United Religions Initiative North American - Briefings

Eboo Patel of the Interfaith Youth Core talks about helping young people get to know the world, embrace their spiritual side, and live into the possibility of interfaith collaboration on explorefaith.org. Read the interview!

Eboo Patel of the Interfaith Youth Core talks about helping young people get to know the world, embrace their spiritual side, and live into the possibility of interfaith collaboration on explorefaith.org. Read the interview!

Last year we shared with you the Academy for Peace program from the URI of Henderson County. Once again for 2008 this small group of dedicated interfaith peacebuilders has put together an amazing program of activities designed to appeal to different audiences and build a culture of peace in western North Carolina.

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From Paul Chaffee: From hamlet to megalopolis, interfaith activities are emerging spontaneously across the American landscape, a gift and blessing for us all. As we begin to institutionalize and build local-global connections in the next few years, we will be tempted to let our commitment to multireligious relationships morph into commitment to ‘our’ organization. Then we compete rather than collaborate, and the cause becomes splintered and conflicted.

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On September 21st, representatives from URI, as well as many other groups and individuals, participated in International Day of Peace (IDP) events held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. Monica Willard (URI Rep at the UN) and Deborah Moldow (Global Council Vice Chair) helped organize these events at the UN and write in with a report on the day.

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North American representatives to the Interim Global Council 1999-2002

by Susanna McIlwaine

URI is officially only seven years old, but our early development goes back to the mid-nineties. Some of our North American CC members were present at or near the beginning, but most of us are newbies. We thought it would be helpful to reflect upon some of our history, especially that of the Global Council during the Trustee Selection process. This article looks back at the Charter-writing and Interim Global Council period, from 1996-2002. In future newsletters, we will look at the first two terms of the Global Council, and ahead to changes and hopes for the future.

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Dear Readers,

In reflecting upon the 60th anniversary of Gandhi’s death, which is coming up at the end of January, I thought to include a quote of his as a way to introduce the new format of the North American Regional Update Newsletter (which shall hitherto be referred to on frequent occasion as simply “the Newsletter”), and to announce that his grandson, Gopalkrishna Gandhi, Govenor of West Bengal, will be the keynote speaker at the 2008 Global Assembly in Mayapur, India. In searching for an appropriate quotation, I went with my “A plan” whenever doing research. I Googled it.

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NAIN Connect will be celebrating its 20th anniversary next summer, hosted by the Interfaith Center at the Presidio (at the University of San Francisco). Paul Chaffee shares more details about the program for this banner interfaith conference.

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Unity Productions Foundations (UPF): “Our vision is to be a catalyst for ending the “Clash of Civilizations.” To do so, UPF has developed a beautiful website around the concept of 20,000 Dialogues, “a nationwide campaign to bring people of different faiths together using films about Muslims to stimulate discussion and promote understanding.” Looks like a great resource for any Cooperation Circle.

The Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Ethics is newest Cooperation Circle member of the United Religions Initiative in North America. The Institute has been a leader in the Southern California interfaith and intercultural communities for a number of years. We are proud to welcome their strength and diversity into the global URI familiy.

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I recently ran across a posting about the “interfaith pray for peace gatherings” held by the Central Virginia Interfaith Cooperation Circle and thought I would pose a couple of questions to the organizers:

1. What do you find most moving about these gatherings? How long have they been going on?
2. Can you see a difference in your own lives — and the lives of the participants?

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