Co-contact URI SF Peninsula Circle of Cooperation

After 14 years of review and research about religions in our URI SF Peninsula Circle of Cooperation we have experienced the following developments in U.S. Islam as well as in other religions.

In the years since 9/11, Islam in the United States seems to be changing by evolving beyond the cultural limitations from its countries of origin.  This seems to be part of a more general re-examination of religion prompted by the events of 9/11 and it is affecting all religion in the United States.  The important effect of this trend is:

Religious competition and violence is beginning to be seen as arising from misunderstandings about divinity in all religions.

Two concrete examples of this serious questioning of religious violence related to Islam may help you identify this current trend as it relates to Islam.

On Reading the Koran TED talk by Lesley Hazleton an award winning author. This video on the internet clears several main popular misconceptions about Islam.

The Search for Truth about Islam (2013) by Presbyterian Rev. Ben Daniel.  An important, factual, solid voice against the tide of ignorance of Islamophobia.

Two additional works that question religious hostility as incompatible with real religion expand the current critique of religious violence to all religions.

Why did Jesus, Moses, The Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road? (2012) by Rev. Brian D. McLaren.  A deep investigation of the sociological source of hostility in Christianity and in all religion.

Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life (2010), by Karen Armstrong.  Important work that identified faulty interpretations of scriptures as the source of violence in religion.

The unexpected effect of 9/11 has been to force the questioning of hostility in all religion.  The trend shows no signs of abating.
URI should continue to publicize these works as much as possible since they provide the theoretical foundation of why violence is incompatible with Legitimate Religion.

5 Things YOU Can Do!

The United Religions Initiative, a global interfaith organization of which Euphrates is a member, recently asked its cooperation circles for best practices to confront Islamophobia, which has been on the rise since the Boston bombings. We shared our “5 Things You Can Do” from our website, which we hope will provide an impetus for action not only on this issue, but on any kind of change, local or global, to which you’re looking to contribute in your life.

Five Things You Can Do!

1.  Be one of the 5%!

Social change occurs when a critical mass of people in that society are behind it, according to Everett Rogers’ research at Stanford Research Institute. For a social change to be “embedded,” 5 percent of people must be behind it. The movement or idea becomes unstoppable when 20 percent of the populace is behind it. Anecdotally we’ve seen this to be true in the collective American shift behind every milestone of progress, from voting rights for women to civil rights legislation. When Americans change their minds, government follows.

Euphrates’ vision is to create a collective shift among at least 5 percent of Americans from a paradigm of international relations based on dominance and the exertion of power, to one that abides by the Golden Rule, that values the mutual dependence on the “Other” as the more effective means to survive and thrive.

2. Inform yourself–and then others.

Euphrates’ motto is Inform, Inspire, Transform. There’s a reason “Inform” is first in the line-up! Being informed helps us to distinguish between the ideology of Islamic extremists (who constitute .01 percent of the Muslim population) from the religious practices and faith of the over two billion Muslims in the world.

Get informed through our resources page, basic information, and country profiles. You can also watch any of our 40+ informative talks and videos on topics ranging from understanding terrorism to the power of faith-based diplomacy to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and more. Or check out our joint press release with URI on our efforts to reach out to American Muslims in the Midwest.

For three more great ideas of what you can do visit the Euphrates Institute.

One cannot really understand a faith tradition without entering into some kind of experience of that tradition. A house of worship site visit allows for just such an experience. Inside the house of worship, one encounters the tradition’s unique culture – its music, its prayer, its beliefs, its practices, its foods, its rituals, its people. One of the benefits of such visits is that not only does one learn more about another faith tradition but one also learns about oneself and about one’s own religious tradition

Below is the link to this document which contains an abundance of tips on arranging visits to houses of worship. Please feel free to forward this link and announcement through your communities and networks for use in newsletters, bulletin boards, websites, mailing lists, list-serves, blogs, Facebook pages, twitter, etc. To view or download these guidelines free of charge, click here:

https://www.scarboromissions.ca/Interfaith_dialogue/group_visit_guidelines.php

Peace
Paul McKenna

Scarboro Missions Interfaith Dept.
2685 Kingston Rd.
Toronto, Ontario
Canada    M1M 1M4
tel.  416-261-7135  ext. 296
www.scarboromissions.ca

“God is too big to fit into one religion”         Bumper Sticker

And here is a link to the text of the lecture in case you might want to quote or follow along.

This is the mission statement for our Environmental CC, and it captures the tone and the intention expressed in the rich and varied contributions from our members from multiple Cooperation Circles who have offered their reflections in this special Earth Day edition. Some call to question the quality of our spiritual and practical lives, mindful that our natural environment has reached limits and challenges never before encountered by the human family. Great changes lie ahead which hold moral and ethical questions too often unexplored as each of us seeks to ask, “What role do I play in caring for Creation?”  We have come to a place in time where our personal lifestyle choices have great impact, not only on our well-being, but that of our families and our community at large. Drawing from our spiritual traditions we seek balance and meaning in an ever-changing, interdependent world. Daily, our choices of how we travel, what we eat, what we wear, the water we drink, the products we buy, call to question our fundamental values.

