By David Briggs
From Huffington Post

What do Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn, Hispanic Catholics in central Nebraska, megachurch evangelicals in Houston and South Asian Muslims in suburban Detroit have in common?

More than many people could ever imagine.

Forget the popular cultural images from shows such as HBO’s “Big Love” that revive stereotypes linking Mormonism with polygamy or the ubiquitous images in the news associating Islam with terrorism. Look past the cultural crossfire that lumps religious liberals and conservatives into separate boxes defined by extremist political and social agendas.

The reality, as presented in a new book by two respected scholars, is that if you walk into a mosque, synagogue, temple or church next weekend, you will most likely find groups of believers in prayer and meditation seeking spiritual growth.

For six weeks, Pennsylvania State University sociologists Christopher Scheitle and Roger Finke traveled nearly 7,000 miles across the country visiting diverse religious communities. What they report back in “Places of Faith: A Road Trip Across America’s Landscape” is a portrait of people of faith sharing many of the same aspirations across theological and denominational divides.

They encounter members of a black church in Memphis and a Mormon congregation in a small Utah town giving personal testimonies amid Sunday worship and religious education classes lasting three hours and more. In both the Friday prayer service at the Islamic Center of America in Detroit and the Saturday morning Shabbat service at B’nai Avraham in Brooklyn, the authors find immigrants from Africa, Asia and Europe praying for the well-being of humanity.

These straightforward observations of faith groups at worship have a critical role to play in public discourse on religion especially when an increasing body of research reveals sharp declines in religious prejudice, the more people of different beliefs get to know one another.

“Places of Faith” allows “students and people in general to look over our shoulder and to find out what these communities are like and how similar they are in many ways,” said Finke, who is also director of the Association of Religion Data Archives.

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By Yaira Robinson
From State of Formation

I was on a chartered bus with about 40 other people—Christians, Jews, Muslims, Unitarian Universalists, one Buddhist, and one Wiccan priest. We were united in being people of faith, in being mostly white and middle class, and in touring part of Newark, New Jersey as part of the Environmental Justice retreat of GreenFaith’s Fellowship Program.

I already knew that low-income communities and communities of color are disproportionately affected by environmental degradation; if there are toxic emissions or pollution to be found in a community, it’s most likely on the “other side of the tracks,” where poverty and the legacy of racism and discrimination combine to form communities that have little leverage in the fight against larger corporate interests. And so it is in the Ironbound, a historically immigrant community in Newark, so-named because it is bounded on three sides by railroad tracks—and on the fourth side, by Newark Airport.

Today, the Ironbound is home to more than 50,000 people, mostly Portuguese and Spanish speakers, a majority of them foreign-born. The community struggles with chronic poverty and unemployment, and residents’ average income is a meager $16,000 per year. Our tour guide, Dr. Ana Baptista of the Ironbound Community Corporation, pointed out the great irony of the situation: here we were, right next to the third largest seaport in the U.S., a port that brings goods from around the globe to the largest consumer market in the world… and local residents are left out, saddled instead with an excess of pollution—a good portion of it diesel exhaust from trucks transporting those goods, and bunker fuel exhaust from the ships in port.

We drove by the port and then made our way through the “Chemical Corridor,” a narrow strip of land lined with dozens of chemical manufacturing plants. There was a fat-rendering plant, some metal plants, a sewage treatment plant, one that made “natural flavors” (what is that, anyway?), and more. And then, in the midst of all this, the Essex County Correctional Facility. And a proposed immigration detention facility to be used to house families. I started to feel sick to my stomach.

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By Declan McSweeney
From The Guardian

A ‘Walk of Faith’, linking a church, mosque and synagogue in the Toxteth area of Liverpool, has been under the auspices of Merseyside Police in an effort to increase links between people holding different religious beliefs.

Bill McAdam, the community engagement sergeant, who heads the force’s interfaith group, says: “It’s all about community cohesion.”

