Ecumenical & Interfaith
Network - PCUSA

News of Interfaith Organizations

Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions

Parliament organization emerges from centenary of historic interfaith event

The Chicago-based Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions (CPWR) dates from 1988 when an interfaith group in Chicago began considering the possibility of a 1993 Parliament there to mark the centenary of an1893 from which the western interfaith movement is said to have emerged, the Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The council, which has partnered with others to develop a series of Parliaments and initiate a Partner Cities Network, has adopted an approach with several intentions:

• cultivating harmony for the sake of the common good, not unity
• fostering the engagement of religious communities with society
  
• enabling religious communities' discovery of their shared commitments
• providing a framework for expressing visions of a just, peaceful, sustainable future

x

The CPWR executive director is Dirk Ficca (pictured, left), a Presbyterian minister. Ms. Grove Harris, formerly the managing director of the Pluralism Project, is CPWR's program director. Chair of the trustees is William Lesher (pictured right), retired president of the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago.

x

CPWR enables cities to partner in anticipation of the Parliament

The Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions (CPWR) has named Zabrina Santiago, a 2008 graduate of McCormick Seminary, as its partner cities director. She will oversee involvement of local interreligious movements in cities around the world in preparation for the 2009 Parliament. See information about your city's interreligious movement joining the Partner Cities network.

x

Click to return to interfaith organizational links.

World Conference of Religions for Peace

Religions for Peace adopts goals

The most recent goals for the World Conference of Religions for Peace were set at its Eighth Assembly in Kyoto in 2006:

• Confront violence within our communities when religion is misused as a justification or excuse for violence
• Advance shared security in which all sectors of society assume collective responsibility
• Work to transform conflict  through multireligious collaboration in Iraq, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Israel/Palestine, the Korean peninsula
• Strengthen and equip a global network
• Address poverty through work for the UN Millennium Development Goals
• Mobilize women of faith, who "make available strength and hope when all seems hopeless"
• Launch a global youth network, who "choose hope because that is the only way forward"
• Confront violence against children and protect them

Available resources in support of the goals include:

• A toolkit for helping religious communities act together on behalf of the issues addressed in the UN Millennium Declaration -- eradicating extreme poverty; reducing child mortality and hunger; combating disease, including HIV/AIDS; achieving gender equality and universal primary education
• A manual for women of faith to transform conflict

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has participated in the international organization and its related U.S. council from the first world conference in 1970, where its stated clerk was present. James Cairns, a former PC(USA) mission worker, is the international director of programs, and former stated clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick has been among the presidents of Religions for Peace, U.S.A. Current world council members include Setri Nyomi of WARC and Samuel Kobia of the World Council of Churches. Leonid Kishkovsky (pictured right) of the Orthodox Church of America is moderator. Other Americans are Judith Hertz, interfaith co-chair for Reform Jews in the U.S.; Muslim sheikh Hamza Yusuf Hanson of the Zaytuna Institute; and Roman Catholic cardinal William Keeler. William Vendley (pictured left) is the general secretary.

Religions for Peace works to combat poverty

In cooperation with the UN-related Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor, Religions for Peace has mounted a conference in February that highlighted the predicament of the 70% of the world's population currently excluded from legal systems and formal economies, therefore assuring their poverty. Read the conference statement and see papers available for downloading.

In June, the Archbishop of Canterbury, a co-president of WRCP, hosted religious leaders for a discussion of multireligious cooperation toward combatting poverty and implementing the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG). WCRP has prepared a MDG toolkit, available in several languages aimed at different audiences.

European Council of Religious Leaders adopts Berlin declaration

The European Council of Religious Leaders - Religions for Peace, meeting in Berlin on March 3-5, 2008 adopted a declaration  that outlines key features of interreligious dialogue. The declaration can be useful in situations even outside Europe.

Religions for Peace works on issues of "shared security"

In implementation of Religions for Peace's commitment to explore the concept of "shared security," the Japan chapter has announced it will host a four-day meeting of international religious leaders before the July 2008 summit of the Group of Eight. (ENI #08-0083) Earlier, a group of Religions for Peace religious leaders who participated in the Alliance of Civilizations forum in Spain in January wrote a statement about the Alliance and "shared security," centered on the need for dialogue. They urged specific steps:

• Resist misuse of religion by extremists

• Share successful models of grassroots multireligious dialogue / cooperation for the common good

• Use the media to communicate about multireligious dialogue / cooperation

• Strengthen multireligious youth networks that engage in peace education and outreach

• Work in multi-stakeholder partnerships with governments and other sectors of society   

Click to return to interfaith organizational links.

Religions for Peace, U.S.A.

