by Kathleen Hurty, PhD

One of the many creative fruits of the 2009 Parliament of World Religions held in Melbourne, Australia, is a newly minted nonprofit network called Women of Spirit and Faith.  The birth of this group is a fast-paced, wondrous story of connection and collaboration growing out of chance meetings in Melbourne and at follow-up events!

Four of us from the U.S. west coast—Kathe Schaaf, Kay Lindahl, Reverend Guo Cheen and myself—were drawn by the spirit of the Divine Feminine, so alive at the Parliament and especially stimulated by Sr. Joan Chittister, to come together and explore what it means to be women leaders in today’s chaotic world from a spiritual and/or faith-centered perspective.  Women’s leadership is a popular topic, but often missing is any conversation about the importance of spiritual grounding to anchor, deepen and empower women’s authentic leadership.

We started with many questions—in fact, questions are at the heart of our work.  What does it mean to be empowered women of spirit and faith?  What is the divine feminine calling us to do/be?

In the course of 2010 we four met in person, connected on numerous conference calls, started a group on PeaceNext.org, held a retreat, became a 501(c)3 organization, developed a website, and began work on a major interactive networking conference titled The Alchemy of our Spiritual Leadership: Women Re-defining Power, which was held in April of 2011 with 150 women in attendance.

That event led to yet another connection—an invitation to edit a book on the event’s theme!  In early 2011, we “gave birth” to the collaborative venture—a book entitled Women, Spirituality and Transformative Leadership: Where Grace Meets Power. We are deeply grateful for the 26 authors who chose to participate, to the talented team at SkyLight Paths Publishing Company, and to all who have purchased books to make us a No. 1 best seller in our category on Amazon!

Our approach is circular. We have fostered a group of young leaders to expand the effectiveness of our core circle, we encourage the development of local self-organizing circles, and we hold book events in which we model the circle approach to the discussion of key questions.  We are looking forward to sharing what we have learned at the 2014 Parliament of World Religions in Brussels.  The impact of that chance meeting at the last Parliament will continue—for me, for my colleague co-founders of Women of Spirit and Faith, and for all who participate in the amazing, challenging and richly rewarding work of transformative leadership—where grace meets power and makes a profound difference.

from Association for Women’s Rights in Development

The Young Feminist Wire is announcing its FINAL call for registration for the last TWO sessions of 2011 in its e-learning series ‘Interrogating Movements’. Deadline for registrations for both sessions: November 28, 2011.

by Alisa Roadcup
from Amnesty International

Amnesty’s Women’s Human Rights Coordination Group member Alisa Roadcup was fortunate to sit down with Pamela Hogan, Director of Women, War & Peace, a bold new five-part PBS television series challenging the conventional wisdom that war and peace are men’s domain.  The first part of the documentary airs Tuesday, October 11, on PBS.

1. Tell me about your initial idea for this project.  Why “Women, War and Peace” and why now?

It’s hard to remember back that far!  My partners Abigail Disney, Gini Reticker and I had a fateful lunch at which we realized we’d all been noticing the same trend in war reporting: a focus on the men and the guns, and a dearth of stories about the women and families who are disproportionately targeted in today’s conflict zones—but seldom covered in news reports. We’d all individually witnessed this blind spot in the coverage of conflict, and we agreed that the gap between what’s reported and what’s occurring on the ground was enormous. Women, War & Peacewas born!

 2. Why do you think documentary film, specifically, can serve as a powerful medium to ignite social change? 

Documentary film has the power to bring the work of individuals to life in a way that policy reports and court documents, and even the printed word, doesn’t have.  One of the lead funders of Women, War & Peace said it so well: “We’ve been writing reports on these issues for years but in your films the women jump off the screen and people feel an emotional connection and really get the urgency.” Documentary storytelling is a visceral medium, and when the lights go up audiences often feel a call to action.

3. Tell me about a portrayal of women in war captured in “Women, War and Peace” that somehow plays against type or was unconventional.

So often women living in war zones are portrayed as victims.   Big mistake.

In The War We Are Living, two Colombian women – Clemencia Carabali and Francia Marquez – brave constant death threats to prevent their communities from being forced off of the gold-rich lands their ancestors have lived on for generations.  In Peace Unveiled, Afghan women are excluded from the international conference where President Karzai first suggests negotiating with the Taliban – so they crash the event anyway.  InPray the Devil Back to Hell, ordinary Liberian women who are sick and tired of 14 years of war stand up to President Charles Taylor and the warlords.  In I Came to Testify, sixteen women from a village in Bosnia take the witness stand in the first trial ever to focus exclusively on sexual violence in wartime – and the landmark judgment establishes wartime rape and sexual slavery as a crime against humanity.

All of these women are taking personal risks, risks that jeopardize not only themselves but also their children and extended families.  All of them make me ask myself, could I summon the courage to make that choice if I were in their place? Given the stereotype that women targeted by war are victims; they most certainly break the mold.  These women are revolutionaries!

