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What happened at NAINConnect this year?!

by Paul Chaffee, Interfaith Center at the Presidio director & NAIN trustee

Presenters | Historic Presentations | Young Adults | Salt Lake | Get Involved

North American Interfaith Network (NAIN) is a web of grassroots interfaith relationships among 86 interfaith-engaged organizations committed to “building bridges of interfaith understanding, cooperation, and service.”

With a tiny budget, no staff, and a working board, NAIN operates as a loosely knit association of like-minded interfaith activists whose annual NAINConnects predate the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions and United Religions Initiative.

Interfaith Center at the Presidio has been a NAIN Member since 1996. Seven registrants this year came from the San Francisco Bay Area. NAINConnect 2010 took place in Salt Lake City, July 25-27.

The morning after the final banquet this year at NAINConnect, our airport shuttle filled up with a Hindu, a Unificationist, two Christians, and two Muslims. The doors were barely shut when the driver, a Mormon, asked if we were “part of the interfaith group here.” We were, we said. He thanked us for visiting Salt Lake City and spoke at length of his admiration for what we do. He asked how we handle prayer at an interfaith event.

Prayer and meditation punctuated each part of the conference, we explained, with representatives from different traditions presenting at different times, each speaking from her or his own tradition. That pleased him, and he asked if we could have a meditation as we drove. We handled that a bit awkwardly, but a sense of the holy, and of family, suffused our van. Our driver took backroads to give us a short city tour before reaching the airport. Thanksgivings all around as we headed to our planes.

Those 20 minutes in a shuttle perfectly exemplified what happened at this year’s NAINConnect, devoted to “Many Faiths – One Family, Building a World of Harmony.”

 

Amazing cadre of presenters & goodies

NAIN’s Salt Lake planning team got it right on critical elements of interfaith conference creation – a broad diversity of speakers and registrants, plenty of interaction and schmoozing, and 50+ presenters (most with brief, pungent presentations).

Speakers were engaged experts from a host of academic, civic, corporate, nonprofit, religious, and social service arenas, all bringing serious interfaith concerns to the table. The interaction of about 100 registrants and Salt Lake religious leaders, for a few days, caught the vast landscape of interfaith culture emerging today.

Our planners mixed in music, dance, and video, including a concert of readings and music by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Symphony. Being with 500+ performers and ushers guiding 8,000 visitors didn’t detract from the beautiful intimacy of the sacred space and soaring music on Sunday morning. After the broadcast, the choir sang The Battle-Hymn of the Republic “for our interfaith friends visiting today.” Joining the Battle-Hymn’s language with the interfaith cause was a bracing, First Amendment kind of experience.

Another plus, most registrants would confess, was the remarkable cuisine. The Salt Lake Buddhist Temple offered an opening-night dinner, with beef on the menu, and an amazing interfaith children’s choir. A full day of programs at St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral and Center included a beautiful fruit & grain breakfast as well as a sit-down dinner, catered by the Sikh-run restaurant, Bombay House, with wine available. We were graciously offered an immaculate lunch on the 26th floor of the Mormons’ Church Office Building, served with pink lemonade, rather than tea or coffee, and amazing vistas in every direction.

In the hills above the city on the final evening, a long sunset lit up a Middle Eastern vegetarian feast hosted by the Jewish Community Center. Desert Wind Music’s three Arabs and three Jews shook the building with their drums and melodies. With tummies filled, most of us linked hands and danced our way through the tables until plates of baklava were brought out and the schmoozing and goodbyes got serious. In all, it was a bountiful gift of Salt Lake interfaith hospitality.

 

Two historic presentations

North American grassroots interfaith culture was powerfully challenged to grow in two new directions during NAINConnect 2010. Both deserve report.

The conference’s keynote featured Douglas Johnston talking about faith-based diplomacy, an interreligious peacemaking approach which has often threatened his life. At a gathering of Taliban leaders in Pakistan, after he self-identified as a follower of Jesus, one imam stood and said, “I won’t talk to anyone but Muslims!” Doug responded, “Doesn’t Muslim mean ‘surrendering to God’ – and if so, are we not all Muslims?” Which brought the house down, and the conversation continued peacefully.  His Religion, The Missing Dimension of Statecraft (1994), co-edited with Cynthia Sampson, is required reading at the U.S. Foreign Service Institute and in universities and seminaries around the world.

Founder of the International Center for Religion & Diplomacy, Dr. Johnston told stories about bringing religious and political leaders together to work for peace in the world’s worst conflicts. Considerable time went to unpacking the roles of respect and forgiveness in peacemaking. (How faith-based diplomacy works in our own communities would be an intriguing theme for a future Connect, with numerous projects across North America helping to lead the conversation.)

The simplistic, often unfortunate divide between Abrahamic and Asian religions was challenged with the premier screening of Gerald Krell’s The Asian and Abrahamic Religions: A Divine Encounter in America. NAIN responded with a long-standing ovation. The two-hour film will be broadcast on PBS this fall in one-hour segments, sponsored by Connecticut Public Television. For a child of Christian missionaries in Asia, the film was emotionally overwhelming, a movie I’ve waited my whole life to see.

Told from the perspective of Abrahamic and Asian religions in the United States, it demonstrates how the nation’s emergent interfaith community is so much bigger than even interfaith activists have realized. May it be seen over and over again as the children of Abraham and the children of Asia get to know each other better.

 

Interfaith young adults stir the pot

For years NAIN’s board has actively solicited young adult (18-35) participation – people who haven’t grown gray yet! They are consistently represented on the board, and six young adult scholarships are typically offered for each year’s Connect.

This year the door blew off its hinges. Thirty applications showed up, three times the usual. The board responded by reaching into reserves to double the scholarships to 12. Karen Boyette, NAIN trustee who championed their cause, told about being astonished by their qualifications. Stay with me for some details!

• Erin Bilir, a high-school senior in Denver this fall, founded her school’s interfaith group, ETHOS, to discuss Ethics, Theology, Humanity, Oneness, and Society. Her commentaries have been featured in NPR’s All Things Considered, the New York Times Upfront magazine, Ms. Magazine, and the Huffington Post. She’s written four award-winning, professionally produced plays and is founder and host of Girl Talk (www.girltalkbroadcast.com), addressing issues shaping the lives of young women.
• Peter Womack, a young African-American MBA and attorney, converted to Conservative Judaism three years ago, directed a human rights educational program for DC public schools, and recently founded the InterFaith Settlement Foundation. Dawinder “Dave” Sidhu is a civil rights attorney who has held research positions at Harvard, Stanford and Georgetown and written a textbook titled Civil Rights in Wartime: the Post-9/11 Experience.
• Alisa Roadcup is Communications Director for the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions and summarized how the Parliament has developed its web presence. She co-presented in Salt Lake on using social networks for interfaith programming with Sumitra Srinivasan, an active Hindu in Toledo and Assistant Professor of Communications at the University of Toledo.
• Michelle Jackson, with degrees from UCLA and Harvard Divinity School, creates interfaith programming at Vassar College. She spoke powerfully, poignantly, without judgment, about being the only African American woman at the conference, generating a constructive thread of conversation for the next two days. Hillary Kaell, Jewish and from Ottawa, is finishing a Harvard PhD specializing in the history and practice of North American Christianity. She’s worked with Harvard’s Pluralism Project, is a paid consultant for PBS’s Religion in America series, and joins the faculty of Concordia University in Montreal this fall. All 11 scholarship recipients (the twelfth, stranded in India, couldn’t attend) brought special gifts and amazing service experiences to share. All were engaging presenters.

