Next up in our summer of “religion and politics” is Laura Magnani from the Quaker tradition. Laura is director of the American Friends Service Committee’s Bay Area Healing Justice Program in California and has worked on criminal justice issues for over 35 years. She wrote “America’s First Penitentiary: A 200 Year Old Failure in 1990” and co-authored the AFSC publication, “Beyond Prisons: A New Interfaith Paradigm for Our Failed Prison System” in 2006. She is also a nationally known expert on solitary confinement. We are honored to have her as a speaker in our summer series.
A few words about First United:
Our 5:00 service is decidedly interspiritual. This means that, while we are rooted in the
Christian tradition, we beleive that spirituality is at the heart of all the world religions. This shared spiritual heritage enables us to go beyond the differences in our theological beliefs and traditions. In other words: all are welcome!
Pluralism Summer is an initiative of First United Lutheran Church, a progressive church, rooted in the Reformation tradition, which says that the church, our worship, and our music must always be re-forming. We believe that it’s more important to ask the questions than to know all the answers.
We believe that, as theologian Hans Kung wrote:
“There will be no peace among the nations until there is peace among the religions. There will be no peace among the religions until there is dialogue among the religions.”
We believe our wisdom will only be enhanced by continued conversation with all of our neighbors. Together we work for peace, justice, and the good of all people and all creation.
News reports from Turkey have noted that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly blamed the Hizmet (“Service”) movement and its exiled leader Fethullah Gülen for being a “shadow” subversive organization, and the instigators of the recent attempted coup. Erdogan has declared a state of emergency, arrested thousands of Turkish citizens, including Gülen’s nephew, and called for the 
Well, it’s over. The 28th annual gathering of the 
orkshop was on Tuesday, but on Monday I got some great publicity. During the discussion at a workshop on interfaith hospitality, someone spoke up and said, “What we really need to have is an intrafaith dialogue.” I almost jumped out of my seat as I raised my hand to jump in and tell everyone about the opportunity to do just that – and buy the book as well!
Then we broke into small groups and everyone got a chance to share their own stories and struggles with members of their own tradition. Finally, we began to strategize about how to create an intrafaith conversation when we got back home.
I don’t know if anyone will do that. But I believe that, at the very least, the issue was put out onto the table, and participants went away with some resources and hopefully lots to think about.
I first met Dolores White back in 2002 when I had just arrived in Berkeley. I’d met Paul Chaffee from the Interfaith Center at the Presidio and was invited to a board meeting. Somehow I found my way from the East Bay to the far side of San Francisco (the Presidio is not easy to get to on public transportation and my car was still back in Buffalo). I’ve gotten much more savvy about navigating the streets of San Francisco, but back then I wasn’t sure how I’d ever find my way back home.
This will be the first gathering in Mexico and there will be an emphasis on Indigenous Peoples and their relationship to the land/struggle for land and water rights. The theme of the conference this year is Sacred Space. According to the planners, we’ll be looking at sacred space in the widest sense possible – our inner sacred space, the space we create together in relationship, our worship spaces, holy places, the land and the earth and the universe as sacred. Also, my workshop proposal was accepted, so I’ll be leading my first interfaith intrafaith conversation!
The Interfaith Pastor 