How I converted my cat to Quakerism....

My 20-year-old cat Xenia had become a convinced Friend during the first 16 years she resided with us. By this I mean she learned how to get what she wanted nonviolently and quietly. For example, if her food dish were empty, Xenia would stand by it and stare at me reproachfully. This was her way of "eldering" me. She hardly ever meowed. She didn't need to. Her silence was an irresistible force.

But when my wife was ill, we had to leave Xenia with a Quaker family who indulged Xenia beyond what was good for her Quaker soul. She was given canned cat food, which affected her like alcohol and caused her to become addicted. When Xenia finally returned to me, she was a changed cat. She was loud, demanding, and utterly impossible to live with. She was no longer a Friend; she was a fiend.

I realized the extent of my cat's fiendish nature when I left her with a woman who offered to be a cat sitter. This Friend, whose name was Suzie, was simply supposed to feed Xenia and change her kitty litter. Suzie had addictive tendencies, however--she was in AA--and Xenia learned how to make Suzie do her bidding. When I returned home, Suzie had moved into my apartment and was sleeping with Xenia. And there were not one, but two bowls of cat food on my bed. That's when I realized Xenia had turned Suzie into her slave!

It took many months for me to enable Xenia regain her Quaker composure. I understand the nature of cats pretty well, being of a feline disposition myself. Cats are strong-willed,  independent creatures who must be treated with great deference. But they also are highly emotional and crave affection. To train them, you must love them. A lot.

So whenever Xenia would meow loudly for canned catfood, I would pick her up very gently and say in a quiet voice, "Every time you make noise, I am putting you into the 'meow-meow' room."

The 'meow-meow' room was the bathroom--the only room my little apartment with a door I could close. In this room were all the necessities of life for a cat: food, water and the kitty  litter box. But once the door closed, Xenia was in total darkness. Sometimes she would whimper pathetically, but soon she fell asleep. I usually released her after half an hour or so. It was hardly onerous punishment, just a reminder that crying doesn't pay.

I did this consistently for several months, although once or twice I made the mistake of giving her canned catfood and her addictive behavior returned. This taught me the importance of being consistent and feeding her only what is good for her soul.

Besides dry cat food, I fed her with lots of sweet talk and petting, which she craves even more than canned cat food. Gradually her craving for canned catfood abated, and so did her meowing. Now, when her food dish is empty, she stares at me reproachfully, but also with longing, as if to say, "Can't you see your sweet adorable cat is hungry? When are you going to feed irresistible me?"

At night, Xenia has become increasingly affectionate. During her fiendish days, she slept at the foot of my bed, snoring, but now she sleeps next to my pillow, purring. When I cradle her under my arm, she purrs in ecstasy and I confess, so do I. During the night, when I awaken, I give her a little petting and she resumes her ecstatic purring. We both have sweet dreams.

It is clear that tough love is what cats need if they are going to become convinced Friends.

One more cat story, this time about a Bengal tiger, which is, after all, just a very big pussy cat.

I once saw a documentary about a woman who tames Bengal tigers, who have been known to eat a man when they were too old to hunt more challenging game. These tigers range in weight from 300-500 pounds and can gobble a medium-sized child for breakfast.

This Bengal tiger tamer was a petite woman who weighed perhaps 120 bounds. Even a female Bengal tiger weighs twice as much as she did.

So I asked teenagers and others: How did this little woman tame these big, ferocious beasts?

People usually responded: "Through intimidation?" But clearly this answer made no sense: nothing this little woman could do would intimidate a Bengal tiger, which have been known to kill elephants. In fact, if you make a Bengal tiger testy, watch out!

Only rarely did anyone guess the answer this woman gave when an interviewer asked how she managed to make these tigers do her bidding.

"Love," she replied. "I give them lots of love."

The way she showed her love was through action. She is the first person to greet them in the morning, and the last to say goodnight. She feeds them and cares for them, and they know she is loving as well as fearless. Perfect love drives out fear, as Jesus pointed out. And perfect Love is the strongest force on the planet.

 If Love can tame tigers, or kitty cats, why not humans, the planet's most dangerous predator? (Far more dangerous than the tiger, or even the shark, which kills fewer than a dozen human per year while humans kill several million sharks.)

The Love that tames tigers, and transforms humans, is not romantic or sentimental love, but deep, committed bonding--the kind of love that truly understands and appreciates the Other. Such love transforms both the lover and the beloved.

