The Linguists’ Principle of Charity
So often I see Pagans trying to explain to others who are religiously-conservative just why our spirituality is valuable and beautiful and not wicked. Having been a hippie Jesus freak myself back in...
View ArticleInterfaith…community
My Compassionate Winston-Salem (CWS) group recently served a wonderful meal to the residents of the Bethesda Center, an overnight shelter for the homeless. What was really interesting about this...
View ArticleThey’ve Got My Back
Little white country church, a beautiful Sunday afternoon, friends, cookies and punch on the picnic tables outside, a harpist and flautist playing a pleasant half-hour prelude - this was the scene that...
View ArticleA Thousand Years from Now
Maybe this reality is a hundred years away, maybe a thousand, but I fully believe that the work we are doing now as interfaith clergy and laity is the foundation upon which future generations can build...
View ArticleGrowing the Interfaith Garden
I view our interfaith work as being a bit like my gardening. Those of us engaged in it are clearing away the detritus of hatred and misunderstanding built up by a winter of viewing other as “bad.” We...
View ArticleThe Whole Community
Coming together to benefit children in our community-- not the Pagan community and not any specific religious community, but the whole community, is some of the most important stuff we can do.
View ArticleOne River, Many Wells
When I step into a patient’s room or when I stop to comfort a family member weeping in the hallway, I begin by acknowledging our shared truth. That is the truth of our humanity and of the grief and...
View ArticleA 2000-Year Journey in Interfaith
I have just returned from my annual vacation in Pennsylvania where my husband and I attend Pennsic War, the world’s largest medieval re-enactment event, attended this year by nearly 11,000 people. The...
View ArticleAbortion: The Hardest Choice
I'm not going to argue ethics here because I don't feel comfortable telling any woman what is appropriate for her in her situation. It's too complex. There are too many variables. My very own Pagan...
View ArticleBringing Them All Back Home
In 2012 the suicide rate among combat veterans reached an all-time high with some 22 veterans dying by their own hand every single day. Deaths to suicide among these veterans were actually higher than...
View ArticleWhat’s Compassion Got to Do With It?
So, when I first approached the leadership of Cherry Hill Seminary about our becoming an educational partner for the Charter For Compassion, some immediately embraced the idea as a natural fit for a...
View ArticleThe Spirit of the Season
Midwinter celebrations have been a part of human life for thousands of years, well back into pre-history. The ability to hold multiple meanings for our seasonal celebrations is not a finite thing where...
View ArticleOut of the Dark
“Out of the night that covers me, Black as the Pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul.” “Invictus” by William Ernest Henley In our wanderings through the strange...
View ArticleTo Those Who Say Interfaith is a Waste of Time
When I hear many people talk about “interfaith” work it seems that their understanding of the topic is confined to the idea that it involves trying to teach each other about our different religious...
View ArticleInterfaith is a Two-way Street
I choose to act as a member of Women of Faith because I know that the same thing that my Muslim neighbors are experiencing now could happen to any of us. There could be a brick through my window as...
View ArticleTwixt the Darkness and the Light
For thousands of years we have marked the turning of the seasons, the progression of light to dark and back again. As with our ancestors and all that live on this planet we attune ourselves to this...
View ArticleCompassion and Law Enforcement
What if a city became a laboratory for compassionate practice? What if policing were compassionate? Driven by compassion? What would that look like?
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