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inclusivity

Putting Interfaith Inclusivity to the Test

Putting Interfaith Inclusivity to the Test

by Miranda Hovemeyer

I’ll be honest. I haven’t felt at home in the field of interfaith work for quite a while. During one of the last interfaith conferences I spoke at, I was asked by an older white gentleman why I was there, then insisting…

When Dialogue is Not Enough

When Dialogue is Not Enough

by Cody Nielsen

Last month, I sat alone in the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center at Pennsylvania State College. I sat and cried for all the senseless acts of violence against Muslim, Christian, and Jewish communities across the nation and world…

How We See Each Other

How We See Each Other

by Libby Byrne

The gift of art helps us to see more clearly what is really there in our human experience. With this in mind, is there a relationship between the way we see art and the way we imagine religious communities might be inclusive for people with disabilities?

Naming, Growing, and Collaborating

Naming, Growing, and Collaborating

by Marcus Braybrooke

What’s in a name? In June, the Three Faiths Forum, founded 21 years ago in the UK, is changing its name to the Faith & Belief Forum. This reflects the way its work has expanded to include people of all faiths and beliefs, both religious and non-religious. 

From the Shared Love of Justice and Humanity

From the Shared Love of Justice and Humanity

by Kathleen A. Green

Three years ago, I shared my idea for a doctorate of ministry dissertation – bringing humanists and religious adherents together in interfaith engagement – and received some blank stares, a few shaking heads, and even a couple of flat out discouraging declarations such as “What’s the point?

Welcoming Marginalized Traditions

Welcoming Marginalized Traditions

by Hans Gustafson

Marginalized traditions, including contemporary Paganisms and Earth-based traditions, are beginning to be welcomed to the table of interreligious engagement in pockets around the U.S. However, the rest of us can still be more welcoming.

Enlarging the Interfaith Tent

Enlarging the Interfaith Tent

by Hans Gustafson

Despite an ever-widening door to the growing tent of interreligious engagement, there remains work to do. Interreligious studies in the academy, as well as the interfaith movement in the wider community, have blossomed in the West over the last few decades.

Reimagining the Interfaith Movement

Reimagining the Interfaith Movement

by Tahil Sharma and Megan Anderson

2017 has shaped the interfaith movement and clearly shown us the growing need for religious and secular pluralism and understanding. From clergy at the front lines of demonstrations against white supremacy and the drastic changes being made to the healthcare system, to community members standing against hatred

The Challenge of Teaching Religious Diversity in America

The Challenge of Teaching Religious Diversity in America

by Kristen Looney

As protesters fill the streets across the country, clog airports, and march down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House, many other Americans – on both sides of the partisan divide – take to social media denouncing President Trump’s recent executive order on immigration and refugee policy as un-American. Religious leaders, civic leaders, and elected officials are calling for a reversal of the “Muslim ban"...

What We Can Learn from the Same-Sex Seating Controversy

What We Can Learn from the Same-Sex Seating Controversy
A recent New York Times story on the tension caused when Orthodox Jewish men request same-sex seating on airlines for religious reasons generated over 3,000 reader responses. The scenario as described in the story generally unfolds something like this: the individual reaches his assigned seat and finds that the seat next to him is occupied by a woman. He shifts uncomfortably in the aisle until the flight attendant or an alert passenger recognizes what’s going on and asks the woman to switch seats with a male so the Orthodox Jew may have his religious views accommodated. Often the woman is offended; sometimes she refuses to move. This has made for many challenging situations and some flight delays.

Offering an Overdue Welcome to the Atheist Community

A week after 9/11, on a Monday afternoon, 400 clergy in vestments assembled in Civic Center, San Francisco, a rainbow of color representing an unprecedented diversity. They processed into Bill Graham Civic Auditorium where 5,000 had gathered to mourn the terrible tragedy the nation had suffered. After a long, thoroughly interspiritual service, people streamed out. In a far corner of the green a group of people stood alone, protestors, waving posters.

On Atheists and Theists Together at the Interfaith Table

As an interfaith activist, I’ve worked to bring an end to religious division. In recent years, this has increasingly meant speaking out against the rise in anti-Muslim rhetoric and violence sweeping America.

A Review of Chris Stedman’s Faitheist

Chris Stedman’s Faitheist is a fine, compelling book written by a deeply faithful person, who by his own admission is more interested in building something than in tearing something down. His faithfulness is not to a set of religious beliefs but to a search to understand and honor his unique humanity and the unique humanity of others in ways that contribute positively to life on Earth.