In our industrialized interdependent world we sometimes find ourselves asking, ‘am I compromising the life of another in this choice?’ When we find this to be true we want to know how we can make more informed choices and beneficial changes. One of the selections in this Earth Day edition is a 20 minute animated video entitled, The Story of Stuff which explains our system in crisis and how over consumption is taxing our fragile, finite planet. Lead by spiritual principles URI community members are identifying the most compromised connections between environmental and social issues are taking action to create a more just and sustainable world.

We share an unspoken collective grief over the many losses which we see occurring daily; of numerous species, forest lands, clean waters, ways of life. This feels unsettling; burdensome. We have learned to cope in a state of cognitive dissonance, however this condition of disconnection can be repaired. I am sure of this because each of us carries a powerful spiritual authenticity and trust in community which has the capacity to heal through our coming together with vision and purpose to work in service of the common good. This is the great promise of our time. Through cooperative social engagement and innovation we will lift the veil of grief and look full on into the future.

Communion with nature nourishes and refreshes us and sets our intention on a path of right relationship with the Earth and all living beings. By making conscious choices which embrace lifestyles in concordance with natural rhythms of place, time and season we come closer to serving G-d’s highest ideals for ourselves and our relationships with one another.

URI is uniquely poised to convene meaningful conversations which frame the existential questions we face and the solution sets we seek. There are many inspired, well-informed and committed members in our networks from many spiritual and religious traditions which are doing great work protecting and restoring the sacred, and are eager to share their knowledge and experience with the wider community. Looking ahead Environmental CC members have proposed hosting regional gatherings, experiential learning initiatives, teach-ins and conferences which you will hear more about in the months ahead. Read more in the article entitled Ecological Civilization and a Commonwealth of Life.

My recent experience as delegate for URI at the Rio+20 United Nations Conference for Sustainable Development has deepened my commitment to become better informed about the challenges we face and to make choices which bring my life closer to that which is true, meaningful, just and sustainable in my world. If we all do this, we can come to share the bounty we have been gifted with joy and generosity.

I deeply appreciate the wisdom and hard work which each of you brings to this special Earth Day edition making it rich in content, ideas and possibilities. Living into the principles of URI, working together, we can build a future which values compassion in community and recognizes the interconnectedness of all life on Earth.

Living Green Values Activities for Children 3 to 7 include “Rosa, David and a Tern” stories, “A Tap that Cried” story, visualizations and activities. “Rosa, David and the Tern” contains three chapters about two young children who help free a little Tern. Their happiness at helping turns to amazement, discovery, action and joy as the Tern and a Blue Heron speak to them on behalf of the Earth. A delightful tale which helps children explore how they can help care for and respect the Earth, her ocean and its creatures.

In Living Green Values Activities for Children 8 to 14 and Activities for Young Adults, specific scientific information is included about the harmful affects of human actions on the ocean, rivers, animals, air and ground — and on human beings themselves. This information is first presented through a series of stories called the “Green Values Club”. The story begins as Katie and George worry about their father not returning the night before. As they head out in a dinghy with their mother, they find him and his partner trying to free a whale caught in a net. Their adventure unfolds at the beach, school and city council as they learn with their friends more about the Earth, her ocean and how humans have affected the planet. The values of love and respect, camaraderie and helping others are evident in the story as is the message and reality that each one of us can make a difference.

In the Living Green Values activities, cognitive understanding of the effects of one action is amplified through an explanation of systems thinking and students charting effects with flow charts and mind maps. Educators can help empower students to take positive action and do service-learning projects through the activity ideas presented. Secondary school activities include information, dialogue questions, sources, links and activities to further the understanding of environmental issues with social justice issues. Relaxation/focusing exercises are included at the end of many lessons to help young people feel safe and peaceful and develop the mindset of being a friend of the Earth.

We hope you enjoy doing the activities. Thank you for helping take care of our Earth.

For free download, Living Values Education website: http://www.livingvalues.net/green.html

The Pachamama Alliance and the Brahma Kumaris are two organizations working toward a new future in which spiritual fulfillment, environmental sustainability and social justice are cornerstones. They have partnered together to create the Awakening the Dreamer Workshop,  an opportunity to engage members of the public in the most urgent and necessary questions of this age:

• Where Are We? – looking at the environmental, social and spiritual condition of the human family
• How Did We Get Here? – finding the root causes of our modern malaise
• What is Possible Now? – examining the alternative scenarios for our future
• Where Do We Go From Here? – finding a role to play in creating the future

The experience is based on the proven Awakening the Dreamer Changing the Dream Symposium developed by The Pachamama Alliance which they created as their response to a request by the Achuar people’s to “change the dream of the modern world.” From the Brahma Kumaris they incorporated meditations, videos and elements of the Earth Care Workshop. The workshop can take people from confusion, despair or denial into hope and committed action in just 4 hours. It combines powerful video elements, thought-provoking interactive exercises and meditation to inspire participants to take a stand for an entirely different future and to begin to see themselves with a role to play in creating that positive future. They are doing this workshop in many countries. If you would like to be involved, information and resources are available.

