Posts Tagged ‘ harmony ’

Vatican engages a Jewish critic

August 10, 2011
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John Allen, National Catholic Reporter, Aug. 5, ncronline.org/blogs/all-things-catholic/vatican-engages-jewish-critic-new-home-ex-anglicans

L’Osservatore Romano normally isn’t the place to seek Vatican criticism, in the same way that no one watches Fox News for satires of the Tea Party, or reads the New York Times for send-ups of snobbish secular liberalism. Whatever their business model, media outlets usually aren’t in the habit of biting the hand that feeds them.

Yet, mirabile dictu, the July 29 edition of L’Osservatore offered one of the most pointed brief critiques of a Vatican statement you’ll ever see. It came from Italian Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni, in reply to a July 7 essay by Swiss Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, about the “Interreligious Meeting for Prayer for Peace” convened by Pope Benedict XVI and set for Oct. 27, 2011, in Assisi.

On July 7, Koch published an essay laying out the theological and spiritual basis for October’s interreligious summit. He argued that that in a violent world, religions must be agents of peace, and that migration and globalization make interreligious harmony more critical than ever. Perhaps reflecting muscle memory of how Catholic traditionalists blasted the ’86 version of Assisi for promoting relativism, Koch also stressed that dialogue must not come at the expense of truth.

“Naturally,” he wrote, Assisi “should not be misunderstood as a syncretistic act.”

Toward the end, Koch sketched a brief Christian theology of prayer for peace. For Christians, he wrote, the Cross of Jesus “cancels every desire for vendetta and calls all to reconciliation.”

In an arresting image, Koch said the Cross rises above us as “the permanent and universal Yom Kippur,” referring to the Jewish Day of Atonement.

“The Cross of Jesus is not an obstacle to interreligious dialogue,” Koch wrote. “Rather, it indicates the decisive path which, above all, Jews and Christians, but also Muslims and followers of other religions, should welcome, thereby becoming ferment for peace and justice.”

It was that last bit which brought an objection from Di Segni.

Despite Koch’s “fraternity and good will,” Di Segni wrote, his words “reveal the limits of a certain way of doing dialogue on the part of Christians.”

Read the complete article here.

Other Resources

April 6, 2011
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Values in Harmony

A resource produced by Geoff Lachlan for the Scottish Inter Faith Council in 2009, “Values in Harmony”. This includes comparative versions of the Golden Rule as found in the writings of 11 faith and belief communities and can be downloaded from

www.scottishinterfaithcouncil.org/resources/VALUES+IN+HARMONY.pdf

 

‘Belief in Dialogue – a Good Practice Guide’

This resource aims to encourage constructive dialogue between those who hold religious beliefs and those that do not hold religious beliefs.

Belief in Dialogue has been produced for the Scottish Government, and contains case studies of good interfaith practice in a number of diverse situations.

You can download the guide as a pdf from  www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2011/03/22143221/0

International Golden Rule Day – 5 April

April 6, 2011
By

Ekklesia, Apr.5, www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/14491

Today has been designated International Golden Rule Day.

The idea is to stop and ask ourselves and our neighbours how our lives might be different if the Golden Rule was lived… individually, in community, in our faith groups and denominations, in the city, the region, the nation, and the world.

The Golden Rule is expressed in the words of Jesus recorded in two of the Gospels as follows: “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you” (Matthew 7.12) and “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” (Luke 6.31).

Many religions and spiritual teachers express this positive reciprocal responsibility in slightly different ways, points out the Rev Bosco Peters from New Zealand, who runs a wide-ranging liturgical resource website at: http://www.liturgy.co.nz/.

There is also a negative way of expressing a similar concept – the so-called “silver rule”: “One should not treat others in ways that one would not like to be treated”.

2009 was the International Year of Reconciliation. Religious Leaders of Ethiopia proclaimed 5 April as the Golden Rule Day.

Ambassador Mussie Hailu was the chair of the Interfaith Peace-building Initiative and the representative of United Religions Initiative to the United Nations Economic Commission of Africa. He had Golden Rule Day endorsed by the United Nations. It is now recognised by numerous organisations around the world.

