By Rev. Wayne Lavender

From Common Ground News Service

Soon after the tragic attacks on 11 September 2001, I left the church where I had been serving as the senior pastor for 12 years, sensing a call to work for peace and justice. I travelled up and down the east coast of the United States to speak about peace, reconciliation, conflict resolution and mediation wherever I could find an audience…

By Nabil Ahmed

From the Guardian

There are more than 110,000 Jewish and Muslim students in Britain, but it’s not often their shared experiences are considered. Globally, Muslim-Jewish relations are a touchy topic, with the focus on political divisions (such as Palestine-Israel), and an assumption of historical enmity. I have felt this cold, polarising air from both communities, whose leaders…

By Katie Glaeser and Emma Lacey-Bordeaux

From CNN

Forget the economy. Debate about contraception, abortion, same-sex marriage, even Satan, has attracted just as much attention on the presidential campaign trail in recent weeks.

While culture war issues make headlines galore, an exhaustive study of Americans’ religious attitudes shows the…

by Sarah Fentem

In a recent event at Chicago Sinai congregation on the Near North side of Chicago, Rabbi Michael Sternfield spoke to a packed congregation about the importance of interreligious understanding. However, the audience was not his usual Jewish family. Instead, he spoke to Protestants, Catholics, Muslims, and Buddhists. The importance of the event was not lost on him.

“We’re all part of one human family”, said Sternfield. “We’re not just here to cheer for our own…

By Maurice Malanes

From ENI News

Baguio City, Philippines (ENInews). As Philippine-based Maryknoll nuns joined their counterparts in other parts of the world in celebrating their order’s centenary this year, they cited their interfaith education efforts.

“Our group’s pioneering work was mainly in hospitals and schools, which included opening schools among the Muslims,” Sister Margarita Jamias told ENInews. Jamias…

by Dave Weiman

from Cooking Together

At the January meeting, the UUA Trustees voted to place a responsive resolution to repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery on the business agenda for the General Assembly.  What is the Doctrine of Discovery?  Why have our partner organizations in Arizona called for its repudiation?  How are we as Unitarian Universalist people of faith called to respond?  For the next several weeks, Cooking Together bloggers will address these…

By Eli Beer

From Huffington Post

Very few people in the world will ever have the chance to experience an “interfaith moment” quite like mine.

There I stood in Davos, Switzerland at the World Economic Forum with three smiling new friends from the four corners of the earth. Laughing side-by-side were members of all the major religions of the world; a…

By Paul Wilkes

From Huffington Post

All major religious traditions honor the power of confession and offer pathways to self understanding, peace of mind and forgiveness. But imbedded in these venerable traditions is something else: the possibility and the encouragement to change our behavior.

Acknowledging our wrong-doing — sin — is only half the…

from Leadership, Nigeria

Most Rev. John Onaiyekan, the Catholic Archbishop of Abuja Diocese, on Wednesday advised Christians to always control their anger and avoid revenge irrespective of the circumstances they find themselves.

Onaiyekan gave the advice in Madalla, Niger, on Wednesday on the occasion of a funeral mass at the St Theresa’s Catholic…

Josh Stanton, a Founding Editor-in-Chief at the Journal for Inter-Religious Dialogue, guides the discussion on what bloggers write about and how they can engage their audience. DIscover what Khuram Aman, Rev. Verity Jones, Joseph Ward, and Simran Jeet Singh all have to say about their experiences in the blogging world. This panel is part of the recent 2012 Odyssey Networks Town Hall Meeting, “Faith on the Front…

by Dr. Nasim Rehmatullah and Muhammed Chaudhry

from Silicon Valley Mercury News

Silicon Valley is renowned for innovation in software, social media and biotechnology — all reasons why countless flock here to work and raise their families. But the Valley of Heart’s Delight also boasts the best of pluralism, multiculturalism and interreligious cooperation, which is fertile ground for a serious discussion about the latest…

by Katherine Marshall

from Huffington Post

The United Nations General Assembly began on February 11 to debate Syria’s prolonged and bitter tragedy of killing, after the Security Council, next door, failed miserably to find enough agreement among the world’s dominant nations to act. United Nations idealists believe that the General Assembly, as a body representing all the…

Watch the RavelUnravel Trailer

by Beth Katz

Project Interfaith

“Wait, you’re a Muslim? But you’re not even brown!” This question inspired RavelUnravel, Project Interfaith’s interactive, multimedia project launching this spring about the diversity of religious and spiritual identities that make up our…

by Cheryl Walker

from Wake Forest University

The group of 13 divinity school and undergraduate students and their leaders—School of Divinity Professor Neal Walls and Associate Chaplain for Muslim Life Khalid Griggs—gathered at a spot overlooking the Sea of Galilee during the University’s winter break.

“All at once we were connected to an ancient tradition of looking upon the hills and mountains…

Alexandra Asseily

		Tuesday, March 13, 2012 10:00am U.S. Central Time

This webinar offers participants the…

By Kerry Egan

From CNN

As a divinity school student, I had just started working as a student chaplain at a cancer hospital when my professor asked me about my work. I was 26 years old and still learning what a chaplain did.

“I talk to the patients,” I told him.

“You talk to patients? And tell me, what do people who are sick and dying talk to the student chaplain…

By Harsha Sharma and Frank Fredericks

From Huffington Post

A child dies every 45 seconds from malaria, a preventable and treatable disease, but what can I do about it?

As young interfaith activists, a Hindu Brit and a Christian American, we’ve been challenged in demonstrating how life in our communities, whether London or New York, can connect to global…

from State of Formation

Greetings,

We are excited to announce that we will be officially accepting nominations on a bi-annual basis and therefore are calling for nominations and self- nominations for Contributing Scholars for our online forum, State of…

by Brenda Suderman

from Winnipeg Free Press

For 11-year-old Camryn Kangas, compassion is as simple as being friendly to her classmates, and as involved as caring about people who are completely different from her.

“It’s a really big part of life, and you really need compassion in the world for people to be equal and get along with each other,” explains the Grade 6 student…

This hopeful documentary gives voices and faces to 200 courageous Muslims and Christians – diverse young women and men – who unite successfully in Jos, central Nigeria.

Refusing to be enemies, they are together during days and evenings of the 2010 International Conference on Youth and Interfaith Communication.

They are tense yet excited to finally cross lines of religion, economics, tribe, and gender to transcend the status quo and discover empathy for each other’s…