For more information and get access to all the materials visit, pachamama.org/bkwsu

Sally Bingham is the president and founder of The Regeneration Project, an organization focused on the environment and faith. (Courtesy of Sally Bingham)

EDITOR’S NOTE: SCGH interviews environmental minister Sally Bingham about the environment in a religious context.

By E.Q. Lam

SAN FRANCISCO — Religious environmentalism. The Reverend Canon Sally Bingham champions it. As one of the foremost leaders in advocating for the environment through a religious lens, the walls of her office are filled with photos of times spent with other recognized environmental and religious leaders, including former US Vice President Al Gore and Anglican Bishop Desmond Tutu.

Bingham made ecological health a factor of faith in 1998 when she founded The Regeneration Project (TRP). The mission of Bingham and her fellow clergy is to get faith followers to understand that science and faith go together. “If God calls you to be a good steward of the planet, we shouldn’t waste anything,” she says. “… We’re trying to take the word ‘belief’ out of climate change. It’s real. It’s not a theory; it’s not [simply] a belief. Religion would not have a prayer without science. I need the science of climate change to back [me] up if I have to tell people about it.”

Bingham currently serves as TRP’s president and the Canon for the Environment for the Episcopal Diocese of California (as well as the environmental minister at Grace Cathedral). TRP runs a campaign called Interfaith Power & Light (IPL), a direct religious response to global warming.

This interfaith ministry combines nearly all mainstream religions. “We’re the only group that does just climate work and that works with the interfaith community,” she says. Among those faiths uniting under the banner of religious environmentalism are the major denominations—“an absolutely wonderful, unintended” benefit, Bingham says. “We’ve brought all these Jews, Christians, Mormons together … standing in solidarity with an issue they care greatly about. And that’s been wonderfully fulfilling.”

About 14,000 congregations in 37 states and Washington, DC, are part of the IPL network. California has more than 500 congregations active in IPL.

“Every one of these mainstream religions have some kind of mandate or mantra or command to protect God’s creation,” Bingham says. “If you’re harming one part of the ecosystem, you’re harming the whole thing. So [the religions] have this kind of underwriting.”

The Hartford Institute estimates there are about 335,000 religious congregations nationwide. “We have 14,000 houses of worship in our network. We’d like to have 100,000 houses of worship interested in our work,” Bingham says.

The majority of Americans (92 percent) believe in a god or higher being, the Washington Post reports, and about half of that population regularly attends a house of worship, according to ABC News. TRP seeks to educate the people of faith (such as through teaching kids about waste in Sunday school) but also to guide religious leaders, who have a tremendous influence by preaching from the pulpit, Bingham adds. Clergy must make the connection for themselves between the environment and faith and then incorporate the message into every sermon, not just for days such as Earth Day and St. Francis Day, she says.

“Everybody who considers themselves religious is a protector of the environment,” Bingham says. “Your faith is manifested in your behavior. … [I]t’s insulting to God to blow the top off the mountain. God created that mountain. … I know there’s another way to get coal.”

The biggest barrier to support, Bingham says, is resistance to change. She poses the question: If your neighbor is the next generation, don’t you have to love your neighbor? This pertains to feeding the hungry as well as not polluting your neighbor’s air. The reaction from people, she says, is that they had not thought about it that way before.

“And so that’s exciting. This message has some appeal that a strictly environmental message doesn’t,” Bingham says. “It has more of an impact. Not that religion always works, too. In an ideal world, you’re supposed to love your neighbor … .”

Mitch Lindeman sprinkles holy water on the solar panels of Christ Church in Portola Valley, California. (Courtesy of Sally Bingham)

Bingham’s sermon on how her work started is reprinted as an essay in Holy Ground: A Gathering of Voices on Caring for Creation, a book edited by Sierra Club Books in 2008.

“When we started, California was deregulating the electrical industry,” Bingham says. “We were asking to switch to a green market. It was new. It was scary. It was a very difficult journey those three years, between 1997 and 2000.”

Sixty congregations (Episcopal churches) switched from dirty burning power to renewable energy, Bingham recalls. Some churches have tried the strategy of aggregating their consumer power for a reduced utility rate. In order to ask churches to make that switch and to conserve energy, Bingham learned all about energy. Support for the movement was sealed as soon as a church saw its utility costs lowered. “That’s when it really took off, because everybody wants to save money,” Bingham says. “… We could plug the holes in the grid, become more energy efficient, go to electric cars.”