Toxteth is one of the most diverse parts of Liverpool and the Walk of Faith included representatives of Everton FC’s community programme, as well as people from many local agencies.

First, Rev Alan Fretwell welcomed visitors to his Methodist church at Princes’ Park, where he outlined how he became a Christian in Zambia at the age of 31, and gave a summary of the main tenets of Christianity.

Next, Adam Kelwick, a senior member of the local Muslim community, invited guests into the nearby mosque, where he gave a summary of the history of Merseyside’s Muslim community, which has been in existence since the early 19th century. Unlike many other parts of England where the Muslim population mainly consists of people with roots in the Indian subcontinent, Liverpool’s Muslims include many with family backgrounds originally in Yemen and Somalia, as well as white converts.

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By Sai Kolluru
From State of Formation

“Know thyself.” -Aristotle

“Meditating on the lotus of your heart, in the center is the untainted; the exquisitely pure, clear, and sorrowless; the inconceivable; the unmanifest, of infinite form; blissful, tranquil, immortal; the womb of Brahma.” -Kaivalyopanishad

“Who am I? What is this body I am in? Where do my thoughts come from? What is the mind? Why do I feel something in my heart? What attracts me to things and creates emotions of like and dislike? What is the very essence of my existence?” -The Human Mind

A curious start. The search for the Self.

These are all the questions I have asked myself since I took my first plane ride from India to the United States at the age of eight. I was so astonished by the Boeing jet. My face was plastered to the windows as I saw constellation Orion from 30,000 feet. I was amazed by the tranquility of our Earth. Every night I looked through my telescope, my mind was in awe constantly asking, “How can this universe be so vast? So beautiful? So perfect in order? I mean, this Earth itself is unfathomably incredible in creation but the universe?”

Emotions would run through me and I would get goosebumps at the thought of the creation of the Universe. Reminiscing over the past twenty one years of my life: I grew up in a traditional, orthodox Brahmin Hindu family. When my family bought our first home, my mother made sure to refer to the “Vaastu Shastra”-an ancient Hindu doctrine that has an archaic view on how the laws of nature affect human dwellings. She would set down the compass as we entered our future home and say “Ha ha, it’s facing North-Northeast, this is a good front entrance for the house.” This showed me how holistic my mother’s approach to living was.

As for myself, I just looked at how big the house was and made sure that I had my own big room. As I grew up, my mother would teach me many rituals and ceremonies followed in the Hindu tradition. “After all, you are a Brahmin [a person of spiritual knowledge in a community],” she would insist.

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by Yaira Robinson from State of Formation

Going to the park, to work, to the grocery store or pretty much anywhere today is venturing out into a religiously pluralistic setting. In all of those places, there are bound to be people who profess different religious beliefs than you do, or who profess no beliefs at all. In many of these settings, we keep quiet about our religious views so as not to offend or distance ourselves from others. I wonder, though, if this leaves us saying nothing real at all, and sometimes increases the distance between us rather than bringing us together in actual relationship.

Engaging in interfaith work takes this everyday religious pluralism to a whole new level. For this work, there are no roadmaps, no graduate certification programs, no experts; there are just individual people trying the best they can to forge new paths of partnership and mutual understanding. Because of the interfaith environmental justice work in which I’ve participated for the last three years, I’ve thought a lot about how to be an individual person of particular faith in an intensely and intentionally religiously pluralistic setting. Below are some things I’ve learned; perhaps they are also applicable for your local park or workplace, or for late-night interfaith conversations with your neighborhood grocery clerk (and if you try that, I’d love to hear how the conversation goes).

1. Share your religious story (in a respectful, non-proselytizing kind of way). When you share your story with others, it helps them feel comfortable sharing their stories with you.

2. Know your religious story. In order to share your religious story, you first have to have one. Whatever your religious (or non-religious) tradition is, know it and live it. For me, this means being an active member of my synagogue and engaging in regular study, practice and prayer.

