilaration and disappointment that it’s over. Patel is an engaging writer with an intriguing personal story, and the major ideas encapsulated in his book spoke to me on a very basic level.

How Faith Communities Are Supporting the Earth

Historian Lynn White, Jr. kick-started a discussion of religion and the environment in 1967 with an article in Science titled “The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis.” Environmental disasters were accelerating in the sixties in America and helped establish an annual Earth Day celebration in 1970. White, a distinguished professor at UCLA, laid the blame for an uncaring, abusive, destructive attitude towards nature on Christianity’s door. White’s brilliance and the audacity of the claim gave rise to a host of discussions, approving and disapproving, that eventually led in many different directions.

Interfaith Women Exploring New Ways to Lead

The impact of the Parliament of the World’s Religions is hard to quantify. Each gathering sparks action in the personal lives of the attendees, but also in the creation of interfaith groups and organizations around the world. This story is about a new network of women who were inspired by the December 2009 Parliament in Melbourne, Australia.

Religion’s New Face in the World

All of Heckman’s categories deserves attention and will find their way into The Interfaith Observer. Before concluding this overview, though, consider one other category – “Social issue(s) and action groups.” Dozens of social justice causes – immigration rights, the death penalty, economic reform, environmental responsibility, peace in the Middle East, and many more – organize as interfaith nonprofits.

International Interfaith Stakeholders Today

In last month’s TIO, Marcus Braybrooke wrote a brief history of the interfaith movement since 1893. He tells how major interfaith organizations emerged in the twentieth century, starting with the International Association for Religious Freedom (IARF), whose roots go back to 1900. The World Congress of Faiths, celebrating its 75th birthday this year, was the first established organization to invite all people of faith and practice to a shared table of dialogue in the “spirit of fellowship.” Both IARF and the Congress remain active international organizations, a tribute to the resilience of their hope for a happier religious future.

The $100,000 Question in the Interfaith Movement

How do we know when we have arrived in the interfaith movement?  When religious pluralism is normative?  When religious differences don’t cause conflict or even concern?