Once people know that their congregation is saving money, it raises consciousness and they will do it at home, Bingham says—especially people with a longer-term vision. Their environmental actions cost the pocketbook now but save energy and money down the road. “And that’s exciting when they can see beyond the short term,” she says. “I don’t know any congregation who doesn’t want to save money. … We’ll use whatever language works, because the ultimate language is the same.”

Another challenge is to place environmental stewardship as a priority on the social agenda over jobs and the economy, Bingham says, even as economic difficulties challenge fund raising for TRP and IPL: “The economy’s taken value out of the foundations that support us and taken money from this really important work.”

For Valentine’s Day last year, Bingham preached about loving creation and tens of thousands of cards were distributed to parishioners with a message to local political representatives urging care for health and climate protection. This coming holiday, Bingham wants to use instant messaging. “They realize environmental stewardship is important, so they’re going to exercise that in the voting booth,” she says of parishioners.

Bingham looks forward to bringing greater awareness of the environment to congregations and individuals. “That the people in the pews will recognize this as a priority, if they talk about faith, hope, and justice,” she says. “Justice, peace, integrity for creation … Peace, love, and care for creation should be priorities all equally important.

“We would like to be known as a resource for religious persons or institutions that need help or information that has to do with energy, climate, and conservation.”

Additional resources:
Cool Congregations
Restoring Eden
Evangelical Environmental Network
The Catholic Coalition on Climate Change
Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life

For related article, see:
Energy Oscars Recognize Wide Variety of Faith Efforts

Check out more articles by E.Q. Lam.

© 2011 SCGH, LLC.

What time is it?

On April 15, 2013, a bomb goes off in Boston, and millions, if not billions, of dollars will be spent on apprehending the perpetrator and on new security measures. Marathons will never be the same again.

Everyone considers this important.

The Economist, in a well-known article published on March 30, 2012, reports that Earth may be less sensitive to carbon emissions than was thought—still a problem but on a longer time horizon. Climate Progress, in contrast, reports that the current trajectory of CO2 emissions is at the high end of what humanity can adapt to. Should we surpass this upper limit, James Hansen, a leading climate scientist, says it would be “game over” for human life on this planet.

And yet, few Americans consider this important.

It seems that we are able to respond to immediate danger, but less capable of addressing long-term threats. There is a need for an evolutionary change in humans to adapt to this new environment.

Still, the dominant impulse, not surprisingly, is to remediate the problems of industrial society with “green solutions” that tinker at the margins by making things less bad. Achieving 20% sustainable energy by 2030 is considered an ambitious goal, even though the remaining 80% of fossil fuel-based energy at that time would exceed our usage of fossil fuels today.

If humanity continues on this course, the result will be collapse. We need a vision and pathway that will match an epic challenge of unprecedented magnitude in all of human history.

Thus the call for a new vision, which might be described as an Ecological Civilization and a Commonwealth of Life. It is a vision in which Earth is understood to be a single sacred community bound together in interdependent relationships—what the late ecological theologian Fr. Thomas Berry described as “a communion of subjects, not a collection of objects.”

In this vision, humans would live sustainably in their “Earth home,” in harmony with the rest of creation and grounded in local communities and bioregions.

This idea is beginning to be advanced among some in the URI North America community with a focus on initiating dialogues on the meaning and practice of—and transition to—an Ecological Civilization and Commonwealth of Life in our region. In support of this model, beginning in 2010, the first of several “BioRegional Gatherings” were held in North America with the participation of multiple CCs in Southern California.

Future dialogues coordinated with the support and leadership of Environmental CC members, many experts in their fields, could include a combination of teach-ins, webinars, and experiential learning programs, building and expanding on existing models and expertise culminating in region-wide conferences exploring the spiritual and practical aspects of building an ecological civilization.

The purpose of these activities would be to gather insight into the forms, frameworks, practices, and programs that could inspire and guide individual and social transformations. Collaborations would involve spiritual mentors and ethicists, clergy and lay members from within our URI community and beyond who have been active in building community resilience, greening homes and places of worship, protecting the commons and sacred sites, the practice of eco-spiritual principles, supporting local culture, slow food, etc. If you would like to be part of such an initiative, please contact Cynthia Sampson at cysampson@aol.com or Rebecca Tobias at rebecca@raoulwallenberginstitute.org.

For further information and concept papers on ecological civilization, including a proposal for a major conference to be held in each of the great historic civilizations around the world—identified by scholar Samuel Huntington as Sinic or Chinese, Japanese, Hindu, Islamic Orthodox, Western, Latin American, and Sub-Saharan African—contact Herman Greene at hfgreenenc@gmail.com.