Our Mission to Light Candles and Engage in Peace (A Charge to Graduates)
This week, we have been asked to reflect on how our philosophical/religious convictions have helped us to be prepared for major life transitions and moving into new areas of growth and reflection. Here are some of my reflections upon graduating a few weeks ago with my graduate certificate from seminary. On Saturday, May 25th, my [...]
On the Religious Other: Why I am committed to building inter-religious relationships
The Jewish Theologian Martin Buber observed that people are defined by their relationships with others. While they may disagree on God, believers and non-believers would agree that our relationships with one another make us who we are. In other words this is how the I is constructed. However with the I comes ‘us’ but for [...]
Why I am committed to building relationships with those from different religious and ethical traditions
As a committed Christian, I have experienced both open-mindness and closed thinking when it comes to how the church deals with varying moral and ethical convictions. Unfortunately, all too often, I have seen barriers put up which prohibit free thinkers from entering in. I believe that this is contrary to the true Christian way which [...]
The Spirituality of Learning
Christian Scientists think of angels as bright ideas. Angels are moments of clarity and expanded consciousness, moments of fresh vision and creativity, broadened perspective, and infusions of loving inspiration. Christian Scientists, who think of God as pure Mind, a divine principle of loving consciousness, see the intellect as a portal of revelation. I come from [...]
Does Religion Cause War ?
Does Religion Cause War ? If so, How ? The sociologist David Martin, in his book Does Christianity Cause War? (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997), investigates the empirical evidence from “Europe as a whole” for Richard Dawkin’s assertion that “religion causes wars by generating certainty” (5,22). He concludes that Religious certainty does not cause war, but a religion’s [...]
Pacem in Terris and Mercy Mild
With almost daily reminders that War is Coming, it gets hard to imagine an alternative. Over the last month our media has been banging the drums of war suggesting that Kim Jong-un is borderline psychotic and is ready, at any moment, to drop a bomb. With images of their prison camps, videos of their propaganda, [...]
Christianity Provides Me With the Costly Option of Nonviolence and Peacemaking
A dear friend from Chicago visited me recently in Los Angeles. Both of us are Christians, and while we agreed that violent force was not preferable, I think he felt I was too radical in implying that any show of violence is unchristian. “I agree,” he told me, “that we shouldn’t kill people, I just [...]
Strangers in an All Too Familiar Land
I spent the last two weeks in a land named holy by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, seeking peace, understanding, wholeness. My travels took me through countless narratives, religious expressions, political stalemates, cultures, and the lives of people who reside at the center of all that is holy about this part of the world. This was [...]
What’s the Big Deal About Interfaith Marriage?
I attended the 2009 Parliament of the World’s Religions in Melbourne, Australia. I was amazed by the preponderance of sacred fashion statements (the hats!), the number of New Age practitioners from the North American West Coast, and the ubiquity of the phrase “interfaith dialogue.” As former chair of the Union Theological Seminary Interfaith Caucus, a [...]
How Paul Tillich Helped Me Matter
I recently received an email from the fine editorial staff at State of Formation informing me that I am officially a lapsed contributor and my posting account might be deleted. This is very true. I have lapsed in my public reflections about all things religious. When I ask myself why I lapsed, my answers are [...]
Contributing Scholars
Lauren TuchmanLauren graduated from the Jewish Theological Seminary in May of 2011 with a Master of Arts in Judaic Studies and holds a BA in religion from Dickinson College. Lauren's interests include the intersection between religion and disability and religion and gender studies.
Simran Jeet SinghSimran Jeet Singh is a doctoral student in the Department of Religion at Columbia University. His research focuses on South Asian Religions, particularly the Sikh tradition and the life of its founder, Guru Nanak.
Sai KolluruSenior, majoring in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Case Western Reserve University. Founder of a Hindu organization on campus that works to practice and preserve Sanatana Dharmic principles and values with the final goal of Seva, Selfless Service, through interfaith collaboration.