Friday Five: Faith and Culture

Today's Friday Five is brought to RevGalBlogPals by Terri:

This week the church I serve is a host site for the University of Michigan, Dearborn, Worldviews Seminar. It's a week long summer education course open to anyone, with continuing ed hours to be earned. It's a survey of the world religions with a morning lecture at the university, led by Lucinda Mosher. Then the group drives over to the church for lunch, a short lecture, and then they board a bus for a tour of local religious buildings. They tour Buddhist temples, an Antiochean Orthodox church, a synagogue, a mosque, and many other area houses of worship.This year is the tenth anniversary of the seminar. In addition to the Worldviews Seminar the congregation I serve is planning to participate in Episcopal Faith Shared and Faith Shared. I am working to have members of local Jewish and Muslim congregations present and participating in our Sunday morning service.

It is oddly synchronistic that Terri posted this FF when the discussion at this morning's Friday Renovare group was about someone's trepidation about a new Methodist minister belonging to the Confessing Church movement. She fears that this is promoting Christian exclusivism. The essential statement of the Confessing Movement with the United Methodist Church is stated as:

We confess:
In accordance with Holy Scripture and with the Holy Spirit’s help, that Jesus Christ is the one and only Son of God. Confession of Jesus as the Son is Essential, not a matter of personal opinion.

A statement like that worries me, because the words chosen are limiting and exclusive to a certain segment of people. However, I am not fully informed of this movement and right now am wondering if I even want to know about. I vaguely know it is connected to Dietrich Bonhoffer's Confessing Church movement against the Nazis in Germany.

Since technological advances from telephone lines to internet capabilities have connected us to the wider world, as illustrated by blogging and Facebook, people are more aware of different cultures and religions. That is illuminating but also the instigator of fear, which unfortunately often causes us to retreat into safety or group/tribal exclusive mentality (fundamentalism?).

The opportunity instead is to realize how all people are interrelated and ALL are created and nurtured by One God, who is revealed in many ways. I applaud Terri's church for hosting the Worldviews Seminar and wish I lived closer so I could attend. Being with people different than ourselves opens us to acceptance if we do not stop/retreat the encounters.

I fear the thought of God choosing only a segment of people to love. Such a god could change his/her mind and decide I am not in THE beloved group after all. I believe that God loves all creation--all the world (and universe).

I echo these wise words:
"The whole purpose of religion is to facilitate love and compassion, patience, tolerance, humility, forgiveness."
--H.H. the Dalai Lama
(Charter for Compassion)

Thanks to Purple for posting about this issue today and pointing out that hospitality points the way with a quote by Parker Palmer, which you can read here.

THE CHARTER FOR COMPASSION

The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, and to honour the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.

It is also necessary in both public and private life to refrain consistently and empathically from inflicting pain. To act or speak violently out of spite, chauvinism, or self-interest, to impoverish, exploit or deny basic rights to anybody, and to incite hatred by denigrating others—even our enemies—is a denial of our common humanity. We acknowledge that we have failed to live compassionately and that some have even increased the sum of human misery in the name of religion.

We therefore call upon all men and women ~ to restore compassion to the centre of morality and religion ~ to return to the ancient principle that any interpretation of scripture that breeds violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate ~ to ensure that youth are given accurate and respectful information about other traditions, religions and cultures ~ to encourage a positive appreciation of cultural and religious diversity ~ to cultivate an informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings—even those regarded as enemies.

We urgently need to make compassion a clear, luminous and dynamic force in our polarized world. Rooted in a principled determination to transcend selfishness, compassion can break down political, dogmatic, ideological and religious boundaries. Born of our deep interdependence, compassion is essential to human relationships and to a fulfilled humanity. It is the path to enlightenment, and indispensible to the creation of a just economy and a peaceful global community.

THE CHARTER FOR COMPASSION

Watch the video!

Charter for Compassion

Charter for Compassion will be unveiled tomorrow!

CHARTER FOR COMPASSION TRAILER from TED Prize on Vimeo.