The people power didn’t end with the younger generation. Besides attracting Parliament leadership, two United Religions Initiative global trustees attended, Anne Roth and Rebecca Tobias, as well as URI-North America Regional Coordinator Sandy Westin, who handed out “Synergize” buttons to wear. Paul McKenna, from Toronto, told the story of creating the Golden Rule Poster, a beautiful, simple tool that’s become the most widely distributed interfaith resource ever. All this but a sampling – dozens of presenters hit homeruns.

Like all good interfaith conferences, it was local, it was global, and a comfort to anyone who dreams about a harmonious interfaith future. For photographs and more detailed reporting on the week’s workshops, go to Judy Trautman’s blog at http://judylt.wordpress.com/. Judy leads the Communications Committee on NAIN’s board.

Appreciating Salt Lake

A large local team made NAINConnect 2010 a success. But four planners were with us throughout, quietly making everything flow easily. Jan Saeed, long-time NAIN trustee, first raised the hosting proposal seriously with Salt Lake leaders little more than a year ago, a very short time for pulling this together. Brian Farr, an internationally engaged Rotarian specializing in conflict resolution and peace, now newly elected to NAIN’s Board; Rev. Ivan Cendese, Executive Director of the Salt Lake Interfaith Roundtable; and the Roundtable’s Chair, attorney/musician/MC extraordinaire Alan Bachman – with Jan, they were the ‘team’ we saw, always around, helping in little or big ways. I can hear everyone who participated saying “Thank you!”

Kudos also go to NAIN’s Chair, Bettina Gray, interfaith film producer, composer, resident of Berkeley, California, and host of Spiritual Resources, a web-based series of interfaith conversations co-produced with the Interfaith Center at the Presidio. Bettina masterfully kept connected the planning team on the ground in Salt Lake and our virtually participating NAIN board members. For which we all were beneficiaries.

 

If you’re interested in being involved in NAIN…

Last week I volunteered to join NAIN’s Bylaws and Board Development Committee. Under normal circumstances, such an act, I think, would render me certifiable. Mad and masochistic.

Rachael Watcher, Wiccan elder and ICP videographer, was elected to the NAIN Board of Directors, making her the third sitting Bay Area trustee.

What special circumstances sent me over the edge? This volunteering responsibility requires regular communication with Grove Harris, who spent years putting up Harvard’s Pluralism Project’s magnificent website. She went on to become program director for the 2009 Melbourne Parliament of the World’s Religions, tasked with culling 500 workshops for the Australian Parliament from the much larger pool of workshop proposals, and then scheduling and managing those selected.

Becoming a bylaws committee member also entails a closer relationship with James Wiggins. Jim talks happily about finally achieving retirement: he devoted 10 years to the presidency of the American Academy of Religion, 20 years to being Chair of Syracuse University’s Department of Religion, and (after 38 years in the classroom) devoted the better part of a decade directing InterFaith Works of Central New York, a multi-service agency with 35 staff members.  Truth be told, I can hardly wait to start working with Grove and Jim on issues that matter a lot to us.

If you are interested in getting more involved with NAIN, take a tour of www.NAIN.org. Individuals can join as Associate Members. The ‘voting’ membership is made of 86 interfaith-engaged groups and organizations (though we probably grew last week). Then, if you are interested in more involvement, contact NAIN’s Chair, Bettina Gray, or one of the other executive trustees with e-mail links at the site.

NAIN’s Board met at the Golden Rule Home in Salt Lake before NAINConnect 2010. Top-l. to r. Jan Saeed, Judy Trautman, Karen Boyett, James Wiggins, George Stern, Teja Singh, Midge Falconer, Paul McKenna, Paul Chaffee, Rob Henkinson; Bottom-Grove Harris, Woody Trautman, Bettina Gray, Don Mayne, Betsy Wiggins.

May 14, 2010

Remembering Jack Lundin

First and last, I’ll remember Jack Lundin as a friend. His warmth and good humor never left him. His indefatigable commitment to interfaith relations meant driving an hour each way to attend meeting after meeting after meeting with nary a grump. I can’t remember him ever saying no when asked to help. Particularly he said yes when asked to sit down and play or to lead us in singing or officiate at an interfaith wedding. The only passionate anger from this gentle man was for the Church and any other community when we don’t offer respect and provide justice for all of God’s children.

Many who enjoyed working with Jack at those meetings and interfaith celebrations don’t know the back stories. How he introduced big-time Chicago jazz and Christian worship to each other back when it was unimaginable anywhere else. How he was the most popular TV talk-show host in Chicago, putting in seven years at ABC. How, as a Chicago pastor, he served members like Martin Marty, the most distinguished church historian of the 20th century.

How he raised over a million dollars to support nursing services within congregations. How his gifts on the jazz piano and drums launched a parallel performing career that lasted all his life. How he developed a cruise-ship chaplaincy during his ‘retirement’ that took him and Marti to the seven seas. How the final book of the many he wrote and edited was the first interfaith songbook ever published. So many back stories in the life of Jack Lundin! We stand thankful for its richness and for his sharing so much with everyone he knew.

Jack was a Lutheran pastor down to his DNA; always an advocate for a more inclusive, progressive Christian faith engendering care for all human beings. But for the last 20 years of his life, he took up a special cause. When so many his age play golf all morning and bridge later on, Jack gave himself heart and soul to building relationships between the followers of different faiths. He was a founding member of United Religions Initiative and the San Francisco Interfaith Council. He’s been a financial supporter and stalwart on the Interfaith Center at the Presidio’s board of directors for the past dozen years.  

Jack’s pioneering role in interfaith culture came in championing the arts as critical tools in building relationships. He began an international group with the unlikely name of Expressing United Religions Initiative in Music and the Arts. His dream: to connect artists and performers committed to an interfaith vision and to making a difference with their creative gifts.

Jack organized the interfaith Seder dinner at URI-North America’s first summit, in Salt Lake City in 2001, and chaired the ‘worship committee’ at numerous conferences. He spent over a year gathering and managing the interfaith team that assembled the songbook, One World, Many Voices in 2002. Chants and hymns he composed are included. Later he was part of the core team at the Interfaith Center that organized an international competition to design sacred space where all traditions might feel at home; it drew 160 submissions from 17 countries. Last December, starting to fail, he was joyful at being able to attend the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Melbourne.

Our last conversations all got around to the same issue – using more music, drama, art, and play in our interfaith work. Talk-talk-talk was his critique. And, partly through his influence, many interfaith projects today are doing better liturgically and with music, drama, art, and play.

After all the accomplishments, the best memories are still of Jack as a friend. A bit more back story. A part of him loved nothing better than a great restaurant in the French countryside with exquisite food and wine. Jan and I never got to go on one of the trips he organized for people who shared this passion.