Religions for Peace, U.S.A., defines key program areas

Religions for Peace, U.S.A., is a coalition comprised of leaders from over sixty U.S. religious communities and is part of the global network within the World Conference of Religions for Peace internationally. Its present key program areas are:

• Building community, helping build religious councils where none currently exist
• Addressing diversity, assisting Native Americans with a process of repatriation of ancestors' remains
• Examining the role of the U.S. in the world, sponsoring dialogues that enable diverse people of faith to address the issue

xx

Young adults contribute to Religions for Peace

x

Over the recent past, Religions for Peace, U.S.A. has provided a remarkable opportunity for young persons interested in interfaith relations. In fact, Anne Hillman (pictured) has been taking the organization through a period of transition. A cadre of interns work in the summer and even during the academic year. Young adult interns played an important role in the creation of a book, InterActive Faith, edited by former RFPUSA director Bud Heckman together with Rori Neiss Picker, herself a young adult.

Religions for Peace announces formation of a new women's network

A North American Women of Faith Network related to the Religions for Peace Women's Mobilization Program is in the process of formation, with its first major convening now planned for 2009. Its ad hoc coordinating committee includes American Methodist Mia Adjali, with NCC staff woman Ann Tiemeyer also attending a December 2007 consultative meeting. The international coordinating committee to which the North American women will relate includes Americans Judith Hertz (Jewish, pictured right) and Rajinder Kaur Singh (Sikh, pictured left). The Religions for Peace world council includes three women actively involved in Christian ecumenical work -- Karen Hamilton, the general secretary of the Canadian Council of Churches; Agnes Abuom of Kenya and Barbel Wartenberg-Potter of Germany, both of whom have provided leadership in the World Council of Churches. See the women's newsletter, especially p. 6.

Project supports Native American burial of unknown remains

The 217th General Assembly (2006) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) encouraged participation in the Return to the Earth project (Minutes, page 899). This program grows out of the needs created by the 1990 action of Congress requiring the return of human remains and sacred objects to Native American tribes and nations from which they came. The program focuses on the more than 110,000 remains that cannot be identified as belonging to a particular tribe. A study guide is available.

Click to return to interfaith organizational links.

United Religions Initiative

URI practices are explored in available resources

URI was founded in 2000 after an exploratory period of development. It now claims members from over a hundred religions in 65 countries. Each of its Local Cooperation Circles has at least seven members representing at least three religions. All these operate within a charter built around the purpose of promoting cooperation, ending religiously-motivated violence, and creating a culture of peace, justice, and healing.

A downloadable resource, Partners in Leadership: Best Practices that Exemplify URI Values and Enliven Leadership, not only provides a good look at URI but offers guidance useful in other settings. URI’s Interfaith Peacebuilding Guide is a general resource to purchase and download.

Birth of a Global Community: Appreciative Inquiry in Action by Charles Gibbs and Sally Mahe (pictured) [Crown, 2003, ISBN #1893435423], tells the story of URI’s birth and of the process that was “the engine of the new organization and its development.” This Appreciative Inquiry Process helped the organization form in a way that is inclusive, decentralized, and self-organizing. The appendices of the book are recommended for others engaged in planning processes.

URI Kids addresses children via internet

URI maintains a children’s web site with information on various religions, stories, activities, and visuals.

Click to return to interfaith organizational links.

Network of Spiritual Progressives

Tikkun / the Network of Spiritual Progressives (NSP) has said that its primary national project in 2008 is the Global Marshall Plan proposal. It is therefore urging calls to Congressional representatives asking them to support House Resolution 1078, cosponsored by Keith Ellison, a Muslim, Jim Moran, a Catholic, and Emmanuel Cleaver, a Protestant, and has had long been pushed by a Jewish rabbi, Michael Lerner. The resolution makes two points: first, that lasting security for the U.S. will be best achieved through policies of generosity and caring toward the rest of the world; and second, that one way to achieve these goals is through a new Global Marshall Plan in which the U.S. dedicates 1%-2% of the GDP each year for the next 20 years toward once and for all eliminating domestic and global poverty, homelessness, hunger, inadequate education, inadequate health care, and repairing the environment of the planet.

Click to return to interfaith organizational links.

