Are we too religious (or too secular)?
I’d like to hear your thoughts about an interesting conversation last Sunday at the rally against the war in Iraq.
(Congrats to Michigan Peace Works for organizing a great event).
I was at the ICPJ table, selling buttons and handing out brochures. I invited one person there to sign up for our newsletter, and she said she used to subscribe to this email update, but she found it “too religious for me.”
Her answer surprised me. I often long for more religious perspectives on peace and justice. Conservative Christian voices have dominated the political discussion for too long, and part of ICPJ’s work is to expand the debate with progressive faith expressions from a wide variety of religious traditions.
And yes, we do value secular perspectives as part of our community.
Those are my thoughts. What do you think? Would you like to see less religion? More faith perspectives? Do you have suggestions for other faith voices to include? Or are we just right?
Please leave your comments on this post, or email your thoughts to me at chuck@icpj.net.
In peace,
-Chuck
Hi Chuck,
As a preface to my response to whether or not ICPJ is “too religious”, let me say that I appreciate the value of having a wide-range of community organizations that each have a more focused and, so-to-speak, market niche. With the political and governing (controlling) world continuing to make major shifts to the right and using regious biases to do so, it is important that organizations like ICPJ exist. ICPJ provides an opportunity for those of various faiths to act on their believes with meaningful
action. With many regilious organizations providing a platform for parochial, and even mean-spirited actions, ICPJ plays an important role.
I am not a religious person; but, rather, follow a spiritual path that draws from my Native American heritage and some aspects of the Buddhist traditions. I have been a long-term supporter of ICPJ because it keeps me abreast of critical social issues at the international, national and local levels and opportunities to take action such as SOA Watch and CROP Hunger Walk.
As to what areas other faith voices might be included, I think the FCNL has done a great job of working with the Native American community including a most recent conference that was help in DC for those interested in supporting the rights of Native communities. Even though are local area does not have a large Native American community and I believe ICPJ has been involved with the student organizations and others in the past; perhaps, highighting the work of the FCNL from time to time would be helpful.
I was thinking that, perhaps, things have changed for the peson you spoke with; rathr, than ICPJ having changed. A look back at archival materials might give you a sense if the organization has over-time made some kind of shift to appearing more “religious”; but, I would doubt it. Actually, it is probably the other way around.
j.c.
No, I do not find the ICPJ newsletter too religious. I usually am very sensitive to “too much religion” but I find ICPJ a deep, spiritual, questioning environment that supports the search for understanding what unites us all.
Thank you, Chuck, for the work you do.
It takes a profound spirituality to sustain work for justice, community, and peace - whether that spirituality is grounded in a traditional religion or not. I welcome any work or action ICPJ undertakes that is grounded, analyzed, and expressed in “spiritual” terms - whether in the terminology and theology of an “established” religion or not.
Roger Pohl
Hi Chuck,
I consider myself spiritual but not religious, having rejected a central role for organized religion in my life long ago. Rather, I participate in various religious practices that I find meaningful when I’m moved to do so. I don’t find ICPJ “too religious” in any way–and believe me, I would be sensitive to this! In fact, I’m really grateful your organization exists to advance humanitarian goals outside of the strictures of a specific religion. Please keep doing what you do!
Last week’s email obviously caught folks attention. When I asked is ICPJ too religious for you, lots of readers took time to chime in.
I’m grateful to everyone who wrote in–thank you.
Overall, the readers affirmed that it is appropriate for an interfaith group to use religious language and symbols and confirmed that we’re on the right track.
Many readers also commented that religious language does leave some people out, so we should be careful there, but we also don’t need to be a home for all progressives in the area. Thankfully the peace and justice movement is wide enough for many voices to fit, secular and religious.
As I look at the replies and ICPJ’s work, one challenge emerges for me: bringing diverse people together on their common ground.
Here at ICPJ we do a lot of educating people about the call to peace and justice from within their own faith tradition—when I give a talk at a Methodist Church I cite Christian scriptures and Methodist Church documents. Likewise when I go to a Buddhist group we talk Dharma and the Sutras.
This is a key part of bringing the message of peace and justice to “the people in the pews” in their own language and in line with their own values.
We also bring together activists from different traditions. Our Latin America Task Force, for example, has Jewish, Quaker, Unitarian, and secular members.
The activist gathering is also crucial to our work and is what makes us Interfaith.
But how can we bring together the non-activist folks from the different traditions? How can be build ties of friendship and action across religious differences?
We’ve made some good starts, CROP Walk is a great example, but I think we can do more.
And I’m open for suggestions. Please email me at chuck@icpj.net or continue the discussion here.
In peace,
-Chuck