InterfaithNews.Net

Paul Chaffee
Interfaith Center at the Presidio
February 1, 2005

Designed for Diversity

The Interfaith Center at the Presidio is developing a self-organizing
group of people representing the religious, cultural diversity of our world
who regularly gather to develop friendships, pray and reflect, celebrate
their differences, and explore the concerns they share.

By contrast, of course, most worshiping communities congregate around a
shared history and tradition, a set of beliefs and a special story, often
conveyed in holy scripture.

Based on Caring Relationships

What we are calling the Interfaith Center's Family Circle is
not an alternative but an adjunct to the church, temple, or mosque. The group
provides a sacred intersection, a time and place where people from all faiths
can share dialogue and spiritual practice. Circle activities promote
learning spiritually about ourselves and others in an open, safe,
'non-partisan,' appreciative environment.

As a gathering community we have no creed or statement of faith, leaving
that to each of us individually. Members and guests are invited to use the
community as a place to pursue their own convictions and questions with
similarly questing people from diverse backgrounds. There is an assumption
that participants respect and care about each other, joining in dialogue
without feeling compelled to agree about issues or change anyone’s
mind. Hearing faith journeys is a staple of Circle activities.

The group seeks to be a non-judgmental community for the alienated to
heal, the weary to be rejuvenated, the satisfied to be challenged, and the
unaffiliated to frame their own journey. The group might also be a home to
the growing number of individuals who find that they are
"spiritual" but not necessarily "religious" and
appreciate the opportunity to join in community with kindred spirits. At the
same time, members and guests are encouraged to stay connected to their own
traditions, taking back home an appreciation of what can be learned in an
interfaith context.

Grounded in Shared Values

The Center's Family Circle is not a new religion, nor
does it try to identify or serve a lowest common spiritual denominator.
Instead the community offers a sacred meeting place where we can personally
and appreciatively explore the diversity we represent while working to
improve the world and the whole human family. We tend away from identifying
and focusing on convergences except ethically, as in the Golden Rule that
most traditions treasure. A few additional shared values and commitments set
the tone and context for the interfaith community:

• Mutual respect is the currency of the Family Circle.
• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is affirmed as the necessary
  groundwork for humankind’s health and vitality.
• Circle members commit themselves to promote daily, enduring
  interfaith cooperation, to end religiously motivated violence, and to
  create cultures of peace, justice, and healing for the Earth and all living
  beings. (From the Charter of the United Religions Initiative).

Cultivating Interfaith Practice

The group’s activities, including shared worship, are typically
planned and led by people from several traditions. Each participant speaks
out of his or her own personal background in a context where all traditions
and individuals are respected and honored. We are open to all points of view,
theistic and atheistic, spiritual and material, rational and imaginative.

A worship and hospitality group plans services; typically they include
silence, meditation, and prayer; stories, readings, and reflections; and
music, including singing and chanting.

Self-organizing classes, support groups, projects, meditation and prayer
groups, and social events are expected to emerge.

A priority commitment among the Circle's founders is providing
educational opportunities that focus on the essence and 'best' of the
different traditions we represent; on ways to generate dialogue and healthy
relations among and within these traditions; and on skills for cultivating
friendship and community-building among strangers.

Worship & Dialogue Guidelines

Those who attend services are invited to participate, to simply observe,
or to leave and take some time out. Shared religious practice should
never be coerced.

• Offer everyone the same respect and dignity you hope to receive.
• Listen to the other person with enough care to begin to discern the
  "positive core," the life-giving energy, in his or her faith and
  practice.
• Speak from the heart, not to make a point but to build understanding
  and relationship

Joining the Interfaith Family

SPONSOR – The Family Circle is one of many Interfaith Center
at the Presidio projects. The Interfaith Center is an umbrella organization
of 20 Bay Area interfaith sponsoring organizations. The Center cares for and
manages the Main Post Chapel in the Presidio, where the Circle holds
its activities.

FOUNDERS – The Family Circle was created by interfaith
activists connected to the Center who seek a spiritual connection with this
interreligious community on a regular basis, a sacred sense of time and space
shared with brothers and sisters from different backgrounds. The group also
hopes to welcome the unaffiliated, offering a supportive way-station rather
than a particular map for their spiritual journey.

Because the founders do not want to create a new religion, the group
develops its own mission and outreach activities around the multiple programs
the Interfaith Center sponsors with ecumenical and interfaith groups. The
Family will raise funds and generate programs, not as a congregation, but as
part of and in support of Interfaith Center activities.

PARTICIPANTS – The group welcomes to worship and table any visitor
who comes with good-will and respect.

The group welcomes into membership good-willed people who affirm
the values and mission of the Center.

Members understand that the Circle has no creed or faith of its
own, has no hierarchy, is not a church or temple or mosque, but instead a
regular gathering place for people of faith and practice everywhere.

A NEW MODEL – The hope is that the Family Circle becomes a
new kind of model for generating and supporting interfaith relations in any
local community. The group's founders have no interest in becoming
another national organization or alternative denomination. But they would be
delighted if similar circles developed support for existing or nascent
interfaith activities in their own communities. Following this model means
identifying and supporting the existing interfaith groups in your own
neighborhood.

The Interfaith Center's Family Circle model identifies and
engages individuals who passionately agree with the Catholic theologian Hans
Küng when he said, "There will be no peace among nations until
there is peace among religions, and there will be no peace among religions
until there is dialogue among religions." The Circle seeks to
provide ongoing, dynamic intersections where different traditions can be in
regular dialogue with each other, and where the religiously alienated,
unaffiliated, and uneducated can find a friendly home and a safe place to
grow.

Additionally, the Circle's founders want to provide an ongoing
opportunity for people who passionately care about interfaith relations to
become serious donors and volunteers making a difference starting in their
own communities.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 31st, 2005 at 10:01 pm and is filed under Dialogue and Discussion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.