But we did go up to their home in Sonoma, where he and Marti, chef extraordinaire, would assemble a masterpiece in a picnic basket. We’d drive to a nearby vineyard, wander onto a hillside cut from heaven, and sit down at an outdoor table. It was hard to believe we weren’t in 19th century France enjoying the very best of the fruit of the soil. Or to say it simply, Jack Lundin loved life through and through, and we are so much better for having known him. Thank you, Jack.

- Paul Chaffee, Interfaith Center at the Presidio

May 1, 2010

An Ethical Imperative for People of Faith and Practice

A circle ceremony with burning herbs opened One Voice in Faith, an interfaith conference in the basement of St. Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco last month. Chanting and prayers honored the racial and religious diversity of nearly 300 social justice advocates from dozens of backgrounds, more than a third of them young adults.

An opening panel distilled the scriptural, theological wisdom regarding the issue at hand from Buddhist, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, and Protestant points of view. Their injunctions turned out to be remarkably similar. At issue? Alleviating the poverty of the billion plus people who go to bed hungry every night in the midst of the vastest accumulation of wealth in human history.

The keynote and panels that followed were crisp and detailed, describing a jarring local/global dance between mind-boggling suffering, here at home and far away, set against amazing, life-saving achievements.

Statistics are a crude measure but help wake comfortable people from our cocoons.

• More than 300,000 women each year die unnecessarily in complications from pregnancy and childbirth.
• Seventeen children under five die every minute of the day from largely preventable causes.
• The richest 500 people in the world earn about the same as the 416 million poorest.

It goes on and on. One speaker after another detailed mind-numbing numbers about potable water and sanitation, hunger, access to education, gender injustice, healthcare and HIV-AIDS, and a degraded environment, altogether grinding up the lives of hundreds of millions of human beings in the process.

As the day progressed I felt confused. Foggy. I couldn’t square a universal religious mandate to care for the poor and the reality that poverty can be significantly reduced, with the harsh fact that one out of every six people is in serious pain and dire need right now. Four of those same six live with very little. What is wrong with this picture? Why so terribly out of kilter?

The answer came back clearly – It is a matter of will, human will. Committed people who decide to make a difference prove over and over that they can change things. Bread for the World is making an art form out of visiting Democratic and Republican legislators over and over and over and over till they see the light and support foreign development and food aid. Persistence pays with politicians.

We heard about (and I’ve joined) www.ONE.org, the 2-million member anti-poverty network started by Bono, a group focused on empowering the will of caring people to convince leaders that global poverty must be addressed.

The good news is that dozens of agencies here and abroad have joined the cause constructively. We heard representatives from American Jewish World Service, Catholic Relief Services, Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation, the Faith Acts Program, Project Muso (empowering women in Mali), the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, and the UN Millennium Campaign. Had we the time dozens more could have been summoned. Against the ghastly backdrop of world poverty they told story after story of success, some small, some huge, each one transforming in human terms. Their witness burned away my fog.

Most conferees came well educated about the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), and newcomers were brought up to speed about this global survival agenda for the human family. The MDGs were adopted by 189 nations, including the United States, ten years ago at the United Nations, with a global commitment to significantly reduce poverty by 2015. In brief, the eight Goals seek to …

• Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger,
• Achieve universal primary education,
• Promote gender equality and empower women,
• Reduce child mortality,
• Improve maternal health,
• Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases,
• Ensure environmental sustainability, and
• Develop a global partnership for development.

Religious communities in dozens of traditions and denominations have affirmed the MDGs, started study groups and taskforces, and begun creative new projects. (Seasoned activists suggested projects with a specific, narrow focus and measurable goals. No one can do everything).

Today most countries have not had the will to live up to earlier promises; specifically, to budget 0.7 percent of GNP to achieve the Goals. Thank you Scandinavia and Holland for bucking the trend! Contributions from the United States hover at about 0.2 percent, a far cry from what we promised and a tangible challenge to take to Congress and the administration.

Slowly, mid-morning on the second day, the conference began morphing into a group of networked individuals committed to developing the public will to address the basic needs of the neediest. In an open conversation people made acquaintance across the room, strategic plans emerged, and we exchanged phone numbers and e-mail addresses. Young adults (who had their own conference caucus) and their older colleagues worked seamlessly to focus issues at the concluding big-room family conversation. A college student from Portland pointed out, “We have congregations full of people who really care about this stuff, but they don’t know what to do. Which is why I’m so appreciative, why the young adults here appreciate seeing all of you at this conference doing what you do.”

Notes were taken for a report. The Bay Area Interfaith Coalition organizing this conference will continue its work. You can join by going to www.imdgc.org and signing in. At the bottom of the website’s MDG page you’ll find links to five of the most important agencies for anyone interested in getting engaged. You can visit the Coalition’s Facebook presence as well as learn about similar MDG hubs being formed in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., with more hoped for.

One more critical resource: The United Nations Millennium Campaign’s www.endpoverty2015.org is a good place to keep up-to-date about the big picture. President Obama will be addressing American commitment to the MDGs in New York, September 20-22, and this site keeps you apprised of everything happening in preparation.

Joining the cause has become relatively easy – the issues clarified, background information and stories available, multiple strategies clearly outlined, and your creative energy anticipated. For people of faith and practice an imperative has been set, a wonderful opportunity to live into our deepest intuitions and teachings regarding the whole human family, each one of us.

- Paul Chaffee, Interfaith Center at the Presidio,

February 2010

The Warm Heart of Africa

March 13, 2009—

I recently returned from a trip to Malawi, one that seemed all too short to give justice to the small country in southern Africa. Malawi is just the size of Pennsylvania and is home to roughly 15 million beautiful people. Because of its size and landlocked geography, it is often overlooked and almost unknown to the world outside of Africa. But where Malawi lacks in size, it makes up for in spirit. The country is known as “the warm heart of Africa” as the people are characteristically friendly and peaceful.

My two-week stay in the green, lush country was quite intense. The main purpose for my journey was to assist in the establishment of a new project called Njira Ya Tsogolo. This education based project aims to empower the youth, enabling them to actively transform their country and create a better future. According to the World Bank, Malawi is the fifth poorest country in the world, and the youth suffer greatly from an education system that has been spiraling downward for many years. As I expected from a poor African country, most of the schools could not provide an education even remotely close to modern standards. No books, no materials, few desks, and little hope. Forget about technology or science experiments. All of the young adults I met were well aware that they were stuck in an ineffective and static system. And each one was eager to connect with a world that is passing them by at an ever increasing rate.

The goals of this project are simple—provide a small batch of computers, offer an intensive introductory course, and enable a select group of youth leaders to pass along the knowledge. We hope to model Njira Ys Tsogolo on the concept of “paying it forward.” Youth connect with youth, teach each other, and build community while learning valuable and tangible skills. Over the course of my two weeks in the urban city of Blantyre, I trained roughly 75 youth in the basics of operating a PC. I was overwhelmed with their gratitude for the computers. It showed most obviously in the commitment made by the students to take advantage of their opportunity to learn.

I left feeling very hopeful and optimistic about the future of this project. Not only were the results immediate, they indicated that this type of experience could lead to further innovation and creative thinking. A group of young leaders worked together to calculate the revenue and expenditures of their local food market using a spreadsheet. Many students took to creating flyers for events in their community using MS Power Point. The individuals who go on to teach their peers see the potential for computer lessons to become an income generating activity for themselves and their community groups. I am confident these young leaders will continue to disseminate this badly needed education.