The back-story is here – http://allafrica.com/stories/200909230374.html

A resource produced by Geoff Lachlan for the Scottish Inter Faith Council in 2009, “Values in Harmony”. This includes comparative versions of the Golden Rule as found in the writings of 11 faith and belief communities and can be downloaded from www.scottishinterfaithcouncil.org/resources/VALUES+IN+HARMONY.pdf

 

French religious leaders warn against divisive Islam debate

April 2, 2011
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Tom Heneghan, Reuters, Mar.30, in.reuters.com/article/2011/03/30/idINIndia-55990920110330

The leaders of France’s six main religions warned the government on Wednesday against a planned debate on Islam they say could stigmatise Muslims and fuel prejudice as the country nears national elections next year.

Weighing in on an issue that is tearing apart President Nicolas Sarkozy’s ruling UMP party, the Conference of French Religious Leaders said the discussion about respect for France’s secular system could only spread confusion at a turbulent time.

Stressing that faith should foster social harmony, the religous leaders said the debate could “cloud this perspective and incite confusion that can only be prejudicial.”

“Is a political party, even if it is in the majority, the right forum to lead this by itself?” they asked in a rare joint statement.

The statement was signed by the leaders of the Roman Catholic, Muslim, Jewish, Protestant, Orthodox Christian and Buddhist faiths. The leaders formed the group last year to coordinate their approach to religious issues in public debate.

Read the complete article here.

Tunis march against Islamists, for harmony after Polish priest murdered

February 23, 2011
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REuteres, Feb.20, blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2011/02/20/tunis-march-against-islamists-for-harmony-after-polish-priest-murdered/

About 15,000 demonstrators have protested in Tunis against the country’s Islamist movement, calling for religious tolerance a day after the Interior Ministry announced a Polish Catholic priest had been murdered by an extremist group.

“We need to live together and be tolerant of each other’s views,” said Ridha Ghozzi, 34, who was among the protesters carrying signs and chanting slogans on Saturday including “Terrorism is not Tunisian” and “Religion is Personal”.

Tunisia’s Islamist movement has shown signs of organising since the overthrow of former President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, who had surpressed them during his more than two decades of rule, and have pressured authorities to shut at least three brothels in recent weeks.

The Polish priest was murdered in the Tunisian capital on Friday, state media cited the Interior Ministry as saying, the latest sign of rising religious tension since last month’s revolution.

Fr. Marek Rybinski was found dead at the School of Our Lady in Manouba where he worked, Tunisia Africa Press reported. His throat had been cut.

Read the complete article here.

Christian-Muslim Fraternity in Algeria

February 23, 2011
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John W. Kiser, American Spectator, Feb.21, spectator.org/archives/2011/02/22/christian-muslim-fraternity

As events in the Middle East continue to unfold, there is growing concern about the treatment of minority Christians by majority Muslims. Sadly, that anxiety is being stoked by the more antediluvian elements of both faiths. A film that will soon be playing in major U.S cities deals with this issue forthrightly, but tells quite a different story — a story symbolized by the recent media coverage of Christians and Muslims protecting each other when they prayed in Cairo’s Tahrir Square.

Of Gods and Men won the Cannes Grand Prize du Jury last year. It too, is a story of Muslim-Christian solidarity. The film tells the true story of a group of French Trappist monks living in an impoverished Algerian community who must decide whether to leave or stay when threatened by a band of terrorists during the “Black Years” of the 1990s.

Despite pleas from the Vatican, French, and Algerian authorities to leave their monastery for a safer place, the monks stayed out of a sense of mutual dependence and deep friendship with their extended family of Muslim villagers. The Trappists had lived in harmony with their Muslim neighbors since their community was established in 1938 — a harmony that continued until their kidnapping and murder in 1996.

Read the complete article here.

Indonesia is no longer a poster child for pluralism

February 20, 2011
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Gillian Terzis, The Guardian, Feb.18, www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2011/feb/18/indonesia-pluralism-persecution-ahmadiyah

Religious persecution of the Ahmadiyah tarnish Indonesia’s reputation as a bulwark of moderate, democratic Islam.  The first week of February marked the annual celebration of World Interfaith Harmony Week, a UN resolution that aimed to promote religious and cultural understanding among people of different faiths. But proceedings were marred by the cruellest of events in Indonesia, with celebrations tarnished by a string of vicious attacks on the nation’s religious minorities.

The most serious attack was waged against the Ahmadiyah sect in Banten, which resulted in three of its members being beaten to death at the hands of the Islamic Defenders Front, a hardline Islamic group. The history between the two has been fractious at best, but in recent times the conflict has assumed an internecine edge. Footage of the bloody attack in Banten on 6 February showed police officers providing an embarrassingly feeble match for a crowd of 1,500 villagers, equipped with machetes, rocks and bamboo sticks.

