Moving from Interfaith Dialogue to Multifaith Action
Next week, the international community will be marking World Interfaith Harmony Week designated by the United Nations to occur annually in the first full week of February where there will be a chance for the global community to promote harmony between all people and to establish a dialogue amongst the different faiths and religions in [...]
Food Stamp Challenge: Done. Now What?
“Mom, I’m hungry. Can I have your grapes?” “Sure,” I replied—even though I’d been counting on that handful of grapes to carry me through the next few hours until dinner. It was Day 6 of my community’s Food Stamp Challenge, for which I’d committed to limit my food spending to the equivalent of “food stamp” [...]
Food Stamp Challenge: Great! And, Do I Have To?
Over the High Holidays, my rabbi asked our congregation to participate in a week-long Food Stamp Challenge—to limit our food spending to the equivalent of “food stamp” benefits, $31.50 per person, for one week. “What a great way to raise awareness about hunger, poverty, and food issues in our community!” I thought. I liked the [...]
![By Carmen DeNavas-Walt, Bernadette D. Proctor, Jessica C. Smith. [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](http://www.stateofformation.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/640px-US_poverty_rate_timeline1-145x115.gif)
Liberty and (Economic) Justice for All
I’ve been rejoicing to witness our US presidential election campaign narrative turning to economics, thanks to a contender with a background in the private equity business (or, vulture capitalism, as it is known to some). At the same time, I continue to feel great anguish that poverty and our nation’s and earth’s most impoverished have [...]
Outcomes, Incentives, and the Proof of What You Believe
In recent years there has been a spate of literature rethinking religiously-motivated service. Everything from international aid to short-term mission projects has come under fire, and many of the titles speak for themselves.
IIWAPBK and Privilege 101
I think Gene Marks has now been thoroughly excoriated for his column “If I Were a Poor Black Kid” on the Forbes web site last week. In his effort to explain how it’s still possible for underprivileged kids to succeed, he succeeded only in displaying a shocking lack of empathy. By that I don’t mean that he [...]
Gene Marks is Right
Article first published as Gene Marks Is Right on Blogcritics. Once again, someone has picked up their keyboard and whacked the hornet’s nest of contemporary racial discourse in America. This time it was a self-described “short, balding and mediocre certified public accountant,” named Gene Marks, writing for Forbes magazine. Marks used the occasion of President [...]
Occupy Wall Street: Abundance v Scarcity
While preparing for class recently, I read an article by Walter Brueggemann “The Liturgy of Abundance, the Myth of Scarcity” which takes a Christian theological analysis to the notions of abundance and scarcity. This article roots the historical biblical concept of scarcity in pharaoh’s desperate need to maintain power over resources. This becomes important to consider [...]
Hunger Games
Article first published as Hunger Games on Blogcritics. In Suzanne Collins’ trilogy The Hunger Games, youth are forced to fight to the death as entertainment for the ruling elite. While the title refers to the name of this annual ritual of human sacrifice, it could equally describe the struggle for survival of most of the [...]
A Dream Deferred
Article first published as A Dream Deferred on Blogcritics. The Baha’i Faith teaches that an equitable and just distribution of wealth is essential to the prosperity and progress of civilization. When ‘Abdu’l-Baha, Head of the Baha’i Faith (1892-1921) visited North America in 1912 he observed that, “This readjustment of the social economic is of the [...]
Contributing Scholars
Honna EichlerHonna is the Managing Director at State of Formation. She has a Master of Divinity from McCormick Theological Seminary and works in Chicago, IL.
Edward AndersonGraduate of Morehouse College with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. Currently studying Inter-religious studies at Claremont Lincoln University/ Claremont School of Theology. Interested in Christian mysticism, philosophy, political science, pluralism, pop-culture and post-colonialism.
Saumya Arya HaasSaumya Arya Haas, Executive Director of Headwaters/Delta Interfaith, advises local, national and international interfaith and social equity organizations including The New Orleans Healing Center. She is a Manbo Asogwe (Priestess of Vodou) and hereditary Hindu Pujarin, writes and lectures about religion, and is a part-time ALB (undergraduate) candidate in Religious Studies at Harvard University School of Extension Studies.