Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Full report of NAIN Connect (including text of Don's talk) on NAIN website

The good folks at NAIN have put a comprehensive report (with photos) of the NAIN Connect conference on their website at http://www.nain.org/news/NAINConnect2011ReportWeb.htm

If you wish, you can go directly to my talk (which was originally titled "Am I not welcome?": The Dark Side of the Golden Rule, but was mysteriously renamed Weaknesses of the Golden Rule) at http://www.nain.org/news/NAINConnect2011ReportWeb.htm , or get the full text as a PDF at
http://www.nain.org/news/DonFrew.pdf

If you DO read my talk, please let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Blessed Be,
Don Frew
National Interfaith Representative

Friday, August 12, 2011

CoG Interfaith Reps on Board of new Interfaith Journal

Rachael Watcher and I are serving on the Board of a new interfaith journal / website.  It will be to interfaith work what Beliefnet and Patheos have been to comparative religion.  I urge you to take a look at the pre-launch site and subscribe if you are interested.  http://theinterfaithobserver.org/

Don Frew
National Interfaith Representative

WELCOME TO THE INTERFAITH OBSERVER (TIO)


Thirty attended an early-morning discussion of TIO’s September launch at the North America Interfaith Network’s annual Connect, July 24-26, in Phoenix, Arizona. [Photo: Terry Weller]
In a world beleaguered with poverty and violence, an emerging interfaith movement offers opportunities to become friends with ‘the other’ safely, a first step in peacemaking. The whole human family is showing up in neighborhoods in countries everywhere, thanks to airliners, the internet, videocams, and so much more. This new diversity can terrify or delight us but will not go away. The strategic question – whether to choose ‘fight or flight,’ or, as those in the interfaith movement would suggest, to reach out.

In spite of the daily news, the great good news is that people everywhere, in fact, are reaching out. A thousand interreligious flowers and more are blooming across the globe. No one organized, planned or even predicted this surging proliferation of activity. It seems to be a natural human response when the races, religions, and cultures of the world interact freely with one another, face-to-face, on a daily basis.

The very spontaneity of this development in world religion means most of us involved don’t know the bigger picture, haven’t yet connected with brothers and sisters working on the same issues elsewhere. Amazing stories wait to be told, and multiplying resources deserve promotion. TIO aims to connect the dots.

On September 15, 2011, a group of seasoned interfaith activists who care about these matters will launch The Interfaith Observer, casually known as TIO. It will be a monthly e-journal telling new stories, exploring new issues, identifying exemplary resources, and connecting us to each other. TIO will look for the big picture while providing hundreds of links to particular opportunities. For more details about TIO, click this link.

If interfaith dialogue and relationships matter to you, please subscribe to TIO. It is free, written and edited by volunteers with decades of hands-on experience in this new arena. It aims to be a provocative, useful source of hope. Thanks for passing this invitation on to anyone else you know who cares.

In peace and love,