From Toxic Texts to Violence and War- and a few things in between

Saturday- The day began with a session entitled “Kill Them (Qur’an), Do Not Spare Them (Torah), and Cast Them Into Everlasting Fire (New Testament): Context of Difficult Religious Texts” with Karen Armstrong, Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb, and Jonathan Brown. All three spoke of how their religious traditions dealt with violence in their sacred texts. “Every generation is equidistant from God” said Brown; every generation has to look at scripture and tradition and it’s current situation and choose for itself how to live.

In the evening we gathered for the evening plenary on “War, Violence and Hate Speech,” with Alan Boesak, Karen Armstrong, Tariq Ramadan, John Esposito, Medea Benjamin, Jane Goodall, and more. What a day!

Lest you think that a day bookended by a discussion of toxic sacred texts and examination of war and violence was all grim and ugly, I also:

• attended a session on electronic connections for the interfaith movement moderated by ICP founding Director Paul Chaffee, which detailed online resources like The Center for Spirituality and Practice, Kid Spirit, and Paul’s The Interfaith Observer,
• met an old friend from a dialogue group sponsored back in the 1980’s by the National Conference of Christians and Jews. The group was formed to get younger people involved in Jewish/Christian relations; now, after some 30 years, we’re both more than a little grey,
• learned about what helps in mobilizing a movement from three generations: Joan Brown Campbell (who worked with Martin Luther King, Jr.), Alan Boesak (who worked with Nelson Mandela), and Eboo Patel (founder of Interfaith Youth Corps). In introducing herself, Dr. Campbell said, “whatever I was doing, I was the first woman to do it.”
• attended a reception for the United Religions Initiative, met people from around the world who are all working for the good of all. A brief program MC’d by ICP Board President Fred Fielding included singing, guided meditation, and Appreciative Inquiry conversations among the folks.

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A full day, by any measure!

Andrew Kille
BAIC Editor