Such is the love that has enabled my cat Xenia and me to honor "that of God" in each other and behave like true Friends. For this gift of Love, I thank my Creator and hers.

Playing with fire: Quran burning and the deaths in Afghanistan

Like a boy who can't resist playing with matches, even when adults warn him of the consequences, Pastor Terry Jones of the Dove Outreach Center in Gainesville, FL, couldn't resist burning the Qur'an. Not only did he do this despicable deed, he posted his inflammatory act on the web. He had been duly warned by the National Council of Evangelicals, and also by Evangelical pastors like Jim Wallis. He had also been warned by General Petraeus, Hilary Clinton, and countless people in the interfaith movement that such an act could lead to deaths in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Jones and his followers didn't listen, nor do they feel any responsibility.
Such moral and spiritual immaturity is tragic. It is also sad that the people of Afghanistan, roused by religious bigotry, killed 9 innocent people in response. As mature Muslims have said repeatedly, those who kill in the name of religion do not grasp the essence of Islam. As the holy Qur'an makes clear: "There shall be no compulsion in religion" and "Taking one life is akin to killing the whole world, and saving a life is like saving the entire world."

Islam is a religion of peace ("peace" and "islam" come from the same root), and the founder of Christianity was called the "Prince of Peace." There is no reason why those of each religion cannot come together in friendship.

Let us pause and hold in the Light of God's Love those who have died because of religious bigotry and spiritual immaturity. And let us also pray that those whose hearts have been inflamed by religious bigotry and hatred will come to realize that God is Love, or as the Qur'an says, "most caring" and "most compassionate."

Let us redouble our efforts to live in the power of Love, or as George Fox said, let us "live in the power and life that takes away the occasion of war."
See also a talk I gave last summer about "How to Overcome Islamophobia": http://laquaker.blogspot.com/2010/09/how-to-overcome-islamophobia.html

For details about the tragic killings in Afghanistan, see http://www.aolnews.com/2011/04/02/afghan-official-civilian-deaths-on-second-day-of-quran-burning/

Interfaith Youth Work: Hope for the Future

Preparing young people for a pluralistic world is one of the great challenges of our era. Interfaith youth work, an essential component of this burgeoning movement, has many aspects: service, dialogue, worship sharing, leadership development, fun and games, and of course pizza—the universal sacrament uniting youth of all traditions.


Eboo Patel, founder of the Interfaith Youth Core, has committed his life to bringing together young people of different faith traditions through service projects. He writes:

What if people of all faiths and traditions worked together to promote the common good for all? What if once again, young people led the way? Across the country, Muslims and Hindus, Jews and Christians, Buddhists and non-religious, are coming together in a movement of interfaith cooperation. They are proving that the 21st century can be defined by cooperation between diverse communities instead of conflict. (http://www.ifyc.org//)

I know from experience how important service projects are in helping young people to form their religious identities and to see the world from different perspectives, including that of the poor and marginalized. In 1992, I helped to start a youth service program jointly funded by the American Friends Service Committee and Southern California Quarterly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). This program mainly drew Quaker youth, but around ten to twenty percent of the participants hailed from different backgrounds, including a significant number of African American teens. For ten years I took teens on service projects to various sites: homeless shelters, a shelter for wild animals, an AIDS hospice center, and communities in Mexico where we built community centers and homes for workers living in utter poverty, without running water or electricity. These service projects were a powerful learning opportunities for all involved, especially the teens. Many reported having had life-changing experiences.

Today interfaith youth service projects are becoming increasingly common and popular. Greg Damhorst, a young Evangelical Christian, describes how one such project arose after the earthquakes in Haiti. Determined to help, Greg turned not just to his own religious community, but also to his friends of other faiths:

I brought the idea to a small group of friends – the “executive committee” that organized Interfaith in Action’s programs. We were an Evangelical Christian, a Catholic, a Buddhist, a Hindu, and a Humanist, and we set out to plan an event at which our campus could package these meals for Haiti.

I got a hold of the cell phone number for Rick McNary, founder of Numana, Inc., with whom I discussed the logistics of the project. We started a search for facilities to host the event, the money to fund the event, and the volunteers to staff the event.

We connected with the regional office of the Salvation Army who connected us with the local corps at the same time that a phone call from Washington, D.C. out of the Salvation Army World Service Office confirmed that a federal grant was going to fund our project.