4. As human rights activists, what can we do to spread the message that violence against women in conflict has to end? 

What a great question.  That is exactly what we are asking people to do: spread the message. I think human rights activists and advocates are crucial members of the Women, War & Peace audience. As broadcast journalists, one of our responsibilities is to investigate and uncover stories that may otherwise go unnoticed and to seek to give them a national and global platform through film and television and the web. The human rights activist community can broaden that platform, ensuring that the world hears these stories not only on their televisions and in their living rooms—not only on PBS—but also from the mouths of those working in the field and on the ground. One first step in ending violence against women is turning the world’s eye on this violence–growing the number of people who can bear witness to instances in which rape, attack, intimidation, and assassination of women is used as a deliberate tactic of war. The activist community can help us accomplish that.

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Jaweed Kaleem
from Huffington Post

It was a few years ago that Reima Yosif, a devout Muslim, discovered a surprising family secret: she was Jewish — kind of.

The revelation came while Yosif, who lives in North Brunswick, N.J., was mourning her grandfather’s death. A cousin who had inherited his belongings came upon old identification papers for their grandmother, who had died many years before.

The woman, who was raised in colonial Italian North Africa, was of Jewish decent. She had hidden her background to protect her safety as Jews in Italian colonies were sent to concentration camps during World War II and fled Arab states after Israel was established. Two generations of Muslim children just like Reima grew up unaware of their Jewish side.

As Jews begin to observe Yom Kippur, the holiest time on the Jewish calendar, at sundown Friday with Kol Nidre prayers and a day of fasting, Yosif will be joining the spiritual journey for the first time.

“I don’t see any contradiction in taking part in Yom Kippur. It heightens my own devotion to my own faith,” said Yosif, who likens it to the Islamic month of Ramadan, when Muslims fast during the daylight hours.

“The idea of dedicating a day for repentance. The idea of the rights of God and of human beings. God will forgive what you have done against him but you won’t be forgiven for your transgression of others until they forgive you. That God renews your contract. This is also what Ramadan is about,” she said.

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by Kim Lawton
from Religion & Ethics Newsweekly

Ten years after 9/11, relations between Muslims and non-Muslims in the US remain complicated. In many areas, tensions have been on the rise. There has been sharp controversy surrounding a proposed Islamic center near Ground Zero, and according to pew, proposed mosques in 36 other locations have also encountered community resistance. There’s also been a growing debate over Islamic religious law or shariah. Measures to restrict or ban the use of shariah have been introduced in nearly two dozen states. Yet in other areas the last 10 years have brought a new spirit of dialogue and cooperation.

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Monica A. Coleman

by Monica A. Coleman
from Patheos.com

Interreligious understanding and peace begins in intimate ways: through education, by music, in our homes, with our welcome mats.

How can we have peace in the Middle East
When there’s none at home?

These are the opening lines to one of my favorite songs by jazz vocalist Rachelle Ferrell. The capstone to her self-titled 1992 album, “Peace on Earth,” speaks before and beyond the time of its recording.

I first began using this song in faith communities in the late 1990s when I coordinated a church response to sexual violence. Surprising the congregation with the inclusion of a “secular” song, the ministry asked about how we dare pose questions of global magnitude when we have so much work to do at home. This was not meant as a commentary on current politics. It was designed to raise the issue of intimate violence.

To my left a woman abuses her children
To my right somebody’s beating his wife

As someone who has spent the last fifteen years speaking out against sexual and domestic violence, I can attest to one thing: most of our violence happens at home—quietly, under long-sleeved t-shirts, with lowered eyelids, in shameful fists, between pursed lips and tearing eyes. Most violence in the United States is not the picture of global terrorism; rather, it is the faded photo of our personal relationships.

I hear Ferrell’s lyrics again in new tones at the ten-year anniversary of September 11. I hear it as a reminder that working for peace must begin in our houses and in our communities.

At the 40^th anniversary of the Newport Jazz Festival, Ferrell lingers over one line of the song that seems particularly relevant now:

Where is the love?
Where is the God in your life?

She asks again and again: where is the God, where is the God, where is the God in your life?

As I suspected in my work with sexual violence, our answer to this question must begin as close as our own relationships. In their popular book, The Faith Club: A Muslim, a Christian and a Jew—Three Women Search for Meaning, Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver and Priscilla Warner come together as mothers in the New York area trying to figure out how to talk to their children about the aftermath of September 11. As a religious scholar, I am simultaneously disheartened and encouraged by the story they tell. I am disappointed by how little each one knows of her own religion as she wrestles with her assumptions about the religion of others. I am forced to remember that this is probably where most Americans are. But I am inspired by how—in conversation and friendship with each other—these women become more rooted and more deeply faithful in their own traditions. They are able to do this inasmuch as they learn from and love someone who believes quite differently from them.