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By Kathy Quiano from CNN

More than 4,500 Indonesian couples tied the knot at a Jarkarta sports stadium on Tuesday, in what the event’s organizers claim was the world’s largest interfaith wedding event.

The couples were married in Islamic, Catholic, Protestant, Buddhist and Hindu ceremonies – with each participating in whichever rites were appropriate. The event’s organizers said the mass wedding was aimed at helping poor couples who couldn’t afford to pay for their own weddings.

A humanitarian organization, Pondok Kasih Foundation, initiated the event and worked with Jakarta’s government and private sponsors to stage the mass wedding.

In a press release, organizers said the event was focused on promoting Pancasila, Indonesia’s state philosophy, which encompasses five basic principles that include belief in one God, just and civilized society, unity and democracy.

“Our value of Pancasila is facing increasing challenges,” the release said. “Our harmonious society is facing increasing threats from extremism and disturbance of public peace.”

Indonesia has seen an uptick in violent attacks from radical Muslim groups in recent years and some human rights groups warn of a general rise in religious intolerance. The Setara Peace and Democracy Institute has recorded a significant rise in attacks on religious minorities.

“We can all be united despite our differences in belief,” the organizers’ statement said, “and we can make a difference in our community that is in need…

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by Chris Stedman from State of Formation

“I still can’t believe this is what I do for living,” I thought to myself as I walked out of the airport in State College, Pennsylvania.

I was met by the Rev. David Witkovsky, Campus Chaplain for Juniata College in Huntingdon, PA, and Juniata Campus Ministry intern Lauren Seganos. “Welcome to rural Pennsylvania,” said Lauren as the crisp April wind threatened to knock us over.

I was in the middle of my second speaking tour of 2011—this time to schools in Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. Like my first, I was speaking at colleges and universities about my work as an atheist and humanist community organizer and interfaith activist.

I kicked off the day by speaking in a World Religions class. After my remarks a student approached me, speaking in a small whisper. “I’m an atheist,” she said. “I feel isolated, and most of what I find online is largely about bashing religious people. I want a community, and I want to be open about my atheism. Thanks for starting this conversation here.” I was humbled by her words and promised to help her find resources.

Exchanges like that continued throughout the day—after a public discussion on secular humanism that I facilitated, during meetings with students and staff—and when it was finally time for my evening speech, the lecture hall was full to capacity. Students of all different backgrounds—atheists, Christians, Muslims, Jews, and others—came together and offered questions, challenges, and their hope for positive dialogue, community and collaboration…

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by Sonal Srivastava from Times of India

The Chamunda is protector, a wrathful form of Durga. The temple dedicated to her exalts Shiva and Shakti, the core philosophy of the Shakya tradition. The goddess’ name has been derived from Chanda and Munda, two demons she slew in the hills. According to a fable, Durga was impressed with her for slaying the demons so she gave her the moniker Chamunda.

Chamunda Devi is revered not only by Hindus but also by the Tibetan community. They visit the temple to seek the deity’s blessings. Outside are rows of shops, selling knickknacks, some managed by young Tibetans. “Chamunda is a form of Kali; she is protector, just like Palden Lhamo in Tibetan Buddhism,” says Tsundu Dolma, a student of Tibetan Medicine, I’d met at an interfaith tour earlier in Karnataka.

Palden Lhamo is protector of Buddha’s teachings in the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. She is Mahakala’s consort and venerated as guardian deity of Tibet, the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lamas. She is usually depicted crossing a sea of blood on a white mule with a big eye on the rump.

Vegetarian offerings
Tibetan Buddhists follow tantra practices that evolved over time. Shakti or the Divine Feminine is invoked as a means to empowerment in some Buddhist schools. In India, followers of Jainism also worship Chamunda Devi in Rajasthan…

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By Helyn Trickey from CNN

When Kavi and David Moltz tied the knot in summer 2010, the multicultural couple — she’s Hindu and he’s culturally Jewish — tried to honor both their traditions.

