Monday is the one-year anniversary of the shooting at the Oak Creek Sikh gurdwara in Wisconsin. I was contacted for comment this morning by a reporter from our local news station. Valarie Kaur, a Sikh activist and founder of Groundswell, notes that a full year later, everyone knows about Aurora and other tragedies, but most never understood what happened at Oak Creek and have already forgotten. The anniversary is a good reminder to those of us in another misunderstood minority religion of the importance of interfaith relations. [Read more…]
Archives for July 2013
Who’s TRULY Being Compassionate?
July 30, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Who’s TRULY being compassionate? As a pagan, I am sometimes surprised when I hear a generic Christian admonish an evangelical faith group for their ‘so-called’ acts of compassion. It makes me ask myself: to what extent can we as a human race call ourselves compassionate? The truest forms of compassion can be defined through too [Read More…]
The Solace of Holy Stone
July 25, 2013 by Leave a Comment
I am on pilgrimage for a couple of weeks. I have also called it “field research.” And sometimes “visiting friends.” I am in Britain to teach a workshop at the Glastonbury Goddess Conference and am using some time ahead of that adventure to see some old standing stones, some old churches, and some old riverbeds. It has me thinking about this element of earth and how we begin to approach it in ways that we deem holy. [Read more…]
Them and Us Part II – The Metaphysics of Unity and Separation
July 25, 2013 by Leave a Comment
That ever-shifting ocean can be frightening if you like all parts of your life defined for you. The implicate order (that’s all of us and everything else, too) is nothing if not dynamic; neat freaks will soon get pulled under by a rip tide and find themselves far downshore and out of air. [Read more…]
Them and Us – Coming of Age Late in Life
July 22, 2013 by Leave a Comment
How ironic, then, that in late mid-life I find myself mellowing, actually pondering an issue before leaping to a position without full information. How disconcerting, that life has taught me the nuances partly-hidden behind many of what I formerly viewed as forgone conclusions. [Read more…]
Hospital Chaplaincy, an Interfaith Challenge
July 19, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Hospital chaplaincy is a challenging interfaith experience. [Read more…]
Interfaith experience within the ‘same’ faith…
July 18, 2013 by Leave a Comment
We Pagans are not the only ones to experience judgment and condemnation for not being in line with the conservative branch of *any* religion. What it takes to make interfaith *work* is perseverance, compassion, and tolerance of ALL people. [Read more…]
Does your Religion Make You Happy?
July 16, 2013 by Leave a Comment
I’ve often said that if your religion isn’t making you happy, you’re doing it wrong. Religion, in my reckoning, should contribute to your happiness. Real, lasting happiness has, in my experience, stemmed from being in the world in a more skillful way, and my religion helps me do that. [Read more…]
