InterfaithNews.Net

Editorial response to the common questions of “where was God?” and “how could
God allows this?” in reference to the devastation of December 26th's earthquake
and tsunamis.

Brother Wayne Teasdale, Christian mystic, monk, and interfaith activist,
passed away on October 20, 2004 after struggling with cancer. He was 59.

Dr. Wolfgang Fischer writes: "More and more people perceive the urgent necessity to intensify a broad
inter-cultural and inter-religious dialogue. Urgently we do need a
focussing and mediating access to the topic violence. An access which
transcends traditional mental borders will definitely expose an
overwhelming spirit of love beyond any dogma and vitalize the intellectual
and spiritual world of ideas. Such a vitalization will lead to a kind of
re-birthing of human existence — to an existence beyond violence."

Just as a negotiated-peace began to take hold in southern Sudan, a new crisis arose in the western Darfur region this past winter and spring. Half a year after escalation of the atrocities, estimates of the dead range from 30,000 to 50,000, and well over a million people have been internally or externally displaced. Men and boys have been systematically murdered; worse yet, a conscious effort at genocide has once again turned to mass rape of the remaining women. International response has been harsh yet guarded, and far too slow. We must push our political leaders to appropriate action under international law.

In his latest communication to the URI community, Executive Director Charles Gibbs highlights three of the dozens (hundreds?) of URI-related observations and celebrations of the International Day of Peace coming on September 21. He additionally gives several excellent examples of ways that organizations and communities can participate.

Dr. Bruce B. Lawrence, a professor or religion at Duke University, writes of
the need to shift the Western mindset on Islam. In doing so he critiques both Christian
and Muslim perceptions of each other, laying out his own vision for how the religions
can interact more harmoniously in the future. The article concludes with a response
from an American Muslim and Dr. Lawrence's reply.

We are in a desperate struggle with the forces of fanaticism, particularly that brand of fanaticism aided and abetted by religion. Largely in reaction to these forces, a global interfaith movement has sprung from the grassroots of religion and spirituality, advocating openness, diversity, and, most of all, peace. [Brief editorial/introduction to the March/April 2004 e-mail update for InterfaithNews.Net]

Editorial and introduction to the January 2004 e-zine for InterfaithNews.Net.

Editorial and introduction to the November/December 2003 e-zine for InterfaithNews.Net.

Gustav Niebuhr reviews the history of the interfaith movement in America in this article for the Religion & Ethics Newsweekly.