With that, a community-wide, multi-faith endeavor was born. The event was moved to an abandoned Hobby Lobby building on the west side of Champaign and staff from Numana, Inc. flew in prepare for the event.

In a single weekend, 5,112 volunteers from every walk of life, faith and philosophical tradition passed through that site to lend a hand. In less than 12 hours, 1,012,640 meals were packaged for shipment to Haiti where they were protected by the 82nd airborne and distributed by Salvation Army humanitarian workers.

This is a story of coming together; it’s a story of cooperation; and it’s a story of interfaith work. As an evangelical, this is a snapshot of how I desire to live out my faith. To do so alongside people who I desire to show the compassion of Jesus makes it an even more compelling endeavor.

Jesus said “I was hungry and you brought me something to eat.” Consider the significance of inviting others to join in such an activity. If you ask me, this is a simple yet profound way to communicate the compassion of Christ, meet the needs of the world, and build a better community. (http://www.ifyc.org/content/feeding-hungry)

Another way to enable young people of different faith traditions to connect is through interfaith get togethers. In 2005 I helped organize an “interfaith icebreaker” which included Muslims, Jews, Bahais, Christians and Hindu youth. We met at a synagogue, played games, sang songs, and shared stories about our faith journeys. It was a powerful experience that was written up in a local newspaper.

We also organized an interfaith café, which took place during the month of Ramadan/Tishei (October) in 2006. Around fifty youth showed up for discussions about their faith traditions at a local Presbyterian church. Later many went to the nearby mosque in order to partake of iftar, the breaking of the fast at sunset. We ate delicious South Asian food, watched the Muslim prayers on close-circuit TV, and learned about Islam from various Muslim speakers.

Our local interfaith organization created a youth council. We called on youth from different faith traditions to come together to plan their own programs and also to have input into adult programs. This work led to discovering and nurturing youth leaders, some of whom went on to organize programs of their own.

The local chapter of the Parliament of World’s Religion also encouraged youth participation. Youth were involved in planning our pre-Parliament events and took part in panels and organized workshops. They also provided service at our banquets and other events. Several were given financial assistance so that they could attend the Parliament gathering in Melbourne, Australia, in 2008. This event, which drew over 6,000 religious leaders from around the world, had an exciting and inspiring youth program.

I am convinced that interfaith organizations are ideally and uniquely suited to do this work. The need for building interfaith understanding among youth is clear: we live in a society that is not only culturally but religiously diverse. We need to appreciate religious as well as cultural diversity in order to get along. Schools have made an effort to teach about cultural diversity, but have been reluctant to focus on religion—a much riskier topic. Interfaith organizations can provide opportunities for youth of different faith traditions to get together, talk openly, and learn from each other in an atmosphere of mutual respect and trust. The goal of this work is to help youth to gain a clearer understanding of their own faith and an appreciative understanding of other faiths.

How to prevent what is happening in Japan from happening here....

Two leading Quaker organizations, Quaker Earthcare Witness (quakerearthcare.org/) and the Friends National Committee for Legislation (fcnl.org) , have endorsed a letter calling for the US to end its reliance on nuclear power. This letter was sent to elected officials in the name of 142 environmental groups.

The Peace and Social Action Committee of Santa Monica Meeting has agreed to bring this letter forward to business meeting for its consideration. The Peace and Social Order Committee of Pacific Yearly Meeting has agreed to circulate this letter as widely as possible so that Friends and others can give it their consideration.

As we hold the people of Japan in our prayers, and hope that the effects of this disaster can be mitigated, we need to remember that we are also vulnerable.

California has two nuclear power plants directly facing the ocean and built on fault lines--San Onofre reactor in So Cal and the Diablo Canyon reactor near Morreau Bay. They were built to "withstand" quakes of 7.6, while the Japanese quake was 8.9. It is doubtful that either reactor could withstand a tsunami.

Such is the slender thread by which the safety of Californians is hanging. It is imperative that we let our elected officials know that we do not favor government subsidies of nuclear power; we prefer to see our tax dollars go to support renewable energy and conservation.

Tomorrow I will post a statement by a FCLN lobbyist about the threat of resource wars due to climate change...