Where does the faith belong in this project? Njira Ya Tsogolo developed out of a conference on interfaith peacebuilding I attended in Mayapur, India last December. It was part of an effort by United Religions Initiative (www.uri.org) to recognize and further motivate young leaders who have taken the initiative to bring about a world that allows for the peaceful coexistence of religious peoples. My three Malawian colleagues involved in the creation of this project were invited to attend this conference as well. They work with diverse populations of youth in their respective villages or townships. They are helping to create cultures of peace amongst devoted Catholics, Christians, Muslims, and those not ascribing to a single religion. Education is one of their primary goals. The illiteracy rate in Malawi is 60%, unemployment is the norm, and the incidence of HIV/AIDS is about 18%. Educating youth is a necessity.

I was fortunate enough to squeeze in a little sightseeing with day trips to Mulanje Mountain and Lake Malawi. Lake Malawi was named “The Lake of Stars” by the English explorer and anti-slavery activist, Dr. David Livingstone. It was quite magical and I will certainly return someday.

My hope is that this trip was simply the start of a new beginning for some of the Malawian youth communities. They need more computers and more education resources. As much as training, they need access to the technology which is now the modus operandi of communication around the world. As one young woman stated, “I must re-learn the absolute basics of a computer every six months because that is how often I get to use one. And without knowledge of computers and access to the Internet, I will not find a job in Malawi and will never experience anything outside of my own country.” The time for change is now!

I found the people as beautiful as the landscape and look forward to returning to this little area called “The warm heart of Africa.”

For donations and submissions of laptop computers, desktops, general education materials, or ideas, please e-mail Zachary Levine at Levine.z@gmail.com.

United Nations East Bay Peacebuilding Celebration – September 25, 2009 - Berkeley

Uniting Nations in an Interfaith World

Paul Chaffee, Executive Director, Interfaith Center at the Presidio

[Excerpts; Full text in pdf format]

We gather yearning for peace. Like many millions of others honoring peacemaking this month, we are dedicated to constructing a culture that graduates from violence as a change agent. We hunger for peace among nations, within nations and communities, in our own families, in our own lives.

Such hope seems fantastic, a pipedream, after hearing the news each day. That doesn’t slow us down, though. If anything, reality’s rough edges clarify the importance of doing better about peacemaking. Being in this for the long haul, let’s begin with some historical context to what we are up to here, talking about peacemaking.

In America and Europe, religiously inspired pacifists began creating peace societies early in the nineteenth century. In 1815 the New York Peace Society became the first of its kind, inspiring similar associations across the country, culminating in the formation of the American Peace Society in 1828. In France, religious pacifists organized in 1820, and similar groups started popping up all over Europe. An 1895 New York Times article describes 300 peace societies around the world, and hundreds more flowered in the years that followed. But still no peace.

Then early in February, 1914, the industrial magnate, Andrew Carnegie, called together religious leaders from across the country. Carnegie was convinced that with their religious leadership and his money, they could construct international political agencies to guarantee world peace. He put $2 million on the table, charging the religious hierarchs with being change-agents for peace. On that winter morning, he said: “After the arbitration of international disputes is established and war abolished, as it certainly will be some day, and that sooner than expected, probably by the Teutonic nations, Germany, Britain and the United States first deciding to act in unison, other Powers joining later, the Trustees will divert the revenues of this fund to relieve the deserving poor and afflicted.” In other words, once you’ve handled war, use the rest of the money to end poverty.

Well now, the clerics went right to work, organizing a peace conference at Lake Constance, in southern Germany. They gathered by the lake on August 1. The next day, World War One broke out. After a prayer meeting, they scrambled out of Germany, and scattered back home, though some were able to make it to London and were instrumental in forming the Church Peace Union, an agency that for decades championed religiously organized peacebuilding.

Anyone who agreed with Carnegie’s optimism 95 years ago, or does so today, just doesn’t understand what we face. Yet there is considerable hope abroad today, and that is what I wish to explore with you. Let me continue with a more recent story.

Sixteen years ago the United Nations contacted the Right Reverend William Swing, Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of California, asking if Grace Cathedral could be used to celebrate the upcoming 50th anniversary of the United Nations. Bill Swing immediately said “Yes,” they would be happy to host the celebration. But he was troubled.

The nations may have failed to bring peace to the world, but they have been trying hard for half a century. What happened to the religious community, the same community which inspired the original peace societies nearly two centuries ago? Why has religion done so very little by way of peacemaking? Bill Swing took these questions very seriously, gathering together the leaders who founded the United Religions Initiative. Today URI has more than 400 independent chapters, called cooperation circles, in 60 countries, each one committed to creating cultures of peace, justice, and healing. URI rarely makes it to the front pages, but remarkable stories are emerging.

- - -

Ten years ago Harvard’s Diana Eck wrote about a new religious America. Today its safe to say, a new religious world, a world newly ready to join hands in picking up the cause of peace. This is all brand new. But we’ve learned quite a bit already about the elusive goal of peace.

• § The first learning comes with the huge value-add the interfaith movement offers the rest of the culture: that is, vital interfaith relationships and communities help free religions from their worst propensities – such as declaring absolute truth claims, requiring blind obedience, or justifying any means for your ‘sacred’ end. Charles Kimball’s award-winning When Religion Becomes Evil (2002) details why developing ‘an inclusive faith rooted in a tradition” is so important for all of us in the quest for peace.
• § We’ve learned in dozens of different contexts that peacemaking is all about relationships, relationships among people who once were strangers to each other or even enemies. Mohammad Abu Nimer, a Muslim, Cynthia Sampson, a Christian Scientist, John Paul Lederach, a Mennonite, Aaron Tapper, a Jew, Joseph Montville, an Episcopalian, are among the leaders taking us into new arenas, new disciplines for engendering peace.
• § We’ve learned to honor, even celebrate our differences, while sharing core values about issues like peacemaking, the end of poverty, and caring for the Earth § We’ve learned that peacemaking has to do with establishing mutual respect. If respect is firmly grounded in a person or in a relationship, you unleash something very powerful. Without it, there is little chance for making a real difference for peace.
• § We’ve learned the critical importance of inclusivity, hospitality, and service – deep values whether you are talking authentic American diplomatic relations or organizing a neighborhood interfaith event. Issues like listening, non-violent communication, and forgiveness have become skill-sets we’re all working to learn.
• § We’ve learned what is required to create safe space, where you can be who you are, without fear, where you can explore serious issues and new friendships with wonderful people who come from a million miles away spiritually, culturally, and historically. We’ve discovered, with great joy, that these exotic new friends in fact are clearly recognizable members of the family, brothers and sisters to be loved.

Interfaith activists tend not to change their affiliation. We treasure each unique tradition, we do not allow proselytizing, and very few of us ever convert. We appreciate rather than judge one another, an attitude that tends, counter intuitively, to deepen one’s own faith and practice. Already these relationships are helping foster a new inclusiveness in the culture.

