If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
The Blog
We don't have to agree with someone in order to learn from them. As Ben Zoma, a second century Jewish sage, reminds us: "Who is wise? The person who learns from all people."
When reading about the Afghanistan war, many people begin to conflate all Muslims with the radicals that we hear about on a daily basis. But what about this wonderful woman and her family and friends, who use Islam as a rich resource to promote peace?
In 1989, Reverend, televangelist and Founder of the International School of Exorcism Bob Larson sat down for a friendly interview with two people who represent everything he opposes in life.
The Nazis used to shave Jewish bodies and sell the human hair to various factories for commercial use. I will never forget those hills of human hair and the inhumanity it represented.
Amid the noise and increasing demands of our daily life, it is more and more important for many of us to find a way to reach an inner quiet, a place of rest and refuge.
Working with Muslims has grounded me more in my own faith tradition. This alone is proof that we can indeed expand our understanding both of what "Muslim activism" is and perhaps even what da'wah is.
The transformative power of mystical experiences is that they can convey to us that no matter what happens to our bodies and personalities in the world of time and space, mysteriously, everything is always OK.
Aung San Suu Kyi, like Gandhi and Martin Luther King, shows how one's faith and secular values can provide a much-needed moral compass for fighting social injustice in our world. Her latest move toward reconciliation is a realization of the opportunity to unshackle Burma.
Wherever our journeys take us, we must continue the act of using our passion and expertise to create a better world. I urge us to take the difficult street, and to reap the reward.
Honestly, I hate the term "common ground." It just sounds boring. But all of my shaking and wagging has only ever succeeded in ending conversations, and sending people running in the opposite direction.
In 1955, after years of intensive seminary study in various Orthodox Jewish congregations, I began to feel the need for a wider range of experience. Up to this point, my entire religious education had taken place within the Jewish world, and it was beginning to feel somewhat narrow.
I found full nourishment in Islam for ideas I initially encountered in other traditions. I am a Muslim whose first faith hero was Dorothy Day.
Local communities are often confronted with proposals that suggest we sacrifice these priorities for the sake of jobs, development or progress. We can have both.
Having been in the back-patting position often enough myself, I propose that what works most effectively is interfaith dialogue that is not initiated for the sake of public consumption. It is spontaneous, unrehearsed and often completely unexpected.
Many times while attempting not to compromise biblical truth or convictions, Christians actually compromise the Lord's commandments to love our neighbor, to love one another and to love those who are considered enemies.
Regrettably, recent religious decisions in both countries are unfortunate reminders about the hurdles and pitfalls in the implementation of religious reform.
