Hackers group Anonymous takes down Vatican website: http://t.co/B6lbGAVp
WGN-TV calls doomsday prophecies "an illusion": http://t.co/mv8Gzyw7
RT @graceishuman: Really,? Asking people JUST LEAVING the service how they felt about it? Tacky, tacky, inappropriate
Whitney Houston's funeral service really took the world to church. Love Pastor Winans' honesty, very moving.
#teacher ? Here are appropriate responses to situations with your Jehovah's Witness student: http://t.co/A6UfqcgH
#Teachers: Want to know why your Jehovah's Witness student won't say the pledge and how to respond? http://t.co/EIdlgDwW
3 common questions teachers ask about their Jehovah's Witness students: http://t.co/kPTygb8r
3 common questions teachers ask about their Jehovah's Witness students: http://t.co/0y3R4WZV
Hey @BlackArtistNews check out this sculptor, this will blow your mind. My mind seriously can't take this in. http://t.co/I4VgB8ni
What do reporters have to say about balance in religion? Watch the video from last night's panel: http://t.co/jutu8oJ9
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Archive for September 2009
Today, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu were awarded the Fetzer Institute’s Prize for Love and Forgiveness. The prize was presented at the 2009 Peace Summit in Vancouver.
The award honors their work to bring love, compassion, and forgiveness to others. The Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu have a history of promoting these qualities in the lives of others and reflecting those qualities themselves.
Desmond Tutu of Cape Town, South Africa, opposed apartheid and led nonviolent opposition to the system in South Africa. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 and later worked with the United Nations on various human rights issues. He is an Anglican (Christian) leader.
Learn about the Dalai Lama on Religion Transcends. He is a Tibetan Buddhist, leader of the government in exile, and a successor in the line of Buddha.
“Love, compassion and forgiveness have the power to change, the power to heal and the power to transform any situation—no matter how violent or troubled—into something that is generative and life-giving,” said Tom Beech, president and CEO of the Institute. “The Dalai Lama and Archbishop Tutu are renowned, revered, respected and loved the world over. In giving this award, the Fetzer Institute celebrates their humanity and the consistency with which their lives stand for compassion in the face of isolation, love in the face of fear and forgiveness in the face of violence.”
The two men are actually great friends. The award thus represents their ability to work together and love one another despite their religious differences. It also honors their compassion for the world, transcending religious differences and caring about the heart of the human being. Their lives are proof that compassion can bring about kind acts, regardless of religion. Their work is proof that acts tied to the world’s religions can be positive and transformative.
Congratulations to both of these men. Thank you for your loving acts of service and for showing the world that religious folk can rise above judgment and limitations.
Learn more about Fetzer Institute online.
Created by ReligionTranscends.com, 2009 (with quotes from Fetzer)
September 11 was personal.
A national tragedy in the United States, September 11 also represented a world-wide awakening. It demonstrated that terrorism and religious rhetoric were not relegated only to specific pockets of the world or particular sects. Terrorism, particularly terrorism that employs the name of God, offends us all.
The events of September 11 resulted in nearly 3,000 deaths, a direct offense to family and friends of the victims. But those same events also offended the entire population of religious adherents throughout the world. Attackers hijacked the name of God and used it for horrific purposes. Their acts claimed the name of love and used it for hate. They took the sacred and made it profane. Such blatant abuse of sacred texts and religious symbolism certainly offends each and every one of us who respect and uphold the world’s religions.
Yet God (Brahman, Allah, the invisible unifying substance) has a way of taking evil and squeezing the good out of it. Thanks to September 11, university religion programs have grown exponentially. More and more students seek to learn about other religions to banish their own stereotypes and support coexistence. I was one of those students in 2001 who watched the Twin Towers fall on a TV screen and quickly switched majors to religious studies. Innocence shattered, it seemed time to dust ourselves off and figure out how we could live in a world where terrorism in the name of religion was ever-increasing.
It was and is time to demonstrate that religious understanding is necessary and that anything that thwarts a more peaceful coexistence is unacceptable. The first step toward such peace is education. Borrowing from the words of Charles Kimball in his book When Religion Becomes Evil (HarperOne, 2002):
“The more effective we are at identifying dangerous patterns of corrupted religion, the more likely people of goodwill can avert disaster inspired or justified by religion. Whether or not one believes that religion itself is the problem, the diverse religious traditions will continue to be a powerful fact of life in our increasingly interdependent world community. Whatever philosophical or theological explanation one may hold for the evil things that happen, approaching the future passively is unacceptable. In the aftermath of September 11, it is incumbent on all of us to educate ourselves about religious attitudes and behaviors that lead to widespread suffering.”
Let’s honor the victims of 9/11 by doing our part to learn more about the people around us and to work together to eradicate hate.
More resources for understanding religious violence:
When Religion Becomes Evil by Charles Kimball
Terror in the Mind of God by Mark Juergensmeyer
Use the links at the left to find more information on particular religions, then check out these sites:
BBC – Religion
Religious Tolerance
Religion News Service
Created by ReligionTranscends.com, 2009
See, religions CAN come together for good.
This week is Interfaith Service Week, part of US President Obama’s United We Serve Initiative. The service week is among 3,000 projects coming out of the initiative, which ask people of different religions to work together.
This week, groups from various religions are doing service work in their communities – together. Here is a great opportunity to show the world that caring for one another is something all religions stand for.
Do your part.
Visit www.serve.gov to register a project or find an opportunity to serve. Available opportunities include everything from collecting canned goods or gardening to tutoring and graphic design.
Are you participating in Interfaith Service Week? Why do you think interfaith projects are good/bad? Post your comments and experiences in the comments section below.
Created by ReligionTranscends.com, 2009
A recent survey from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life asked Americans whether they believe in Heaven and Hell. While 74% believe in Heaven, just 59% said they believe in Hell.
In 1999, the late Pope John Paul II said Hell is simply separation from God. Other Christians believe Hell is a physical place where you are punished in a sea of fire. Read some of the arguments in USA Today.
Here are some New Testament Bible verses about Hell:
But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell. – Matthew 5:22 (NIV)
Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. – Matthew 10:28 (NIV)
But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him – Luke 12:5 (NIV)
Here are some surahs from the Qur’an:
In order that Allah may separate the impure from the pure, put the impure, one on another, heap them together, and cast them into Hell. They will be the ones to have lost. –8:37
Take not, with Allah, another object of worship, lest thou shouldst be thrown into Hell — 17:39
It is he whom Allah guides, that is on true Guidance; but he whom He leaves astray – for such wilt thou find no protector besides Him. On the Day of Judgment We shall gather, them together, prone on their faces, blind, dumb, and deaf: their abode will be Hell: every time it shows abatement, We shall increase from them the fierceness of the Fire. – 17:97
Your turn:
Do you believe in Hell? What do you think Hell is? And why do you suppose many Americans no longer believe in the concept? Too scary? They like to think of everyone going to Heaven?
Created by ReligionTranscends.com, 2009