Quaker Universalist Conversations

Martin Luther King and Universalism

 Dr. Martin Luther King made one of the most profound and prophetic statements about Universalism in his Nobel prize speech:


“We have inherited a big house, a great “world house” in which we have to live together – black and white, Easterners and Westerners, Gentiles and Jews, Catholics and Protestants, Moslem and Hindu, a family unduly separated in ideas, culture, and interests who, because we can never again live without each other, must learn, somehow, in this one big world, to live with each other. This means that more and more our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. We must now give an overriding loyalty to mankind as a whole in order to preserve the best in our individual societies.”

 Today Martin Luther King Day has become an opportunity to promote this vision of interfaith cooperation and ecumenism.

Here in Los Angeles, I am involved in two such events, one sponsored by the South Coast Interfaith Council and the other by the Parliament of the World’s Religions. I will be giving the invocation at the SCIC event, which will take place in a black Baptist church and will feature local Chumash Indian leaders. I also plan to give a workshop on “Compassionate Listening” along with a Sufi woman friend of mine, Noor Malika Chishti. My presentation will be based on the Compassionate Listening project (compassionatelistening.org) and the book on Compassionate Listening by Gene Hoffman, which I edited after 9/11. More info is provided below.

 The keynote speaker at the Parliament event is Dr. Mark Waldeman, a neuro-scientist whose book on “How God Changes Your Brain.” His book offers practical tips on how to be a better communicator based on the latest research in neuro-science. His work also confirms scientifically much of what I have experienced as a Quaker. More will be said about Dr. Waldeman and his work in future blog entries.

Here are two queries to consider: 


What is your community doing to foster interfaith understanding, peace and justice on MLK day?


And what are you and your Meeting doing to foster the beloved community

 Submitted by Anthony Manousos interfaithquaker@aol.com



 

 

“Remember, Rejoice, Renew”

19th Annual
Community Wide
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

Interfaith Celebration

MLK Image

SUNDAY, JANUARY 16, 2011

3 -5 p.m.
Gospel Memorial Church of God in Christ
1480 Atlantic Avenue
Long Beach, CA 90813

The Barbareno Chumash Council is a tribal organization


representing Chumash descendents whose ancestral villages


were located in what is now the general Santa Barbara area.


The Council is active in bringing Chumash people


back to their maritime culture and revitalizing


the Barbareno Chumash language.


Along with other Chumash tribal organizations,


the Council works to protect sacred sites and maintain


 the traditions and songs passed on to them from their ancestors.


 The Barbareno Chumash Council, or BCC, is also an affiliate


 of the Seventh Generation Fund for Indian Development. 


The Seventh Generation Fund is an Indigenous


non-profit organization dedicated to promoting and maintaining


 the uniqueness of Native peoples throughout the Americas.


For more information, please visit here


Music by:
Gospel Memorial Church of God in Christ Choir
Gopi Saravati  & Sri’s Players of Morningland Monastery
The ROCK Gospel Choir
and more!!


*

* Multi-Cultural Gathering
  • Multi-Religious Celebration
  • Music
  • Reception


  • *

    Sponsored by:
    Gospel Memorial Church of God in Christ
    Long Beach Ministers Alliance
    Long Beach Religious Leaders Association

     NAACPSouth Coast Interfaith Counciland others!

     

    Keynote Address:
     

    The Honorable Deborah Sanchez
    Co-chair of Barbareno Chumash Council

     

    For Questions,
    Please Call: 562-983-1665
    www.SCInterfaith.org

    SCIC Logo

     
      

     

      

      

      



     

    Comments

    A description of Morningland, which has been called a cult by many experts in the field. I doubt very much that this is something Dr. King would have embraced. >>>>Hi: I just went to this strange and rather uncomfortable evening for the "Flaming Water Ceremony" at this secretive place in Long Beach CA I found an exmorninland page and it seems many people have been damaged in the past by this place. So it had a different name before and there is very little info on it. just one other forum that is from 2 years ago. It sounded very strange to me when an aquantence invited me to this "Flaming Waters" ritual but my other plans fell through and I was a little curious so I went. My friend would not say anything about what it was about and I was worried that it would be very airfairy embarrassing dancing barefoot to really bad music and chanting some weird pseudo Hindu stuff. Luckily they must have toned it down of late to get new recruits. it was a nice concert with good music by acomplished musicians. Strange literature about the spiritual leader, and these two women who are "abbesses" It was weird that they had no website, no schedule of events or classes, and the way the greeted you at the door and took your name and number and birthday and address was a little wierd too. tons of "lay monks" and others came up and shook hands and greeted me. The had a very strange way of comming up to you in an overly friendly manner and gazed at you s if they had been coached to do this. It was like being at an MLM meeting where someone wanted you to sign up for something but they never just came out with it. They just tried to lure you back and told you to call the head Gopi to schedule a "reading" or find out what else you could get involved in. The place is rather nice inside., Psuedo Buddist/Christian/Hindu with an alter of a zillian Buddhas. they had blocked off the rest of the place. Do they all live there together? The men seemed especially stiff and strange and called themselves monks. All in all a disquieting experience. if any one knows more do tell. <<<<<
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