InterfaithNews.Net

With the latest tragedies in Israel and Palestine threatening to shatter
the uneasy truce of the past year, it feels heartening to read stories of
Muslims, Jews, and Christians engaging in constructive face-to-face dialogue
and action. The Interfaith Encounter Association is a network of a dozen or
so "encounter" groups in Israel, including the Jerusalem Youth
Interfaith Encounter. This spring, these youth struck upon a unique service
project: gathering leaven from Jewish households that would otherwise go
unused during Pesach and distributing it to Arab families.

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Shanta Premawardhana, Associate General Secretary for Interfaith
Relations, National Council of Churches USA, has graciously allowed us to
republish a presentation he recently made at the Connecticut Council for
Interreligious Understanding. He begins with a beautiful vision of children
from all over the world playing together. With that peaceful meditation in
mind, he addresses the nature of interfaith dialogue, delving into and
explicating four different types of dialogue that he identifies as Dialogue
of Life, Dialogue of Action, Dialogue of Contemplation, Dialogue of
Theological Reflection.

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The question "where are the youth?" is one I have often heard at
interfaith gatherings. As one who is still considered amongst the youth
(though well into my career), I often feel this myself. At
recent gatherings I have taken to looking around the room, wondering who
amongst the participants will still be around in 10, 20 years. The interfaith
movement only has as much potential as it has human resources. On the other
hand, how many of my distinguished older colleagues were involved in
interfaith work in their youth? They are there now, and I have faith that
left to their own devices, an equal number of today's young people will
turn to interfaith work once they get past the prime of their
career-building, courtship, and parenting years. Still, interfaith groups
need to be developing their young leadership today. In a recent edition of
his Sightings project, Martin E. Marty from the University of
Chicago Divinity School continues on this theme.

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"The international community must commit to sustainable resource
management policies that place the needs of the human family and protection
of the environment above commercial and industrial concerns, the
Vatican's representative to the United Nations told a May 11 session of
the U.N. Economic and Social Council’s Commission on Sustainable
Development."

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“Malaria does not discriminate between Muslims and Christians."
The Inter Religious Campaign Against Malaria in Mozambique, working with the
Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., USA, was recently awarded
a major grant to fight malaria from the U.S. Agency for International Development
(USAID).

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In mid may, 54 members of the Baha'i community of Shiraz, Iran
were arrested while teaching
children in a religiously-neutral setting. No indication has been given as to
the cause of their arrest. While most have been released, a few remain in
jail. Many in the international community see this as continuing evidence of
the renewed persecution — alluded to in our
April
editorial — of the Baha'is in their homeland of Iran, where
they are the largest religious minority yet do not enjoy equal rights with
the majority religion or other minority religions.

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This year marks the 25th anniversary of the recognition of HIV/AIDS as a
new disease. In early June the United Nations held a "High-Level Meeting
on HIV/AIDS" to review world progress toward lessening the impact of
this pandemic. On the eve of the meeting, dozens of groups representing every
world religion gathered for a prayer service and a press conference
addressing the need for urgent action beyond mere words and declarations.

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Introduction to the April 2006 edition of InterfaithNews.net, with editorial reflections on religious freedom and the importance of speaking out and sharing stories.

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"Edgar expresses thanks for release of Christian Peacemakers, and
thanks Council on American Islamic Relations for support"

I did not at first follow at all the kidnapping of a Christian Peacemakers
Team (CPT) in Iraq, nor the execution of journalist Tom Fox. My immediate,
unfounded assumption was that this was a missionary group who shouldn't
have gotten in the middle of an Islamic civil war. I couldn't have been
more wrong. Quoting from the Mission of the CPT, "Christian
Peacemaker Teams (CPT) offers an organized, nonviolent alternative to war and
other forms of lethal inter-group conflict. CPT provides organizational
support to persons committed to faith-based nonviolent alternatives in
situations where lethal conflict is an immediate reality or is supported by
public policy." I am humbled by the devotion to religious principle
that lead these four into Iraq. Truly Mr. Fox's passing is a martyr's
death.

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The Pew Research Center recently conducted an opinion poll in the United States looking at public tolerance for religious groups and inter-religious cooperation. While they found that both evangelical Christianity and Islam are not well accepted in the U.S. compared to other groups, their analysis (presented below) shows that Catholics and Jews are seen much more favorably than they once were, suggesting capacity for a continued dynamism in the American public’s perception of religions.

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