A recent massive Pew poll suggests that three out of four United States citizens do not think they have the one and only authentic map to reality. The idea that there might be more than one way to God is not a problem for three-quarters of us. Consider what your own grandparents believed, and reflect on the sea-change this development represents globally.

This new reality is already a significant influence in growing a healthier, more peaceful global culture. No one can promise what Mr. Carnegie hoped for in 1914, but thousands of faith and interfaith groups around the world, with hundreds of millions of members, are making breakthroughs with the strangers in their lives, and joining hands to make a difference.

[See full text in pdf format]

August 2009

Cameras, sacred space, and getting the details right

Paul Chaffee, Director, Interfaith Center at the Presidio

Building relationships among peoples from diverse religious and spiritual traditions is why we have an Interfaith Center. Equally important, though, is holding open the Main Post Interfaith Chapel in the Presidio of San Francisco, a sacred site welcoming us all.

So, no surprise, we’ve spent years talking about what makes sacred space sacred, particularly when many traditions hold all space to be sacred.

At the Chapel we strive to offer people safe space – a place where it is safe to be yourself, to pray or meditate, safe to worship and hold high ceremony with your family and your faith community, safe to meet strangers from different backgrounds and develop new friendships.

Last March I met Junaid Islam at a United Religions Initiative banquet. When we went to lunch two weeks later, I hadn’t the slightest notion that this new Muslim friend would add a whole new layer to the subject of sacred space at the Chapel.

Junaid has given the Center a ground-breaking webcasting system that allows us to webcast at will for no more cost that turning on a light. We plan to have a live image beamed from the Chapel to the world-wide web 24-7. A new camera offers a beautiful live image of Chapel glowing at night, lit by two 12-watt bulbs. If you’re up early, you can tune in and see the sunrise slowly fill in the colors of the stained-glass windows.

Being able to webcast a service or an interfaith program is an extraordinary new capacity. Families overseas can join their loved ones for a wedding, and good programs here will be freely available for anyone with a computer and internet access. We’ll even be able to webcast from the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Australia, through the Center’s website.

We’ve reached a benchmark and are looking at a brand new future. What does that mean in terms of sacred space? Alfred North Whitehead was at least partly right when he said religion is what you do in privacy. What would a camera in the Chapel and our presence on the web mean in terms of privacy?

When the Chapel is empty, it holds its sweetness, and no one’s privacy is threatened. When a service or a wedding is webcast, everyone involved knows about the enhancement. But what about our open hours five days a week, when anyone can walk into the sanctuary for a moment of quiet or prayer, of joy or grief? That definitely could create a privacy problem, a ‘safety’ issue.

Junaid had a perfect solution. We are mounting a camera in the top of the Chapel tower. During open hours, when the public is welcome to walk in and sit down, we will turn on the Tower camera and turn off the sanctuary camera.

So if you go to the website – www.interfaith-presidio.org – and click on the video button, you may not see the sanctuary, but the glorious out-of-doors. It means we are having “Open Hours,” where we maintain the privacy of anyone who drops in. Or perhaps a program is going on which we’ve not been asked to webcast. In those cases, instead of the Chapel, you’ll be able to check out the San Francisco Bay, the gulls and the wind in the Monterey pines and eucalyptus trees.

The rest of the time you are warmly invited indoors – either for programs or just to enjoy the peace the place conveys, even in digital translation. Clearly this new technology has the capacity to assist rather than distract us in the quest for sacred space.

It just takes time to work out the details. The technology is just as tough. As I write, the Chapel camera is down, victim of a blackout the park suffered two days ago. Which requires us to reset the camera and computer all over again! Just give us time and we’ll get the details right.

July 2009

Why Go to NAIN?

Paul Chaffee, Director, Interfaith Center at the Presidio

Anyone willing to pay airfare, registration, room, and board to spend three days outside of Kansas City with 70 people preoccupied with interreligious relationships has to nurse a deep commitment to the cause! Even for the committed – Why spend the money?

As a veteran of a dozen NAIN (North America Interfaith Network) summer gatherings, I’ve several answers to that question, starting with old friendships and new. That’s personal, though. The reason I make it my business to keep going is what I learn. At Unity Village last month, an hour south of Kansas City, two workshops I attended tell the tale.

Rabbi Or Rose of Hebrew College in Boston began with the story of a real estate transaction: seven years ago Hebrew College bought part of Andover Newton Theological School’s property. A new Jewish institution (addressing students from high school to graduate school) found itself cheek by jowl with the oldest Protestant seminary in the country.

This geographic partnership evolved into remarkable shared programs and, now. the formation of CIRCLE – the Center for Inter-Religious Leadership Education. At the top of their agenda is a national conference April 14-16 next year to encourage seminaries to embrace interfaith studies.

Even more exciting for grassroots activists was the story of Faith to Faith – Face to Face, an interfaith certification course for lay people, begun last January in a suburb northwest of Chicago. Instead of another program ‘preaching to the choir’ – four local congregations from different faiths and a hospital appealed to their communities – people of faith interested but new to faiths other than their own.

They planned for ten to 12 students, and 30 showed up for the first class. Four semesters ($145 tuition for each) of classes (twice a month) over a two year period, along with a project, will result in a certificate. The students, ranging from nurses and airline pilots to professionals and the retired, have one criticism – they want more sessions than scheduled.

With volunteers, local grants, and tuition, the program pays presenters from the different faiths $200 per session and still has money in the bank. The project, thoroughly interfaith in the planning, is the brainchild of Rev. Gilbert ‘Budd’ Friend-Jones, pastor of the local First Congregational Church and a grassroots/global interfaith activist for the past ten years.

That was the tip of the iceberg at NAIN this year. Actually, it wasn’t icy but hot and humid in Unity Village’s magnificent 1400-acre retreat. And absolutely worth it. New ideas, new connections, new possibilities – ‘juice’ for anyone whose heart and soul are committed to healthy, vital relationships among people from the hundreds of spiritual traditions that make up the communities where we live today.

June 2009

An Interfaith Center at the Presidio Report

United Religions Initiative-North America Assembly

Henderson, North Carolina – May 7-10, 2009

From: Paul Chaffee, Interfaith Center delegate to URI-NA

More than 50 interfaith activists spent May 7-10 near Henderson, North Carolina, focused on North America’s participation in United Religions Initiative. California representation included Jan and Paul Chaffee, Louise Todd Cope, Barbara Hartford, Tomiko Nojima, Sam Ruben, Adelia Sandoval, Ron Steward, William Swing, Rebecca Tobias, Ardey Turner, and Trinka Wasik. Four from Vancouver filled out the West Coast roster.

* * *

Rebirth of a Region – URI-NA is United Religions Initiative’s North America region. It comprises approximately 40 URI Cooperation Circles (CCs) across Canada and the United States, representing about ten percent of URI CCs worldwide.

The excitement and energy generated by the 2000 signing of URI’s Charter was still cresting when URI-NA first met in Salt Lake City a year later. For five days, more than 250 helped forge a dream for what URI could do in North America. Five volunteer groups signed up to take the task forward. But without any institutional infrastructure and precious little time or energy available from a global office focused on all eight regions, this blossom died on the vine.

Since then some CCs have thrived, some passed away. When North American Interfaith Network (NAIN) invited URI-NA to share a summer conference in 2005, people enjoyed the abundance of interfaith programming, but little time was spent on creating an active URI region in North America.

