The Wiccan who is also a delegate from Maine has a review in of the first ever interfaith gathering at a Democratic National Convention. Rita Moran, the delegate in question had her doubts about just how "interfaith" the service would be:

I approached today's interfaith service with a grain of salt. OK, let's be truthful...a bucket of salt would be closer to the way I was feeling. Knowing that several folks in Pagan leadership had sent e-mails to the Obama "people of faith"outreach, and that none of us had received a response, I was prepared for disappointment.

The good news is that she was pleasantly surprised. The symbols chosen - a globe, a mandala, and some stars - were universal in nature and not associated with one faith or another.

Rita summed it up:

Led by convention CEO Rev. Leah Daughtry, who is pastor of a church in Washington, DC, the service stressed equality, peace, social justice, and free speech...

The high point for me, where Rev. Daughtry proved how inclusive she had planned the service to be, came when she stated, "We are created in the image of our Creator, whatever we call Him or Her." Acknowledgment of the feminine divine truly demonstrated how inclusive the Democratic Party is, and made me proud to be a Democrat.

in other religious news related to the convention, apparently Chris Matthews (??) delivered the smackdown on Pat Buchanan's allegation that Michelle Obama neglected faith in her speech - I am so profoundly grateful that other Kossacks watch this crap so that I don't have to.

Personally, I'm proud of my party and I can't wait to have Michelle Obama as First Lady. Your reactions?

The Humane Society of the United States is kicking off a new campaign for the month of October that I thought I'd share with y'all.

Well, to be honest, me either.

So what do you think about the Democratic National Convention opening with a service by a Pentecostal minister? Apparently some Atheists are not so pleased and have written to ask that they be included in the "interfaith" service. The minister does not appear very receptive to the idea:

"Atheists speaking at an interfaith service ... does that work?" Daughtry asked this week. "I don't quite know. But they're part of the party, you treat them with respect. I'll give them an answer."

Personally, I advise Reverend Daughtry to consult with a certain pastor of my acquaintance. That pastor has managed, as a Christian minister, to oversee interfaith services which included Buddhists, Atheists, Muslims, Pagans, Jewish and... well, that's all I can think of but I'm sure there were more. How does it work? It just works.

To her credit, Reverend Daughtry already plans to include Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Buddhist speakers.

What do you think?

I wanted let you all know about an event that is taking place at my church, in case any of you are within easy driving distance of Austin, Texas.

The event is Justice Revival Weekend, for Peace, Justice and Reconciliation, July 11-13.  The Rev. James Forbes is preaching.

For Muslims, the ultimate prerequisite towards discussion with people of other faiths has to be mutual respect of everyone's beliefs. Muslims have always been uniquely positioned in this regard, as accepters of the validity of all prophets.

Muslims often repeat the concept of accepting Jesus (AS), Moses (AS), and 124,000 other Prophets, when explaining their religion to others, as it is indeed an important point to recognize when trying to understand Islam. But some might wonder, what is the real significance of the acceptance of Jesus (AS) as a Prophet, as Moses (AS) as a Prophet, and thousands of other Prophets, if Muslims believe (sometimes radically) different things about those personalities than Christians or Jews?

I hope everyone has already heard about this event happening on Monday, but it's not too late to get involved.  People of many different faiths are observing a fast then coming together for community celebrations to break the fast.  There are over 50 events planned all around the U.S., so there is probably one near you!

This fall, in an unusual convergence, many of our faith traditions share a season of sacred self-assessment and self-transformation. This holy season includes the month of Ramadan and the Night of Power (Islam); the High Holy Days and Sukkot (Judaism); the Feast Day of Francis of Assisi and Worldwide Communion Sunday (Christianity) and Pavarana / Sangha Day (Buddhism).

Since each of our traditions recognizes the power of fasting as a spiritual discipline, we call on all people of faith to join in a fast from dawn to dusk on Monday, October 8.

• About « Interfaith Fast to End the War in Iraq

Promoted by Rain

Jason Pitzl-Waters at the Wild Hunt Blog posted about Christian bloggers who did a "synchroblog" (all agreed to post on a selected topic). The topic: Paganism and Christianity .

I feared I'd find a desire to evangelize Pagans, contempt for Pagan beliefs and probably some hostility. My fears were ungrounded. The posts were thoughtful, well considered and struck me as very sincere. Ironically, the first post I read related the author's fears that hostility awaited him when he visited a Pagan forum to learn about the topic; just as I found almost uniform good will in the posts of these Christian bloggers, he found Pagans

couldn't have been more helpful or  friendly.

As always, I am enriched by opening my mind to hear others. Some more reactions below the flip.

There's lots of good stuff coming up in the Baltimore area in the next few months: public lectures by theologians, informal courses, and interfaith prayer opportunities.

Follow me below the fold to see why I'm so excited that September is finally here!
And drop me a line if you plan to attend any of these - maybe we can meet up.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: mike waltner <mike.waltner@gmail.com>
Date: Aug 19, 2007 8:28 PM
Subject:
To: mike.waltner@gmail.com

Hello all,

I am a democratic candidate running for united states congress in Northwest, Pennsylvania, District 3. I am writing to introduce myself to the Street Prophets community.  I hope to meet many of you and I hope you will take an interest in my campaign. I met Pastor Dan at the Yearly Kos and he invited me to start posting a diary.  I am very enthusiastic that there are so many good people who want to change the direction of this country.  This is my first diary posting, but I have been reading posts for a few months now. I will post thoughts, reflections, and updates from now on.  

Sorry to be a week late, but some folks asked that I post this after the service and I did not get a chance to do so until today, so below the fold is a Wiccan view on faith and peace. Note, not the Wiccan view, just a Wiccan view.

Two quick notes: I did alter the Starhawk quote slightly to make it work in the context of the service, you can follow the link to the original which is very worth reading anyway. Second, I have no idea who wrote The Goddess Prayer I quote. Unfortunately lung cancer claimed my covenmate before he could find the source and internet searches have not yielded results.

Thanks to pastordan for letting me be a part of the service and to my fellow interfaith contributors. You all inspire me.

A few news items and opportunities from Ekklesia and the Pluralism Project

I have always thought of Street Prophets as an Interfaith site.  In fact, that is one of the reasons I cherish this place.  Some people have a very different impression - this is a Christian site, where non-Christians are "tolerated" in a pejorative sense of the term.  A couple of weeks ago, we had a lively exchange on the topic that ended up being an exercise in old timers and a new face getting used to each other.  I think that was a very good process in and of itself.  It did not, however, get us very far toward resolving the issues at hand.  So, I'd like to raise the question again, very bluntly:  Is this a Christian or an Interfaith site?  I think there is consensus that this should be an Interfaith site - I hope we don't have to have that conversation!