{"id":7843,"date":"2005-09-11T09:58:30","date_gmt":"2005-09-11T13:58:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wtb.org\/?p=7843"},"modified":"2018-12-27T15:57:13","modified_gmt":"2018-12-27T19:57:13","slug":"wtbs-place-in-the-interfaith-movement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/?p=7843","title":{"rendered":"WTB’s Place in the Interfaith Movement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Our speaker, Elizabeth Espersen, is the retired executive director of Thanks-Giving Square, an interfaith and educational organization in Dallas, Texas. Elizabeth has done interfaith work for 35 years at the local, national, and international levels. Originally from Buffalo, she returned to upstate New York after retiring and now serves on the Education Committees of the Interreligious Council of Central New York, on the WTB Council, and as chairperson of Our Lady of Peace Church Parish Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After\ndistributing handouts, Elizabeth pointed to an arrangement on the front table,\nwhich included flowers, which are gifts from God, silk from India, and a green\nand gold scarf from Turkey. Then she invited members of the audience to\nbring forward stones from holy sites all over the world to add to the display. As\nElizabeth explained their significance, women brought up stones from the Baltic\nSea, from outside Rachel\u2019s tomb in Bethlehem, a Neolithic site in Ireland, the\nCape of Good Hope in South Africa, a rain forest in Costa Rica, the Rajasthan\narea of India, the sultanate of Oman, Belfast Northern Ireland, and the Sea of\nGalilee. As the membership stood, a broken globe of the world was passed\nforward through women\u2019s nurturing hands, to be reassembled in the front\ndisplay. Elizabeth prayed \u201cMay the World be Blessed because we are Women who Transcend\nBoundaries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elizabeth\nexplained that the modern interfaith movement began over 100 years ago. In 1893\nChicago hosted the Parliament of\nWorld Religions<\/strong> (as part of the World\u2019s Fair). Eastern religious leaders,\nswamis, gurus, were invited to come and to speak. This was the first exposure\nof the Eastern religions to those in the West. In 1900, individuals who had\nattended the event founded the International Association for Religious Freedom.\nIts members are religious communities, and they have representatives at the\nUnited Nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\n1936 the World Congress of Faiths<\/strong>\nwas founded in London. It interacts with groups in other countries,\narranging conferences and developing links with interfaith groups across\nthe world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\n1960 the Temple of Understanding<\/strong> was\nfounded by Juliet Hollister with the support of Eleanor Roosevelt and political\nand religious leaders around the world. Its mission is to achieve peaceful\ncoexistence through interfaith education. The organization is connected to the\nUnited Nations and organizes spiritual summits, which include both intellectual\nand experiential aspects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\n1964 the Center for World Thanksgiving<\/strong>\nwas incorporated to acknowledge thanksgiving to God as a basic human act, and\nthanksgiving among persons as a common bridge to understanding. To explore\ngratitude and praise in world religions and cultures, the organization invites\nleaders of various faiths and traditions to discuss shared concerns. They\nbrought the Dalai Lama to Texas as an example of an individual of compassion\nwho believes that we must \u201ctreat everyone as an old friend.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nWorld Conference on Religion and Peace<\/strong>\nwas held in 1970, to consolidate interfaith movements in Japan, Europe, the US,\nand India. It is an offshoot of the World Council of Churches. They organized Religion for Peace International.<\/strong> Now Religion for Peace USA<\/strong> is attempting to\nbridge the gaps between Native American people, especially attempting to\nrestore bones to gravesites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1985 a landmark meeting was held near Bath, England with representatives from interfaith organizations to establish communications and networks among the organizations. Following this, the North American Interfaith Network <\/strong>(NAIN) was established under the auspices of the Temple of Understanding in New York, which had invited interfaith organizations from around the country to attend and discuss the possibility of creating a network. The first goal was to create a directory of organizations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

NAIN is made up of organizations like the InterReligious Council and Women Transcending Boundaries, which do not come from specific faith communities. In other areas the Wichita Interfaith Ministries and Buffalo Area Metropolitan Ministries are organizations that belong to the NAIN. In addition, long-standing Jewish-Christian dialogue groups expanded to include other faith groups to take in new groups of people and become more interfaith. Today NAIN is a network of 80 organizations with an annual conference at changing venues in North America. In 1988 the first conference of NAIN was held in Wichita, Kansas. One of the speakers was Dr. Diana Eck of Harvard who developed the Pluralism Project<\/strong> to document the growing religious diversity of the United States, how it is changing cities and society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elizabeth hopes that IRC and WTB could someday host this conference in Syracuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\n1986 Pope John Paul II invited world religious leaders to Assisi to come\ntogether to pray (not to pray together, as various traditions have differing\npractices). With the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Dalai Lama, a leader of\nAfrican Lutherans, and others attending, this was the first worldwide gathering\nof international leaders from major world religious traditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\n1987 Buddhists sponsored a day of prayer. The Catholic church sent Francis\nCardinal Arians from Nairobi, head of the Vatican office for InterReligious\nDialogue, to Japan to attend. Elizabeth described him as a charming, tactful\ndiplomat. The Cardinal has established contacts with Muslim countries and their\nuniversities, and has invited Muslim representatives to the Vatican.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nCouncil for the Parliament of World\nReligions<\/strong> met in Chicago in 1993 (the 100th anniversary of the first\nParliament). Over 8000 people met to hold workshops and celebrations to\ncultivate harmony among the world\u2019s religions and spiritual communities. Conferences\nhave been and will continue to be held at 5-year intervals. Sites have been\nCape Town, South Africa and Barcelona; future sites being considered are\nJerusalem and Delhi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1995 the United Nations asked the Episcopal Bishop of California William Swing for permission to use Grace Cathedral in San Francisco for an interfaith ceremony to mark the 50th anniversary of the UN. They held a three-day conference and ceremony for young people from around the world, who then selected one person to speak to assembled political leaders of the world. Bill Swing had a dream of uniting religions, so he brought together religious leaders. Today the United Religions Initiative<\/strong> has Cooperation Circles of grass roots organizations around the world. They have different local objectives to meet local needs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elizabeth\nstressed that WTB connects to this vital, growing, serving network of\norganizations. Dialogue around the world is coming slowly and WTB is a star in\nthe array of the interfaith effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elizabeth\npresented nine guidelines to facilitate interfaith dialogue within our\norganization. <\/p>\n\n\n\n