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August PoWR Member Spotlight: Rev. Deb Hansen

Rev. Deb Hansen is an active Parliament member who describes herself as religiously fluid, primarily with Earth-orientated, Jewish Renewal, and Zen Buddhist practices. She describes interfaith cooperation as a transformative potential to address “the global challenges we face: extreme poverty and inequity, global heating, ecological devastation, access to clean, affordable water, and healing collective trauma…” She is an active member and volunteer at various organizations, including: volunteer at Annunciation House, a network of shelters in El Paso, Texas; Advisory Role, Interfaith Common Ground, in northern Michigan; Former Board Member, Michigan Interfaith Power & Light; and member, Pardes Hannah, Ann Arbor, MI. 

Rev. Deb Hansen has been an active member of the Parliament and has been to multiple Parliament Convenings, including 2018 Toronto and Salt Lake City 2015. She will be attending the 2023 Convening in Chicago, and she is leading the session “Sacred Circle to Honor Losses and the Toll of Challenging Times” on Friday, August 18th. Bookmark her session here.

What does being a member of the Parliament of the World’s Religions mean to you?

“I appreciate the Parliament’s egalitarian, non-hierarchical character. Anyone can propose a teaching, panel discussion, art project, ritual, film, or musical offering. I am most interested in building solidarity with small initiatives on the ground. The theme in Salt Lake City, Healing the Heart of our Humanity, continues to resonate along with the themes of faith in women, solidarity with indigenous peoples, war – violence – hate speech, emerging leaders. The document, Towards a Global Ethic, made a big impression on me. I’m not usually one to participate in large gatherings – the Parliament is an exception. The vibrancy and diversity is exciting and makes my cells fizz.”

Why is interfaith work important to you? 

“I’ve been a border crosser most of my life. The friendships I’ve made with people from diverse traditions and cultures bring me joy and broaden and deepen my perspective. I see, interfaith relationships and interfaith work as a prayer for peace, helping to fulfill our duty to life to live in balance as part of the larger community of being. The global challenges we face: extreme poverty and inequity, global heating, ecological devastation, access to clean, affordable water, and healing collective trauma require an unprecedented level of cooperation, offering transformative potential at a time when everything I’ve loved and worked for is at stake.”

How do you try to advance the Parliament’s mission: of interfaith cooperation and creating a more just, peaceful, and sustainable world? 

“How I show up in work and daily life is a daily spiritual practice. As a person of considerable privilege, I want to own and use that privilege to lift up the voices, experience, leadership and wisdom of my relatives who’ve been at the margins of our collective life. This is so much more than generosity of spirit. These perspectives and wisdom may be precisely what we need in this moment to help heal and repair ourselves and our world. The work I do at the border is medicine for me. It moves me beyond the bubble of privilege.”

What would you consider to be a best practice, resource, or knowledge you would like to share?

“The work of Thomas Huebl and the Pocket Project in healing collective trauma have been life-changing. I am grateful to many teachers including Bayo Akomolafe, Nora Bateson, Alixa Garcia, Resmaa Menachem, Josh Schrei, Vandana Shiva, Sophie Strand, and Thich Nhat Hanh, John Trudell, and Desmond Tutu, of blessed memory.”

Include any resources you’d like to share

Connect with Deb at:

Email: debhansenmail@gmail.com 

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