Eighteen months ago, ten URI activists took on the challenge of revitalizing our region, including the huge task of putting together a conference. Margie Coles, Lisa Marie Main, Margi Ness, Anne Roth, Mary Page Sims, and Sandy Westin took responsibility for the Conference. Go URI women! Don Frew from Berkeley and Rachel Watcher from Oakland provided input but could not attend. The team began communicating with all URI-NA circles and fashioned four alternative models for governing ourselves that served to initiate our conversation. (Apologies if anyone has been left out!)

URI of Henderson County Cooperation Circle agreed to host the event, a huge contribution that kept on giving. Kudos to Mary Page and Henderson URI. Diana Whitney, whose Appreciative Inquiry genius has helped guide URI globally for a dozen years, attended and moderated the critical “who are we and what should we be up to” plenary Saturday morning. And Diana joined Lisa in co-facilitating the final Sunday morning exploration of what the next two years look like for us.

By the end of the Assembly, 11 people stepped forward to form an interim council to work for the region this next year. This includes Susanna McIlwayne, Adelia Sandoval, and Rebecca Tobias, the three North American trustees on the Global Council; Margi Ness, part-time Regional Coordinator; Sandy Westin, part-time Technology and Communications Coordinator, and six volunteers from across the continent. And The Clergy for Compassion and Harmony Cooperation Circle from Vancouver, BC, invited URI-NA to have its next assembly in Vancouver in 2011.

In the language of my tradition, the four days in the North Carolina woods felt like a Lazarus story, a continental community come back from the dead, or should we say, a deep sleep.

Learnings – Approximately 20 workshops were offered. What follows is a personal response to two extraordinary sessions that I attended, focused on Non-Violent Communication and Moral Imagination.

• Non-Violent Communication (NVC) and Moral Imagination (MI) each offer high-level communication and relational skills that are extremely useful for interfaith dialogue when it takes on tough issues, conflict, or community dysfunction.
• Both NVC and MI utilize clear assumptions and skill-sets that can be taught.
• Both disciplines can be transformative in harmonious as well as conflicted situations.
• Both offer tools for enhancing peacemaking in our personal and public lives.
• Both can be taught by a growing community of trained, interfaith-friendly practitioners and teachers.
• Excellent resources are at hand for both.

All the same can be said of Appreciative Inquiry (AI), the discipline which has given so much life to both United Religions Initiative and the Interfaith Center at the Presidio.

My “Aha!” moment came in realizing that NVC, MI, and AI all provide “deliverables” we can share while promoting interfaith culture. Put together, they could provide a core curriculum for empowering faith and interfaith communities in positive ways. Making them available would be an extraordinary act of service. For years, interfaith dialogue activists have been asked – “Besides making new friends, do you really make a difference?” “Can you measure the improvement you’ve inspired?” “How do you define success in this work?”

Teaching NVC, MI, and AI to the faith and interfaith communities where we live could provide our movement a track record of making a positive difference in all sorts of measurable ways. That is a challenge I will take back to the Interfaith Center and try out. I hope other circles do as well, and that we work collaboratively. Such a curriculum is as valuable in intrafaith relations as in interfaith relations. Were such a package adopted as a ‘core curriculum’ for URI-NA and we succeeded in running with it, the URI cause would be advanced everywhere.

It’s a natural. Since its inception, URI has embraced Appreciative Inquiry at every level. For over a year, URI’s Global Council and staff have been focused on Moral Imagination. Given the ranting that sometimes infects URI’s global internet chatter, a good dose of Non-Violent Communication would be good for all of us! Finally, new internet opportunities can provide us with ways to teach this curriculum without a lot of travel.

Blue Ridge Hospitality – The soft spring-green graciousness of the Blue Ridge hills and valleys was surpassed by the hospitality Henderson County volunteers offered from the moment we arrived. Not just a beautiful site but a safe, sacred space to do our work. The amazing chanting and singing Fran McKendree drew from us, and Michele Skeele’s American Indian flute, its melodies surrounding the outdoors full-moonrise ceremony, both came on the breeze of the Spirit. The Trail of Tears team sharing their remarkable walking tour and embracing URI-NA. Good food. Good fellowship. Bishop Swing’s stories of the journey so far gave everything else historical context, a new depth, encouragement, and a continuing challenge. We left Henderson appreciatively, refreshed and inspired as we returned home to help grow a miracle of a community in our midst.

---

Margi Ness, URI North America coordinator, also writes about the conference on the URI website.

Joseph Campbell Film Series

MYTHOS I: The Shaping of Our Mythic Tradition
Hosted by Robert Walter, President, the Joseph Campbell Foundation
Six Monday Evenings: April 13 & 27, May 11 & 18, June 8 & 22, 7:00-9:00
Suggested donation: $20 per screening; no one turned away

During the final years of his life, Joseph Campbell embarked on a lecture tour in which he drew together all that he had learned about what he called the “one great story” of humanity. The lectures were filmed for the Mythos series, hosted by Susan Sarandon. Mythos I: The Shaping of Our Mythic Tradition will screen the first five of these lectures. They have never been broadcast in the Bay Area.

Robert Walter, long-time Campbell colleague and now president of the Joseph Campbell Foundation, hosts the screenings and leads discussions afterwards. On Monday, April 13, the opening session features a one-hour documentary about Campbell’s life and contribution. For more details, contact Sandi Pilon at 415-561-3930.

You can see a brief excerpt of the film on the Amazon.com website.

Appreciative Marriage

Appreciative Inquiry is the study and exploration of what gives life to human systems when they function at their best… This approach to personal change and organizational change is based on the assumption that questions and dialogue about strengths, successes, values, hopes, and dreams are themselves transformational.

Diana Whitney & Amanda Trosten-Bloom in
The Power of Appreciative Inquiry(2004)

 

Appreciative Marriage – a Workshop will be offered at the Interfaith Chapel in the Presidio on January 23 (Friday evening) and 24 (8:30-4:30). Paul Chaffee and Sandi Pilon will facilitate.

The workshop creates a safe, creative learning space for couples committed to developing long-term, satisfying relationships with each other.

Like bank accounts, relationships can appreciate or depreciate in value. This workshop is an appreciative exercise and set of tools for you and your partner. It focuses on identifying, planning, and embracing the kind of relationship that means ‘best’ to you.

The workshop does not address all the issues of marriage. Instead, it identifies tools to assist you in addressing the many threads that weave a marriage. We don’t try to define ‘the perfect marriage.’ But we care very much about positive empowerment in creating and nurturing the most important relationships in our lives.

Appreciative Marriage – a Workshop is an offering of the Interfaith Center at the Presidio. Tuition for the workshop is $360 per couple, with a 10 percent deduction for those who have been married at the Chapel or are scheduled to be this coming year.

For more information or a brochure, contact Sandi Pilon at 415.561-3930 or sandi@interfaith-presidio.org.

An Interfaith Approach to Prop 8
and Other Tough Issues

A Personal Perspective

A perfect storm is raging in the religious community around California’s Proposition 8. Passed in last month’s election, Prop 8 constitutionally bans gay marriage. The election did nothing to quell the debate. Congregations, judicatories, and denominations weighed in, actively campaigning and funding both sides of the issue. Feelings remain raw as the debate enters the courts.

