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Why Author Tom Lemberg Joins Parliament Board, and How [Inter]Faith Values Can Heal Democracy

January 16, 2014

Why Author Tom Lemberg Joins Parliament Board, and How Interfaith Values Can Heal Democracy

Tom Lemberg recently began his term as a board trustee of the Parliament of the World’s Religions. His book “Difficult Times” is available on Amazon.com.

Attorney Thomas Lemberg of Boston, MA joins the Board of Trustees of the Parliament of the World’s Religions at a gripping moment for the movement of interfaith. As  advocates within the interfaith sphere work to both strengthen and finesse relationships to the wheels-that-turn our world (like faith houses, governments, and the titans of corporate America), the need for interfaith to clearly communicate the messages of compassion and coexistence to those holding the most influence is a compelling one.
In his new book, Lemberg eagerly endeavors to make sense of challenges facing American democracy with a sage sense of urgency about making the many faiths positive factors in overcoming societal ugliness. After identifying three qualities about modern America Lemberg considers most harmful, the role of faith becomes a towering consideration, and one that can and will enlighten the work of interfaith activism and relationships within the Parliament and beyond.
After relishing Difficult Times, the page-turner Lemberg authored, Parliament Executive Director and co-Trustee Dr. Mary Nelson  says “we’re delighted to have Tom on the board with his breadth of corporate legal experience, his own wide-ranging interests, experiences and thoughts, and his down-to-earth practicality in helping us work toward solutions.”
We recently conducted a Q &A with Thomas Lemberg over e-mail to share his spirit as a new Trustee, goals for the Parliament, views of interfaith work, and what his book says about the role of spirituality in healing the cracks he identifies in our modern American democracy.
1) Congratulations on your election to the Parliament Board of Trustees! How have you found your experience with the Parliament, and what attracted you to join an interfaith board?
I was attracted to the Parliament because I believe that its interfaith work is essential to making a better world. We need people of all faiths to understand each other and to tolerate their differences, to see their common ground, especially commonality in values and ethics, and to work together to advance the those values and ethics around the world. So far, I have found my experience on the Board exhilarating. It is a splendid group of good, dedicated, able, wise men and women.
2. You share in your biography that you were raised Jewish, and now consider yourself a pluralist. While this is a buzzword, what does it mean to you, to hold this belief or practice personally?
I had never been particularly spiritual until 15-20 years ago. I am spiritual but not through Judaism (which I much admire and which I am pleased that my children and their families practice). I find the world imbued with spirit without going through any organized religion. While I relate, in different ways, to Judaism and other faiths (hence pluralism), for me, I find my spirituality outside any faith.
3) What goals do you bring to becoming a member of the Parliament Board?
I hope to bring to the Board the value of my legal and business experience as a lawyer and executive in the business world, my perspective as an unaffiliated person of spirituality (I guess we are called “nones”) and whatever good judgment I might be able to offer on the affairs of the Parliament.
4) What would you like to see the Parliament achieve in the next year?
I would like to see the Parliament schedule and plan a Parliament for 2015 or 2016 if possible. I would like to see the Parliament get on sound financial footing (big steps were taken in 2013) and line up donors able to support an enhanced mission. My vision is that the Parliament become the leading interfaith movement in the world to become: (1) the/a leading place where faith leaders would gather for dialogue, advocacy and community action to promote harmony among faiths and faith-based social action and (2) with their imprimatur would engage people around the world to embrace the values of interfaith (tolerance, respect, love, community, etc.) and to advocate for policies to implement the values common to our respective faiths. I hope that we can begin this journey this year.
5) Your book entitled Difficult Times looks at contemporary American democracy with sharp analysis of the religious sphere in the U.S. What have you noticed about the interfaith movement that relates to the three main themes in the book: Secular materialism, extreme individualism, and free market ideology?
I see the interfaith movement as a most important part of helping us to overcome secular materialism, extreme individualism and our worship of the free market in at least two ways: (1) the values of faith serve as antidotes to each of these unhappy sets of ideas; and (2) the experience of tolerance, compassion and cooperation among faiths is one important foundation stone for our moving from angry hatred to productive dialogue and action.
6) Your book uses a lot of song references in our modern pop culture to explain our modern society. Which is your favorite, and why?
I am a Dylan and Beatles man. Of the many great songs I love, my favorites are “My Back Pages” by Bob Dylan and “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen.
7) Who do you consider your heroes?
Top two: Abraham Lincoln and Bobby Kennedy. Also Martin Luther King, Vaclav Havel and Nelson Mandela.
8) Beyond being an author and scholar, you are also a lawyer. How would you argue the case for interfaith?
I try not to argue like a lawyer any more. (I practiced law for years but now I’m in recovery.) But, to be unlawyer-like brief, interfaith has the principles (tolerance, compassion and other central aspects of most, perhaps all, faiths) and it has the facts: it’s a lot better to get along and cooperate rather than to be physically and verbally violent against people who don’t share one’s particular form of faith (or don;t have any faith at all).
ORDER ‘DIFFICULT TIMES’ on Amazon.com
Featured image courtesy of The Washington Post

Tom Lemberg is an attorney and author. He has been general counsel of several technology-oriented companies, including Lotus Development, Polaroid and UGS Software. At Lotus, he led the creation and growth of the Business Software Alliance, the principal trade association of the software industry. Before that work, he was partner in two Washington law firms. He is now an author and is about to publish Difficult Times: A Fresh Look at Democracy in Modern America, a book on why America is so distressed, angry and divided and why our politics are so badly broken. A Jew by tradition and upbringing, Tom now identifies himself as a religious pluralist who greatly appreciates and seeks to learn from multiple faith traditions.