I left Chautauqua on Thursday - just after the morning lecture by Eboo Patel, which was a definite high in the week's series of lectures on Faith in Public Life. I can't leave Chautauqua without mentioning his inspiration. Patel, founder & director of the Interfaith Youth Core, an organization that promotes mutual respect and pluralism among people of differing religious traditions by empowering them to work together to serve others. (http://www.ifyc.org/)
He started his speech with these observations - We live in the most devout developed country in the world, in a country with the most diverse religious traditions in the world, in a time of global religious wars and conflicts. We are an America of Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists - people of all faiths and no faiths. We are a country of equal dignity & mutual loyalty. Not just in the present - but in our history. In 1739, Benjamin Franklin erected a meeting hall in Philadelphia and the pulpit was first given to a muslim clergyman. We are a country of diversity & pluralism -upon this we were founded. This is our crowning jewel - we must never lose this - it is the beauty & power of America - the gift of freedom that is an essential component in any faith.
Patel says, because of the increased intensity & interaction with others who differ from us, it is essential that we learn and teach the skills of interfaith cooperation. If we don't teach interfaith cooperation, some other curriculum of hate from religious extremists will be taught.
We are the torchbearers of building this spirit of equal dignity & mutual loyalty - we must do this or leave a vacuum for religious extremists teaching hate. Religious pluralism is more than mere tolerance. In today's world, it means we must respect the other's religious identities, build positive relationships and work with one another to make this world a better place.
How can we do that in southern West Virginia? We have diversity in southern wv. We have a mosque in Princeton, WV, a synogogue in Beckley, WV, a UU meetinghouse in Beckley & many varieties of Christians. We have the potential to build positive relationships with each other, find places to work together & make a difference from and in our corner of the world. I'm excited & a little scared.
And so I ended my time at Chautauqua. I took guitar lessons, I listened to good preaching, I heard all kinds of music and met all kinds of people. On Wednesday of my first week, in the Hall of Philosophy, I met Pastor Tom Kidd of St. Luke's Lutheran Church, Bellevue, Washington. He was also an inspiration (check out the ministries & new building at St. Luke's, www.slukes.org) but mostly he was someone fun with whom to laugh & learn. What a great connection!
Rested, relaxed, inspired, connected, excited and scared. That's what a sabbatical is all about! Thank you St. Luke of Beckley, for being a forward thinking, compassionate & caring congregation to share this gift with their pastor.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
2 comments:
I work with Eboo Patel at the Interfaith Youth Core (www.ifyc.org). I am glad that you were inspired by him at Chautauqua! I noticed that you gave some wonderful suggestions on how to act on interfaith work in your community in West Virginia, and wanted to share some resources which I hope will offer further inspiration and brainstorming for your work!
The site for the IFYC Fellows Alliance, a group of undergraduate student leaders from diverse faith and moral traditions who are committed to interfaith action on their campuses, is located here: http://ifyc.org/fellows.
A blog of Fellows’ work in 2007-2008 is located here: http://fellows.wordpress.com/.
The IFYC has success stories of young people working together for social change both nationally and internationally. A number of these stories come from our annual Days of Interfaith Youth Service campaign. Here is the link to the 2007 Days of Interfaith Youth Service report: http://ifyc.org/files/file/Final%20DIYS%202007%20report!.pdf.
Videos from the 2007 Days of Interfaith Youth Service can be found here:
New Orleans, 2007: http://youtube.com/watch?v=hor3XZTG3HU.
Philadelphia, 2007: http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZyMXxk33UOk&feature=related.
Finally, to keep up with what Eboo is doing in the world, you can check out his blog, The Faith Divide, found on The Washington Post: http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/eboo_patel/.
I would love to send you Eboo's book, Acts of Faith. If you'd like a copy, or have any further questions about IFYC, please e-mail me at Samantha@ifyc.org.
Thanks for your work and have a wonderful Labor Day weekend!
Thank you, thank you so much Samantha - you gave some really great resources. I'm eager to check them out- especially Eboo's blog in the Washington Post. You have inspired me to get moving & the resources will give me the confidence that I need to initiate some interfaith work - I'm looking at Concord University in Athens, WV and Mountain State University in Beckley, WV. I would love a copy of his book, Acts of Faith. Have a great Labor Day Weekend yourself. Thank you for the work you do!
Post a Comment