Without taking a vote on the matter, the Board of the Interfaith Center at the Presidio clearly is as divided as the rest of the religious community. Debating the issue would not change many minds. But after the election, a trustee asked that we address Prop 8 at our next board meeting. We did, with remarkable results. People spoke from the heart and listened from the heart. One trustee said through tears, “Both sides are energized because they value marriage so very much,” a poignant irony that adds context to this linguistic conflict.

The board discussion was brief, only beginning to unpack the complexities.

We learned something, though: that our task as an interfaith community is to create safe environments where we can share our differences about controversial issues without hurting each other, without ‘proselytizing’ our perspectives, and, God willing, come to understand each other and our issues with a new depth and sensitivity. Our foundation is mutual respect, whatever our differences. Our goal is not agreement but understanding. Our approach is inclusive, not judgmental.

In recent years, the Marin Interfaith Council has had the courage to organize clergy brown-bag lunches to discuss the hard issues. It is succeeding because they’ve taken the care to create a safe, sacred context where healthy conversation can thrive in spite of disagreements.

Interfaith culture usually begins with good feelings, the unexpected fuzzy-wuzzy warmth of getting acquainted with ‘religious folk who are different than me.’ Something more is required for interfaith culture to develop, thrive, and make a difference. We need to utilize the tools that allow us to explore our differences, even the tough ones, without fragmenting the community and diminishing the care and affection we have for each other. We’re learning how to do that, and we’ve just begun.

Paul Chaffee

August 2008

Global Interfaith Gatherings:

Australia

• Multifaith Prayer Service (Sydney, Australia)
• Pope meets non-Christian faith leaders (The Age)
• Pope vows to listen to other faiths (World New Australia)

Mecca and Madrid:

• The Makkah Appeal for Interfaith Dialogue (Saudi Embassy)
• The World Conference on Dialogue: Its Promise and Challenges
  (Rev. Dr Shanta Premawardhana, World Council of Churches)
• Not just another interfaith parley
  (Rabbi David Rosen, Jerusalem Post)
• My Talk with the Saudis, and What I Learned from Them
  (Rabbi Michael Lerner, Tikkun)
• The Madrid Declaration (Saudi Embassy)

Yale Conference:

• Loving God and Neighbor in Word and Deed:
  Implications for Christians and Muslims
  (Yale University)
• Conference Videos (Yale University)
• A Common Word Between Us and You (Official Website)
• Top evangelicals praise Christian-Muslim talks (Reuters)

North American Interfaith Network Comes to San Francisco

A glistening San Francisco cast off its summer fog for the first three days of NAINConnect 2008 – Embracing Our Interfaith Future, held July 24-28. When the fog returned on Sunday, old friends and new and a cacophony of happy conversation kept us from noticing. Fromm Hall, a lifelong learning center at the University of San Francisco, was an extraordinary work space. For assemblies and an initial banquet, a lovely tent replaced the intended hall that was suffering emergency construction issues.

This 20th anniversary Connect drew about 150 registrants (final tally to come). One-day passes, along with presenters who could only attend their own workshops, raised the number of participants to about 250.

Eighty presenters informed three dozen workshops, four assemblies, and early morning/late evening meditation sessions. (Workshop descriptions, many with blogs attached, are still accessible at www.nain.org/2008.)

An American Indian opened the conference outdoors, and an African-American gospel duo started us indoors. A Buddhist folk singer punctuated our talk on Friday. NAIN’s Birthday Banquet sparkled with a jazz quartet, and Brahma Kumaris graced us musically at the concluding banquet at St. Mary’s Cathedral, co-sponsored with San Francisco Interfaith Council. Don Frew and Tomiko Nojima led the meditation room creation. Mark Denni’s classical guitar gentled the noisy breaks, and at the final celebration, Host Committee member Jack Lundin led us through a number of songs, concluding the Connect with “It’s a Wonderful World.”

Conference highlights included the Kabala Shabbat Friday evening and the Sunday morning tour of the Interfaith Chapel in the Presidio and Muir Woods’ stunning redwoods. This year’s service project taught us how to create, use, and distribute solar ovens, a lifesaver in Darfur and a source of goodies during Connect breaks. The optional Saturday supper cruise started with panic when six scheduled taxis failed to show. But everyone finally made it aboard for a lovely evening.

Corbin Davis, Pacific School of Religion seminarian and former Interfaith Center at the Presidio intern, was conference director. He quickly facilitated miracles whenever trouble raised its head. Corbin, Fred Fielding, Connect communications director, and NAIN board members Steve Naylor and Tracy Wells, helped focus the young adult excitement. Nine young adult scholarships had been awarded, a dozen more paid their own way, and the 18-35 crowd made a palpable difference. Young adults organized workshops, were presenters, and put together the late-night digital showcase sessions, significantly magnifying the conference’s offerings.

Rachael Watcher, Angela Carlson, and David Ponedel, probably the only NAIN banquet chef who has also served on its board, did the heavy lifting in terms of hospitality and logistics. Jan Chaffee handled the books. Their detailed plans and follow-through made for happy registrants. More than a dozen other host committee members, here and across the continent, gave time, energy, and imagination to making this a satisfying experience. They all deserve our appreciation! Thank you!

                                                                                                            Paul Chaffee, Chair
                                                                                                            2008 Host Committee

Recognition of Huston Smith

Huston Smith, known worldwide for his lifelong work in promoting religious understanding, was honored at a banquet at St. Mary's Cathedral during NAIN Connect 2008. Jim Wiggins (NAIN), and Henry Baer (ICP) spoke at the tribute, and presented Huston with a silver platter inscribed:

This plaque is given to Huston Smith
In appreciation for illumining the world's religions for millions of us
& for his example, his friendship, and his passion for truth and goodness

At the 20th Anniversary of the North American Interfaith Network
San Francisco — July 27, 2008

Kumar Mehta (Ahimsa) wrote a poem for Huston:

A Brief  Tribute in Honor of Dr Huston Smith

I have heard of a white swan
 that lives in a remote lake
  at the foothill of a snow-white mountain
   in the Himalayas.
Feed him  a mixture of white sand and sugar
 and the swan will separate the sugar from sand.
Like the mythological swan
 from time to time, wisdom tradition of the world
 have produced men and women
 who separated the non-essential from essential
 and practiced the essential truths
 to achieve spiritual union with  Universal Spirit.

I believe, from the mysterious Infinite Ocean of Divinity
  a mighty wave rises, takes the form of a human spirit
  that comes with a Divine mission  -
   the mission of teaching humanity,
  that there is but one heart
   pulsating in  the body of universe,
  that the sun, moon, and stars,
   mountains, rivers and forests,
   birds, animals, and human beings
   are bound in a seamless web of Consciousness.
I also believe that an awareness of this inter-connectivity
  is essential for peace, prosperity, and survival of the planet
  that we call home.

Huston, my friend !

 We salute the mighty wave of spirituality in you.
From the religion of Christ
 you picked up charity and unselfish service.
From the religion of Mohammad you picked up Namaz —
 -  devotional prayer several times a day to remember God.
From the non-dual faiths of Gandhi and Dalai Lama
  you picked up the practice of loving kindness to all,
  irrespective of race, color and creed. 

