Honesty does strange things to people. Apart from being wonderfully cathartic, honesty is contagious. When you sit across from another person and share a moment of honesty that transcends superficial niceties you can’t help but share back. It’s as terrifying as it is transformative.

Some of us may have experienced this type of honesty with a family member, close friend or partner, but who has ever experienced it with a stranger? How about with an entire group of strangers? Yeah, it’s…

Bishop Samuel Ruiz Garcia in 1993

By David Agren, Catholic News Service

From the National Catholic Reporter

MEXICO CITY — Retired Bishop Samuel Ruiz Garcia, known as the champion of the poor and indigenous in southern Mexico, died Jan. 24 of complications from long-standing illnesses.…

 Holocaust and Genocides is a Muslim initiative to build bridges among Americans, particularly among Muslims and Jews, small efforts go a long way in building goodwill and goodwill paves the way to building relations locally and perhaps globally.



I appeal to a few (1/100^th of 1%) among us to do what Muslims are supposed to do; to verify before judging and instead have a vision.  We need to be participating and contributing members of the society; goodwill has its own…

We need a genuine sense of responsibility

Kemetic thought for the day

We need a genuine sense of responsibility and a sincere concern for the welfare of others.

Barry

Pharaoh & Spiritual leader of the Kemetic Federation & Faith.

When I am invited to attend Muslim salaat (one of the five daily prayer sessions) I sit in the back with the other women. I comply with gender customs as a guest. I cover my hair under hijab without hesitation, and I do not raise my voice in song. Strangely enough, considering my personality, I do not have any problem with this.…

I can picture it now: the old man with a scowl eyes me suspiciously from the bed as I stand in the hospital room doorway. He has just come out of open heart surgery, or has been given a terminal cancer diagnosis this morning, or he’s here to live out his last days with the help of some good strong meds. I am his chaplain, and he asks me one devastating four-word question: “Are you a…

Whenever people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I almost always had the same answer: Ariel.

Images provided by Disney

I wanted nothing more than her thick, red hair, tiny waist, and natural gift for song.  Her codependent fish friend Flounder, stern…

Welcome back to Project Conversion! For my second entry in the Arts and Culture week, I explore the motivations and theology associated with vegetarianism within the Hindu context. See site for more here!

Namaste,

Andrew

This past weekend I’m sure many private hours and religious services were spent mourning the recent deaths in Arizona, and praying for surviving victims and families. Today we are all talking bout the attempted assassination of Representative Gifford – but what should we be saying?

We struggle sometimes with how to be with one another in the face of a tragedy. One common response has been to adopt this event as evidence for some pre-existing political narrative. But I think this…

Egyptian Muslims hold vigil for Coptic Christian neighbors

from Ahram Online

Muslims turned up in droves for the Coptic Christmas mass Thursday night, offering their bodies, and lives, as…

We think too simply about cause and effect.  We Americans are submerged in the tragic illusion that we are separate individuals who make ourselves.  No one is self-made.  And the politician Hubert Humphrey was right to say that there is nothing worse than for a person to think that she has made herself. Because nothing could be further from the truth.

So many times in the past week or so it has been said that the lethal actions of Jared L. Loughner are ‘not connected’ to Tea Party…

From The Huffington Post

Violence like the weekend shooting in Arizona is scary. Random violence, like the death of 9-year-old Christina-Taylor Green who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time this weekend is particularly terrifying.

In the face of such terror, we seek reasons and explanations. We want to know who and what is to blame, hoping that if we could figure that out and make it go away, we would be free of such…

From The Huffington Post

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Driving through downtown Port-au-Prince, it can be difficult at first to see much change from a year ago, when a devastating 7.0 earthquake devastated this impoverished island nation.

The presidential palace is still in ruins, with thousands — among an estimated 1 million homeless Haitians — living in massive tent city across the street. Around the corner, a tent city remains on the grounds of…

Imam Abdul Malik Mujahid, Chair, Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions

by Abdul Malik Mujahid

from the Huffington Post

I was horrified to read about the New Year’s Day bombing that killed 21 worshipers at the Coptic Christian Saints Church in…

Well this is my fifth post on this inter-religious site, so I thought I might share some thoughts on the topic. I've intentionally kept my first four posts tradition-specific. I'm a United Methodist Christian and any inter-religious dialogue I enter begins there. So…

As of January 1st, Project Conversion is officially underway! The year starts off with Hinduism, and although there is much to learn about this rich and ancient faith, I'm having a lot of fun in the process. The first blog post is here for details about my first day.

Namaste,

Andrew Bowen

CIOGC offers heartfelt condolences to the Coptic Christian communities in Egypt and Chicago and calls for solidarity and patience