In September 2010, I was asked to give a talk at the Unity Church in Pomona as part of a series of events to promote peace and interfaith understanding. (see http://www.unityofpomona.org/ ) Here are some excerpts from that talk, plus a link in case you want to read it in its…
Anthony Manousos has called our attention to the many ties between Quakers and Jews. No less striking is a three-way linkage among Jews, Quakers, and Buddhists. The essential universalism of the Quaker tradition has led many Friends to explore Buddhism as both a meditative…
The interfaith community celebrates the Martin Luther King holiday in a virtually infinite variety of ways here in Los Angeles, and throughout the United States. On Saturday, January 15, I took part in a Martin Luther King conference called “Building the Beloved…
The Christian and Interfaith Relations Committee (CIRC) is the official FGC [Quaker] liaison with the World and National…
The Parliament of the World’s Religions is an organization with which Quakers have been involved since its inception at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. (Full disclosure: I serve as a Quaker representative to the PWR.) Printed below is…
We of the Quaker Universalist Fellowship want to extend our condolences to and express our solidarity with members of the Coptic Church in Egypt, and with all religious minorities in the Middle East and elsewhere who suffer from persecution and terrorist violence. The most…
When Rhoda Gilman, co-editor of this blog, met Ram Dass at the Lama Foundation, she told him she was looking for some spiritual direction. He asked her about her religious background. When she said “Quaker,” his response was:
I have been asked what a post about a beloved Jewish songwriter/singer Debbie Friedman has to do with Quakerism and Universalism. It’s a fair question, and here’s my response. First, a number of Friends of Jewish background are members of our Quaker meetings and play…
January 9, 2011 … Today I would like to join with the Jewish community in mourning the passing of Debbie Friedman, a singer/songwriter who embodied the heart of contemporary Jewish worship. I was deeply moved by her music and her spirituality. To appreciate Judaism, we need…
The tragic shooting in Tucson, Arizona, affects us all, and is deeply disturbing because of the escalating violence in the United States—“violence of the tongue, heart and mind” (to use Dr. King’s phrase). Below is a response to this tragedy from the…