As religious hate crimes blemish the archipelago’s moderate and tolerant image, the government faces pressure from human rights groups and disgruntled citizens to enshrine religious pluralism in law. International groups, such as Amnesty International, have declared that religious freedom in Indonesia is “in tatters“, while peace rallies have been staged across the nation, urging the government to protect the right to religious freedom. And still, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has been keen to trumpet Indonesia as a poster-child for unity amid diversity, emboldening a once-fractured nation by its embrace of religious, cultural and ethnic pluralism.

But in the aftermath of all the violence, his remarks ring hollow. While Yudhoyono has condemned the actions of those responsible for the killings in Banten, he also implored the Ahmadiyah community to “respect the joint [ministerial] agreement signed in 2008″, which refers to a decree banning the sect from public worship and disseminating its beliefs. This decree, coupled with the decision of the Indonesian constitutional court to uphold a controversial law banning religious blasphemy, shows that religious pluralism in Indonesia is far from fully realised. Instead, it reveals that institutional sclerosis systemically undermines the very values that are an intrinsic part of Indonesia’s national identity.

Read the complete article here.

World Christianity’s changing context

February 18, 2011
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WCC News, Feb.17,  www.oikoumene.org/en/news/news-management/eng/a/article/1634/central-committee-discuss.html

As the World Council of Churches (WCC) takes new steps to promote Christian unity and inter-religious harmony, will the challenges of organizational governance and re-structuring drain “the life out of the ecumenical movement”?

Speakers at this week’s meeting of the WCC central committee  including delegates from Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Germany shared the effects of inter-religious dialogue and cooperation on their ministries. Rev. Ebenezer Joseph, a Methodist from Sri Lanka, spoke of the benefits he had discovered in working with people of other faiths.  Inter-religious gatherings with Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims happen at every level of church and society in Sri Lanka, Joseph said. “There is the dialogue of life, with lots of public expressions of faith,” he explained. There are no ulterior motives in such encounters, “just positive religious engagement.”

Read the complete article here

An Interview With Ruth Turner of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation

February 15, 2011
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Rahim Kanani, Huffington Post, Feb.14, www.huffingtonpost.com/rahim-kanani/an-interview-with-ruth-tu_b_822824.html

In a recent interview with Ruth Turner, Chief Executive of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, we discussed the significance of World Interfaith Harmony Week, the work of the Faith Foundation, ways in which we can engage difference, and more.

What is significant about this [the UN General Assembly recognising World Interfaith Harmony Week] is the recognition by the UN that the world only really works if the issue of how different religions interact with each other and the secular world is not swept aside, but is proactively and positively addressed. Too often we put religion in the “too difficult box”. I can understand why. But it means so much to such great proportions of the world’s population that no matter how difficult it is to talk about religion, it’s dangerous not to. If we avoid tricky conversations, into that vacuum rush people who will distort ideas and convictions. Those who ferment religious extremism and prejudice have no hesitation about speaking out as loudly as they can, and claiming the dominance of their ideas. Why should the rest of us simply back off and leave them the stage? We need to hear a counter position.

Read the complete article here.

For God, For Good, For Neighbour

February 7, 2011
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Charles Gibbs, Huffington Post,  Feb.5, www.huffingtonpost.com/rev-charles-gibbs/for-god-for-good-for-neig_b_818148.html

More than a century before religious extremists brought down New York’s Twin Towers, the opening act of a new era of terror, a visionary Hindu leader spoke these words to the first ever Parliament of the World’s Religions on September 11, 1893: “Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood … ”

“I fervently hope,” Swami Vivekananda went on to say, “that the bell that tolled this morning in honor of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal.”

Tragically, Swami Vivekananda’s hope has proved illusory. Sectarian and religiously motivated violence has continued to plague the earth to this day. The bombing of a church in Alexandria, Egypt and the assassination in Pakistan of Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer are but two recent high-profile examples.

However, a recent initiative by Jordan’s King Abdullah II once more raises the banner for cooperation among people of different faith traditions, for a global effort to defuse the powder keg of religious division. On October 20, 2010, the United Nations General Assembly, “recognizing that the moral imperatives of all religions, convictions and beliefs call for peace, tolerance and mutual understanding,” unanimously passed a resolution introduced by King Abdullah to recognize the first week of February each year as World Interfaith Harmony Week.

Read the complete article here.