“I had to ride in on a horse … a giant Clydesdale adorned in Indian raiments,” recalls David of the Hindu wedding tradition. “But we gave a nod to my culture, too,” he says.

In Hindu culture, friends and musicians playing traditional Indian music accompany the groom’s ride to the ceremony. Instead, David had his friends play drums, and he wore a traditional yarmulke and tallith (prayer shawl) that had been his father’s and grandfather’s, as captured in photos by Justin & Mary.

The evening before, during the Mehndi party in which the bride and members of her party are adorned with henna designs (an impermanent skin ink) on their hands and feet, David wore a traditional Indian suit.

“(Kavi’s parents) wanted me to wear a turban, too, but I’m a tall skinny white guy, and I thought that would look funny on me,” he says with a laugh.

“The ceremony should ideally be all about you, but truthfully it is so important to the families and the parents, too. You have to be flexible and … be on the same page with your wife or husband. (Wedding details) are some of the first things you have to pick and choose your battles about,” he says. “If (a detail) is really important to the families, then go with the flow,” he advises.

Today, more and more intercultural and interfaith couples are getting married. Finding meaningful ways to bring two (or more) very different cultures and religions together in one ceremony can be difficult…

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by Ruth Ellen Gruber from the New York Times

In the far southeast corner of Poland, the warm summer air is resounding with the rasp of old-fashioned iron saws and the satisfying twack-twack-twack of ax blades on wood.

Here, in the foothills of the Carpathians, an international crew of master timber craftsmen and students has been working on an intensely hands-on project that combines history, art and education. They are building a replica of the tall peaked roof and inner cupola of an ornate wooden synagogue that stood for 300 years in the town of Gwozdziec, now in Ukraine.

The replica, which will be 85 percent of the original size of the building, will be installed as one of the key components of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews, currently under construction in Warsaw and scheduled to open in 2013.

Its elaborate structure and the intricate painted decoration on the cupola ceiling will reproduce a form of architectural and artistic expression that was wiped out in World War II, when the Nazis put the torch to some 200 wooden synagogues in Eastern Europe. Many of them, like that in Gwozdziec, were centuries old and extraordinarily elaborate, with tiered roofs and richly decorative interior painting.

The Gwozdziec Synagogue, built in the 17th and 18th centuries, was a “truly resplendent synagogue that exemplified a high point in Jewish architectural art and religious painting,” the architectural historian Thomas C. Hubka, an expert on the building, has written.

Constructing the replica is a joint project of the museum in Warsaw and the Handshouse Studio, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit organization that emphasizes learning by building, particularly the reconstruction of historical structures and other objects.

“There are certain things you can learn by making it that you can’t learn any other way,” said Rick Brown, who founded and directs Handshouse with his wife, Laura. “Every time you pick up a tool or start a process or use a certain material, embedded in that is a very rich, almost unlimited learning experience.”

The Browns conducted years of research on Eastern Europe’s lost wooden synagogues before embarking on construction of the Gwozdziec replica in Sanok in May. They studied prewar photographs, drawings and other documentation, built models and made on-site investigations of wooden churches and other buildings still found in Poland and Ukraine.

While wooden synagogues were destroyed, many towns and villages in this corner of Poland, and also across the border in Slovakia and Ukraine, still boast fine examples of wooden folk architecture. Dozens of evocative wooden churches dating back centuries are clearly signposted, both in Poland and Slovakia, as part of a “wooden architecture trail.”

There are also several impressive masonry synagogues within an easy drive of Sanok. The 18th-century synagogue in Lancut, now a museum, has beautifully restored interior painting and other decoration. One in Rymanow stood for decades as a ruin but has been partially rebuilt, with a tall peaked roof now protecting the vigorous but sadly fading frescoes of Biblical animals and Jerusalem that grace its walls…

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