                                                                             -  kumar mehta , July 27, 2008.  

 

July 2008

Memorial Day Service with Andrew Carroll

We made a wonderful new friend in Andrew Carroll, founder of the Legacy Project and editor of several books of letters from troops in wartime including Grace Under Fire, about the religious faith of servicefolk. He was very impressed with our interfaith work & our connection to David Fox of the Immortal Chaplains Foundation. He, in turn, is a wonderful speaker talking about our young people in the military, from the Revolutionary War through the war on terror. For those of us who have been, are a family member of, or know someone in the service, we were heartened by these stories.

The Memorial Day interfaith service at 1:00 on May 26 was well-attended. The Interfaith Center staff provided refreshments outside as people arrived from the memorial service at the cemetery.  Fr. Gerry O'Rourke, Board President, was here to welcome the crowd and then provided the blessing at the end. Andy Carroll gave the homily talking about stories of soldiers. Between the donation box at the reception and the offering, $600 was given to support the work of the Center.

Thanks to Paul Chaffee for again doing a great job organizing this service, and if you haven’t been to one yet, please try to make it next year. Other participants were Sally Porter Munro, the Sausalito Presbyterian Choir, Craig Middleton (Executive Director of the Presidio Trust), Rabbi Jay Heyman, Mai-Ling Garcia of Swords to Plowshares, Michelle Latimer playing “Taps” on the trumpet (and perfectly), Lynn Miller playing “Amazing Grace” on the bagpipes (just as perfectly), and Boy Scout Troop No. 14 Color Guard, presenting and retiring the Colors (flags). It was all very moving.

Linda Crawford

May 2008

Muslim leaders from Egypt visit Interfaith Chapel

Ten sheikhs from Cairo visited the Interfaith Chapel for an hour and a half conversation with staff and board members from the San Francisco Interfaith Council and Interfaith Center at the Presidio on April 27. Our Muslim guests came to this country on a U.S. State Department-funded visit. These are engaged leaders in Cairo's community (academia, the press, television, business, engineering, and more) as well as spiritual leaders of particular Sufi communities. They are intent on learning how we deal with grassroots interfaith relationships. An expert translator traveling with them kept the conversation quick and alive.

Egypt, we learned, is religiously diverse, but much less so than the Bay Area – that Sunnis can be Sufis, not just Shias – that most Egyptian Muslims (70 percent) affirm the peaceful, heart-felt approach of Sufism – and that fundamentalist Muslims get a huge press though they represent but a tiny percentage of the population.

Our Egyptian visitors learned about the kind of relationships we enjoy between and among followers of the Abrahamic traditions, to say nothing of the joy that comes from the wider diversity that defines us.

In 1992 Rita Semel and an ad hoc group of interfaith activists proposed having a place in the new Presidio national park where interreligious dialogue could address the major issues of the day. This past April, along with our Egyptian visitors, the Chapel hosted interfaith conversations about… coordinating anti-poverty legislation; clergy as first responders to Veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan; the place of Earth-based religions in the larger culture; and coordinating Darfur efforts.

Rita, it turns out, participated in most of these conversations, getting to enjoy the fruit of 15 years of labor getting us here. Talk about creating the future!

 

September 2007

San Francisco Foundation FAITHS Program
Being Honored at Interfaith Chapel’s Gathering of Blessings

The Interfaith Center’s annual Gathering of Blessings, scheduled for Sunday, October 7, starting at 4:00 pm, this year honors The San Francisco Foundation. The Foundation will receive a “Bay Area Interfaith Treasure” award acknowledging the remarkable achieve-ments of its FAITHS Program. The public is cordially invited to attend the reception at 4:00 pm and the celebration at 5:00 pm at the Main Post Interfaith Chapel in the Presidio.

In 1993, The San Francisco Foundation began the FAITHS Initiative, as it was called then, on the premise that congregations and other faith-based organizations should be among philanthropy’s strongest partners in the effort to build strong, healthy, and equitable communities. This marked a new understanding by philanthropy of the critical contribution faith-based programs make to strengthening communities.

By taking an inclusive, interfaith approach, The Foundation provided a model for promoting non-sectarian community service and civic engagement programs that include diverse traditions. “FAITHS has been a pioneering effort for the philanthropic community,” says Mrs. Rita Semel, founder of the San Francisco Interfaith Council. “Starting with The San Francisco Foundation, then partnering foundations joining in, FAITHS began supporting dozens and then hundreds of congregations and community organizations. That’s never happened before, and it makes a huge difference in Bay Area neighborhoods.”

For 14 years FAITHS has built an interfaith network of more than 600 congregations, faith-based agencies, and community organizations to address critical community issues in the Bay Area. FAITHS provides technical and financial assistance, educational briefings, and trainings for leaders in local faith communities from dozens of different traditions. FAITHS workshops and mini-grants focus on issues such as affordable housing, disaster preparedness, immigration reform, inter-group relations, job training, senior services, and youth development.

The first Gathering of Blessings was held Sunday, October 1, 1995, the day after the U.S. Sixth Army concluded its chaplaincy at the Presidio. The ceremony commemorated the transition from military to civilian stewardship of the Presidio’s Main Post Interfaith Chapel and since then has been an annual celebration of inter-religious activity in the Bay Area and beyond.

# # #

For more information, contact Paul Chaffee at 415-775-4635 or at paul@interfaith-presidio.org. Directions & maps to the Presidio’s Interfaith Chapel are at www.interfath-presidio.org.

August 2007

Religious Freedom Takes Center Stage
at International, Interfaith Gathering

NAIN’s (North American Interfaith Network) 2007 Connect was nestled into Virginia’s rolling hills at Roslyn, an Episcopal retreat center outside of Richmond. The beautiful setting was punctuated by the historical markers dotting Virginia highways and country lanes, reminders that the freedoms we discussed as interfaith brothers and sisters were paid for in blood shed in these same hills.

The theme for the July 12-16 Connect was Religious Freedom. About 90 participated. A direct descendent of Thomas Jefferson showed up at the opening banquet in 18th century dress, and we heard Tom’s words, his story, with an emphasis on the idea of ‘religious freedom’ in the United States and the struggle to establish it.

Highlights this year included the langar, a blessed lunch that the greater Richmond Sikh community prepared and gave everyone – an interfaith concert at a beautiful Baptist church (including a welcome and blessing from its pastor) – and Charles Haynes’ superb keynote about teaching religious freedom in public schools.

A strong opening panel addressed “Current State of Religious Freedom, Nationally and Internationally.” Through the next several days, more than two dozen workshops unpacked religious freedom from all sorts of angles. A number of distinguished presenters were well received, including a young adult panel reflecting on Virginia Tech’s recent mass murder by asking “Where Was God in Times of Tragedy?” A group of four Muslims from different backgrounds and a Christian moderator offered a layered, complex set of insights into “Islam & Democracy,” the final plenary session.

Sharon Clayton, Midge Falconer, Lynn Johnston, and their team from the InterFaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington and Interfaith Council of Greater Richmond were the heroes, leaving those who attended informed, refreshed, and happy to have been with old friends and new.

Paul Chaffee