United Religions Initiative North American - Briefings

In February 2007, Global Council Trustees, P.K. McCary and Kathy Sandoval participated in a dialogue introduced by the URI at the Berkeley Buddhist Monastery in Northern California. The purpose of the dialogue was to reflect upon religious experiences leading to interfaith work and to discuss the future of URI. Part 1: Kathy Sandoval.

These interviews with Kathy Sandoval, P.K. McCary, Rev. Heng Sure, and Stephen Fuqua, can be watched in two installments on YouTube: Reflections on Faithful Experiences Leading to Interfaith Work and Reflections on Strengths and Hopes of the United Religions Initiative.

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Wondering what your group can do to support action in response to the incipient dangers of global change? One model to look at is that offered by the new CC Orange County Interfaith Coalition for the Environment. The Orange County Register in April has a brief write up on a march they participated in to support local climate change legislation, with additional photos available courtesy of Step It Up!

“The 11th International Forgiveness Day will be celebrated this year on August 5, 2007. Forgiveness Day Events will be held in California, Hawaii, Washington, England and elsewhere. We encourage others to start Forgiveness Day Events throughout the world. In addition, this year, anyone with internet access can participate in our “Send a Message” program. Visit our website, www.forgivenessday.org for details. International Forgiveness Day is sponsored by the Worldwide Forgiveness Alliance CC.”

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The newsletter team at the Interfaith Center at the Presio recently put together a great list of interfaith podcasts, which are audio “broadcasts” on the web. Two that are missing: Think Peace Radio, hosted by URI Global Council member P.K. McCary, and the Interfaith Talk Radio program hosted members of two URI CCs in Seattle — Interfaith Council of Washington and Interfaith Circle of Love.

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URI Cooperation Circle Unity-and-Diversity Council has been working for peace for over fourty years. Now they’re working on developing a “Global Assembly” web application as a tool for wide-scale consensus-building.

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The Orange County Interfaith Coalition for the Environment (OCICE) is the newest Cooperation Circle member of the URI in North America. The group has been operating for fifteen years, with over one thousand people on their contact list in Southern California. Their membership includes Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, Baha’is, Sikhs, and Jews, all embracing the notion of “cultures of peace, justice, and healing for the Earth…”

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The following message and request for support is intended primarily for the URI Cooperation Circles in California. It is an advocacy call for support from California Interfaith Power and Light, a Cooperation Circle based out of Oakland.

For those of you in California, please consider supporting this endeavor and please share with others in your Cooperation Circles.

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Next month, July 12-16, interfaith folks from across the US and Canada will be traveling to Richmond, Virginia, for the 2007 NAINConnect gathering. NAIN? Another one of those alphabet-soup names that seem so common in interfaith circles, NAIN stands for North American Interfaith Network. It is a coalition of over 65 interfaith organizations from Canada, the United States, and Mexico that cooperate together to “Build Bridges of Inter-religious Understanding, Cooperation and Service.”

From Kay Lindahl:

Next month, July 12-16, interfaith folks from across the US and Canada will be traveling to Richmond, Virginia, for the 2007 NAINConnect gathering. NAIN? Another one of those alphabet-soup names that seem so common in interfaith circles, NAIN stands for North American Interfaith Network. It is a coalition of over 65 interfaith organizations from Canada, the United States, and Mexico that cooperate together to “Build Bridges of Inter-religious Understanding, Cooperation and Service.” Continue reading this article »

URI Global Council Trustee Deborah Moldow recently wrote to tell me about a new “Campus Peace Centers” project sponsored by the UN NGO Committee for Spirituality, Values & Global Concerns. These centers are a “gathering place for students to share information, inspiration, ideas, and projects for creating a culture of peace.” As such, they can provide an additional framework for campus-oriented Cooperation Circles to develop activities that move beyond learning about other religions and into active peace-making. The following article includes a brief interview with Deborah about the program; interested readers can download a flyer describing the program in more detail.

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URI-DC has been actively engaging Washington, D.C. area residents in interfaith programs large and small since the official URI founding in 2007. Lately they’ve begun a series of Interfaith TeaHouses providing a dialogue in art and word.

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