Their post-9/11 peace literally began in their homes, over cups of hot chocolate.

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The Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue presents its

Call for Submissions for Issue 9: Women, Feminism, and Inter-Religious Dialogue

Women have played pivotal roles in transforming communities and conflicts, upending theories and traditions, and building bridges of understanding where others have thought it impossible. Given the dynamic landscape of female involvement in numerous aspects of inter-religious activities and dialogue, we at The Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue will be devoting an entire issue to the exploration of inter-religious work as informed by women’s perspectives and feminist theory more broadly. We invite articles that engage in rigorous reflection on the intricate and often behind-the-scenes partnerships between women and inter-religious endeavors at large.

It is our hope that this special issue will contribute to and stimulate the inclusion of this increasingly utilized approach to the study of inter-religious dialogue and theory. We especially welcome and encourage investigation of the following topics:

• How do women already operating within particular traditions or communities incorporate their own perspectives into inter-religious activities?

• How might current trends in feminist theory shape discourse on religious pluralism or plurality? Do these theories have the potential to transform inter-religious thinking or activities?

• To date, has inter-religious work failed to include women’s voices? If so, how might this have influenced outcomes, and how can things be different henceforth? Critiques of particular trends or authors are especially welcome.

• How have some women within particular religious groups or communities engaged in interfaith work in a way that differs from or even breaks with broader traditions (either their own or the mainstream)?

• How have local female authority figures and social justice leaders engaged or partnered with religious organizations to promote dialogue and transformation?

• How have women operated outside of established norms for dialogue promotion and conflict resolution?

• What roles have female religious leaders played in various traditions? What movements are underway to expand these roles in a manner that allows for (or is even inspired by) increased interfaith engagement?

• How has feminist work collaborated with or rallied against concrete religious activities as well as theological discourses?

by Michael Vicente Perez
from Huffington Post

With the anniversary of 9/11 fast approaching and the awareness that terrorism is still a real threat for the United States, we should consider what we might do differently to make our country a safer place.

Looking back on the last 10 years, one thing is clear: the violence of terrorism cannot be defeated with more violence. Afghanistan and Iraq are convincing proof of that; both countries remain ravaged by terrorism and al Qaeda forces seem much more resilient than the architect of the war on terror, George W. Bush, ever imagined.

We also know that counter-terrorism measures at home have produced mixed results. On one hand, the government has prevented several domestic attacks through various intelligence operations. On the other hand, the government has also failed to stop would-be terrorists including the Christmas bomber and the Times Square bomber. In both cases, it was the terrorists who failed, not the government that succeeded.

Faced with such realities, what other ways can we think of to address the problem of extremism, if not in the world, then at least at home?

Given the limitations of conventional approaches, I think we might do well to think unconventionally and take a radical untaken step: recruit Muslim women.

Click here to read the full article

Join New Tactics and the International Fellowship of Reconciliation’s Women Peacemakers Program (IFOR/WPP) for an online dialogue on the topic of “Faith-based peacebuilding: The need for a gender perspective”, from October 19 to October 25, 2011.

The role of religion in conflict and peacebuilding, the rise of religious fundamentalism, and the threat this poses for women’s human rights are issues receiving increasing attention. IFOR/WPP and its partners have been exploring the link between gender, religion and (inter)faith-based peacebuilding, including the positive role religion can play in promoting peacebuilding, and human and women’s rights.

What are some of the major obstacles in relation to gender equality posed by religion? How are women’s rights specifically affected in this regard? Which strategies are used by women activists to overcome those obstacles (best practices)?  Which positive dimensions do religion and spirituality bring to women’s lives? What specific obstacles and advances in terms of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Resolutions can be found in faith-based peacebuilding contexts and initiatives?

This dialogue is an opportunity for those involved in faith-based and interfaith-based peacebuilding and gender work, as well as those interested in it, to discuss these questions and share experiences.

Click here for more information

Niqab wearer explains why she will continue to wear a veil despite the new ban in France

from the Guardian

Anne [not her real name], 32, is French and lives in a village south of the Burgundy town of Mâcon. A mother of four, she converted to Islam at 18 and has worn the niqab for five years

I’ve got a pregnancy scan on Friday. My doctor supports me wearing the niqab, but I’m not sure I’ll be allowed into the hospital. I could wear a medical facemask, bird-flu style. Other women have told me they’ll wear them to get round the ban and to keep their faces covered in state offices.

My husband, whose parents are Algerian, is afraid for me, but I won’t take the niqab off. I won’t change. That would be to renounce my values. I’m French, I was educated to believe in liberté, égalité, fraternité. My grandfather was an army officer on the beaches of Dunkirk and was imprisoned in Germany during the war. He always taught me: “If there’s an injustice in life, you can’t stay silent.”

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