Just a couple of weeks after international leaders met to exalt interfaith efforts, the pope cast doubt on interfaith dialogue.

According to the New York Times, Pope Benedict XVI wrote a letter to an Italian politician about his upcoming book, Why We Must Call Ourselves Christian.

He wrote that “an interreligious dialogue in the strict sense of the word is not possible…a true dialogue is not possible without putting one’s faith in parentheses” (quoted in Sunday’s issue of Corriere della Sera).

Still, he thinks intercultural dialogue is important in order to confront the consequences of religion.

What do you think? Does this mean the pope isn’t interested in interfaith relations? Or is he simply hesitant?

Copyright 2009 Religion Transcends.

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Six Buddhist monks, a nun, and two acolytes were found dead Saturday in a Buddhist temple west of Phoenix.

The county sheriff told Arizona’s NBC-12 that it was clear they were shot execution style. The bodies were side by side when they were found. He said it’s one of the largest mass murders ever experienced in Arizona.

The nun was the 71-year-old grandmother of the youngest monk who was slain – a 16-year-old from a nearby high school.

No motive has been found and police have no leads as of yet.

A temple board member mourning the losses said the murdered monks had been open to teaching meditation to anyone and everyone, Buddhist or non-Buddhist.

Learn more about the tragedy on NBC’s site.

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How do you define atheism?

For some religious folk, atheists are anything from immoral hedonists to simple unbelievers. And while some atheists use the same extremist rhetoric they hate to hear from the religious, others seek to give it a new definition.

According to USA Today, that definition is this: “Care for one’s community and fellow human beings, love of country and cherished American principles, the pursuit and expansion of knowledge…’positive atheism.’”

Atheist Margaret Downey (founder of the Anti-Discrimination Support Network) has fought prayer in school in the past. Today, she’s fighting the negative image of atheism. She wants to call a unity-building meeting in 2011 for non-believers, to emphasize the positive parts of atheism.

Read USA Today’s full article. What do you think? Is atheism healthy? Hideous? Will it end up with the same good and bad attributes of religion, thereby taking on the face of its opposite? Leave us your comments.

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Leaders from around the world met in New York on Wednesday and Thursday as part of a United Nations interfaith meeting.

They sought to bridge the gap between faiths, particularly in an age of “extremists.”

In particular, attendants called for:

-Celebration of religious differences
-Peaceful means of addressing problems without resorting to violence
-A decade for interreligious dialogue (a resolution from Philippines’ President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo)
-More peace talks in Israel
-A culture of tolerance

Attendees included:
-President Bush
-Israeli President Shimon Peres
-Lebanese President Michel Suleiman
-Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority Salam Fayyad
-Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai
-A spokesman for the pope
-Grand Imam of Al-Azhar in Egypt, Mohammad Tantawy
-And more

President Karzai stated,

“Conflict did not stem from religion, but the pursuit of narrow political objectives by certain adherents of religions or political ideologies.”

Find more statements and information from this African newspaper.

See what the White House had to say about the meeting here.

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The New York Times ran a great article today about Walking the Walk, a high school program that brings together students of different faiths to help them learn about each other.

Check out the article about Walking the Walk here.

Stay tuned to ReligionTranscends for coverage of Guru Nanak’s birthday (a Sikh celebration).

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Did you see the video of the monks fighting?

This past weekend, fighting broke out at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the site tradition calls the place of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion. The monks who were fighting were Greek Orthodox and Armenian.

According to BBC News, Armenians were preparing to celebrate the Feast of the Cross, an annual remembrance of an event in the 4^th century when Armenians believe the cross used to crucify Christ was uncovered. Greeks feared that if the Armenians used the space, the Greeks would no longer be able to lay claim to the site of Jesus’s tomb, according to the Associated Press.

They stood their ground. Armenians protested. Greeks said they had a right to go where they pleased in the church. Punches were thrown. Fighting ensued. Monks pulled down decorations around the church. And eventually two people were arrested.

In the end, it came down to a fight over space. Welcome to Jerusalem.

Watch the whole video here.

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America has elected an African-American president.

Will cardinals elect an African-American pope next?

Archbishop Wilton Daniel Gregory of Atlanta told the UK Times that the current pope has suggested electing a black pope would send the world a “splendid signal.”

Gregory is originally from Chicago (like Obama) and became the first black man to oversee the U.S. Bishops Conference in 2001.

Rumor had it that, after the death of Pope John Paul II in 2005, the cardinals would elect a new pope from Africa. Instead, they elected Ratzinger, the German-born cardinal who became Pope Benedict XVI.

When Benedict passes on, will the conclave choose a black man to replace him? Gregory thinks it could happen, since the conclave picks the person who is best for the job and does not base its decision on race.

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As you surely know, the United States elected Barack Obama as its new president yesterday. The talk is mainly centered around his status as the first African-American elected to the role and how Obama will handle U.S. affairs.

ReligionTranscends wonders: How will Obama’s presidency be perceived by various religious folk? What do conservative evangelical Christians think? What about Jews? Muslims?

The pope sent his well wishes to the president-elect earlier today.

According to exit polls, 78% of Jewish voters voted for Obama, despite some Jewish voters’ worries about Obama’s ideas about Israel.

Syrian journalist Thabet Salem told Reuters Africa that the Arab world is happy about Obama’s victory:

“Not because he won but because it meant that President George W. Bush, who is regarded as a bloodsucker, and his clique, were gone,” he said.

On the other hand, some evangelical Christians worry that Obama may be “an ultra-liberal dressed up in moderate, soothing garb.”

What do you think? Coming from your religious background (or lack of a religion, if it may be so), how do you feel about Obama’s election?

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