The Search for Common Ground

March 17, 2008 The Windsor Star

Pope Benedict XVI, formerly known as Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, is beginning to encourage open-minded dialogue about matters of faith. In September, he’s scheduled to discuss Martin Luther with a group of Catholic and Protestant theologians, and, in an effort to promote dialogue between the two groups, will reportedly argue that Luther didn’t intend to split the church and was not a heretic.

Read here.

Global Christian Forum breaks ages-old barriers

March 14, 2008 Sojourners Magazine

Wesley Granberg, general secretary of the Reformed Church in America and committee member of the Global Christian Forum, says church history was made in November last year when 245 leaders of Christian denominations and organizations from 72 countries came together in Nairobi for the four-day Global Christian Forum conference. All parts of the global Christian family were officially represented, including Pentecostal, evangelical, Orthodox, Catholic, and historic Protestant churches, and, as pointed out by Granberg, this was an unprecedented historical event given the decades-old judgments and prejudices that have separated evangelicals from mainline churches, Pentecostals from Catholics, and Baptists from Orthodox churches. Read about this interesting get-together.

Rev. Jim Wallis searches for old-time justice

March 12, 2008 The Christian Science Monitor

The Christian Science Monitor celebrates Rev. Jim Wallis’ commitment to confronting moral issues like poverty, pointing out that it is the way that Wallis links spirituality with civic values that has won him an important interfaith following.  Read about Rev. Jim Wallis’ moral activism. 

Vatican Wants Dialogue With China

March 13, 2008  The Washington Post

It was in 1951, after the communists took power in China, that Beijing broke ties with the Vatican. Now the Vatican and China’s high-ranking clergy are in the process of taking part in a “respectful and constructive” dialogue with Beijing authorities over the role of the Catholic church there, the Vatican said Thursday. Read more.

For Bronx School’s Dancers, the Moves Are Irish

March 14, 2008 The New York Times

A charming story about cross-cultural encounters through dance. At a Bronx school where the student body is 71 percent Hispanic and 27 percent black, Irish dancing has taken off among its young students thanks to the energy and dedication of one young Irish teacher. The cross-cultural dance experience led the students on an educational trip to Ireland, which itself had a significant effect on the lives of some of the young students who became reacquainted with their long-lost fathers as a result of the immigration laws regarding passports. Read this touching story.

Sudan and Chad sign new peace deal

March 14, 2008 The Boston Globe

The presidents of Sudan and Chad yesterday signed a peace deal aimed at preventing armed groups operating along their shared borders from destabilizing the region. The deal commits both nations to implement past accords that have so far failed to help end violence in the area. If successful, the deal would represent one small but important step toward ending violence in Sudan’s Darfur region.

Conversation Week

March 13, 2008 Conversation Week  

Get ready for Conversation Week, March 24-30. The top ten questions that will form the basis of the conversations to take place in cafés, libraries, schools and living rooms all around the world have already been posted. Check them out and find out how you can get involved in this unique and wonderful initiative.

God and Man at TED

March 07, 2008  The Washington Post

Karen Armstrong, authour of numerous books about the world’s religions, recently won the illustrious TED prize. Upon accepting her award, she spoke of the core of compassion within all faiths, saying that we must learn how “to make the compassionate ethos speak to our torn, divided world.” Read Eboo Patel’s discussion about Karen Armstrong and the famous TED prize.

‘No one should be left out’

March 04, 2008 The Washington Times

Mr. Hendi, an American citizen born in the West Bank city of Nablus, is one of the best-known Muslim proponents of interfaith dialogue in the United States.

He has created the annual Hanukkah-Hajj-Christmas celebration and teaches, along with a priest and a rabbi, a popular class called Interreligious Encounter and Dialogue at the university of Georgetown. Read about Mr. Hendi’s work here.

Two Ways to View Change

March 02, 2008 The Huffington Post 

Scott Kurashige, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan, argues that Obama’s campaign has tapped into the unmet desires of millions of Americans for a more authentic and visionary politics. Kurashige says that Obama’s vision appeals to a new class of voters that cuts across traditional ideological and party lines of Left and Right, Democrat and Republican, which he identitfies as the ‘New Progressives’. According to Kusharige the ‘New Progressives’ constitute the largest values-defined bloc in America, followed in order by social conservatives, big business conservatives, and New Deal liberals. Read about the values that unite this important new voting bloc.