North American Interfaith Network

NAIN facilitates networking

The North American Interfaith Network (NAIN) traces its origins to 1988 in Wichita, Kansas. Hosted locally by Inter-Faith Ministries of Wichita, 250 religious leaders from 12 religions gathered in the largest public interfaith event in the U.S. since the 1893 Parliament of the World’s Religions. A somewhat equal number gathered for the NAINConnect meeting on its 20th anniversary in 2008. NAIN facilitates networking and cooperative interaction among its U.S., Canadian, and Mexican members -- bringing together large and small organizations, from local to international in scope, both interfaith organizations and single-religion organizations that engage in interfaith relations. Its programs seek to build communication and mutual understanding. A list of member organizations and their e-mail addresses is posted on the NAIN web site. Individual associate members have a non-voting status with the organization. NAIN operates without staff, with the efforts of a board of directors elected by the membership. The board organized a series of committees to carry out further work, beginning in the fall of 2008.

A yearly NAINConnect conference offers opportunities for interchanges, new experiences, and inspiration. An interactive web site for NAINConnect 2008 is still available. See also a list of web links related to topics covered in the 2008 workshops. The 2009 NAINConnect will be in Kansas City, Missouri on June 25-29. Co-chair for planning will be Peter Laurence, executive director of the Education as Transformation project at Wellsley College.

The current NAIN president is Bettina Gray (pictured right). Presbyterian minister Charles White (pictured left) is a member of the NAINews committee and an honorary founding member of its board.

The current NAINews is available online. For the fall issue, NAINews is seeking articles on "How does your interfaith organization address the issue of Charity or giving financial assistance?"

x

Click to return to interfaith organizational links.

Interfaith Youth Core

The Interfaith Youth Core works to fill a void

At the end of one of its annual national Conference on Interfaith Youth Work, the Chicago-based Interfaith Youth Core, led by Dr. Eboo Patel, received an e-mail message saying, “Participants left sensing their role in . . . a movement that insists that if you're young and religious, part of what you should be about is coming together with those who are different from you to engage in cooperative service for the common good.” Patel's own passions for interfaith youth work are apparent in his book, Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation (ISBN #10- 0807077267 and ISBN #13-978-0807077269). Patel's Religious Diversity and Cooperation on Campus speaks about IFYC's approach that combines service learning and interfaith dialogue. His keynote address to the IFYC 2007 conference also speaks about various aspects of IFYC's work. See also a collection of IFYC photos/slides/videos online.

One of IFYC's initiatives is "A Different Kind of Conversation about Religion." There is a web site and a student guide for organizing a conversation event.

Five forces are behind youth involvement in interfaith activity

Eboo Patel, in an international focus, told a discussion at the U.S. Institute of Peace that there are five forces behind the involvement of youth in interfaith work: the high proportion of youth in the populaion of religiously volatile parts of the world, a global religious revival, a worldwide breakdown in traditional socioeconomic patterns, increased interaction among people from different backgrounds, and an explosion of civil society forces. "The real struggle in the world is between pluralists and totalitarians," he said.

Local youth use Day of Interfaith Youth Service to jump start a new effort

Tony Blair asks IFYC to be a key partner in one of his new initiatives

As the former British prime minister launched the establishment of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, he announced its FaithActs campaign to eradicate malaria. Blair believes that faith communities can step up pressure on governments to deliver on the commitments they have made to the UN Millennium Development Goals, one of which is related to malaria. He has said he will work with six faith groups -- Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, and Jewish. Amidst the celebraties present for Blair's unveiling was Eboo Patel, representing IFYC, which has been invited to be a key partner in FaithActs (together with Malaria No More).

Click to return to interfaith organizational links.

Faith in Public Life

Faith in Public Life works on justice and the common good

Faith in Public Life (FPL) seeks to strengthen collaboration in pursuit of justice and the common good. Its vision is that diverse religious voices can together impact public policy rather than religion being used as a tool for division and exclusion. Its executive director is Jennifer Butler, a PC(USA) minister and a former staff person in the PC(USA) UN office. FPL's Mapping Faith report is now available and highlights two overriding themes: America's faith community is vastly diverse and, secondly, has a broad values agenda. The report notes that while traditional sectors of social justice strength -- blacks, Jews, mainline Protestants, Catholics -- are strongly represented in organizations across the U.S., the evangelical Christian community is increasingly mobilizing around social justice issues. The largest number of organizations are in the "interfaith" category. The midwest and west coast of the U.S. have a larger proportion of organizations than their population would suggest. The largest number nationally deal with peace / human rights and poverty / hunger / homelessness, with evangelical groups also particularly working on discrimination / human rights. The FPL's web site has a wealth of information, including its Mapping Faith interactive database to locate leading faith advocates for justice and the common good, accessible by geography, policy specialization, or faith affiliation.

Click to return to interfaith organizational links.
GO TO General interfaith relations news | Local action |

Items marked with are in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. For best results, right-click the link (or click and hold for Macintosh), select "save target as" and save the document to your desktop for viewing and printing. Click on the image in the right column for free download of the Adobe Acrobat Reader.