SUSTAINABLE ENERGY NETWORK

8606 Carroll Avenue, #2; Takoma Park, MD 20912

301-588-4741; 301-270-6477 x.11

Sustainable-energy-network@hotmail.com

JAPANESE NUCLEAR ACCIDENT – A TRAGIC REMINDER
IT’S LONG PAST THE TIME
TO END RELIANCE ON NUCLEAR POWER


March 23, 2011

President Barack Obama
Secretary of Energy Steven Chu
U.S. Senator Harry Reid
U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell
U.S. Representative John Boehner
U.S. Representative Nancy Pelosi
Members, U.S. Congress

Dear Sir/Madam:

We, the 142 undersigned safe energy advocates, have been speaking out about the risks and dangers posed by nuclear power for years – for many of us, since before the 1986 Chornobyl and 1979 Three Mile Island accidents as well as the hundreds of other radioactive releases, unplanned shut-downs, and other mishaps that have continuously plagued both the U.S. and the international nuclear industries since their founding.

While nuclear power’s unacceptable safety, environmental, public health, economic, and national security risks should have been self-evident long before now, the latest unfolding nuclear disaster in Japan once again underscores the following:

Nuclear plants can never be designed to withstand all potential “acts of God.”

Nuclear plants can never be designed to withstand all instances of “human error.”

Nuclear plants can never be designed to withstand all types of “mechanical malfunction.”

Nuclear plants can never be designed to withstand all forms of “terrorist attack.”

There is no such thing as “safe” nuclear power.

There is no such thing as “clean” nuclear power.

There is no such thing as “cheap” nuclear power.

Consequently, the Price-Anderson cap on liability in the event of an accident should be repealed, all proposed governmental financial and regulatory incentives for new nuclear plant construction - including loan guarantees, accelerated licensing, and inclusion in a “clean energy standard” - should be rejected, and no new reactors should be built.

Existing nuclear reactors should be phased out as rapidly as possible, beginning with the oldest and/or most unsafe, and no presently-licensed reactors should have their operating lives extended.

Safety standards for existing reactors should be substantially tightened while they continue to operate and federal nuclear funding should be redirected to the orderly phase-out of those reactors as well as the safe decommissioning of closed reactors and disposal of radioactive waste.

National energy policy and funding should be refocused on greatly improved energy efficiency and the rapid deployment of renewable energy sources which are far cleaner, safer, and cheaper than nuclear power.

Sincerely,

Michael Closson, Executive Director
Acterra: Action for a Healthy Planet
Palo Alto, CA

Aur J. Beck, Chief Tech
Advanced Energy Solutions
Pomona, IL

Lesley Weinstock, Coordinator
Agua es Vida Action Team
Albuquerque, NM

Rochelle Becker, Executive Director
Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility
San Luis Obispo, CA

Laura Filbert Zacher, CEO
ARE Systems, LLC
St. Louis, MO

Thea Paneth, Secretary
Arlington United for Justice with Peace
Arlington, MA

Mari Rose Taruc, State Organizing Director
Asian Pacific Environmental Network
Oakland, CA

Lara Morrison, Board Member
Beverly-Vermont Community Land Trust
Los Angeles, CA

Kay Martin, Vice President
BioEnergy Producers Association
Gualala, CA

Kay Firor, President
Blue Mountain Solar, Inc.
Cove, OR

Sandra Gavutis, Executive Director
C-10 Research & Education Foundation
Newburyport, MA

Laurent Meillon, Director
Capitol Solar Energy LLC
Denver, CO

Elizabeth C. Battocletti, President
The Carmel Group, LLC
Reston, VA

Gwen Ingram, Vice President
The Carrie Dickerson Foundation
Tulsa, OK

Don Timmerman, Roberta Thurstin Timmerman
Casa Maria Catholic Worker Community
Milwaukee, WI

Kieran Suckling
Center for Biological Diversity
Washington, DC

Andy Kimbrell, Executive Director
Center for Food Safety
Washington DC

Lenny Siegel, Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
Mountain View, CA

Lucy Law Webster, Executive Director
Center for War/Peace Studies
New York, NY

David Hughes, Executive Director
Citizen Power
Pittsburgh, PA

Deb Katz
Citizens Awareness Network
Shelburne, MA

Janet Greenwald, Co-coordinator
Citizens for Alternatives to Radioactive Dumping
Albuquerque, NM

Caroline Snyder
Citizens for Sludge-Free Land
North Sandwich, NH

Robert Singleton, Nuclear Issues Chair
Citizens Organized to Defend Austin
Austin, TX

Charlie Higley, Executive Director
Citizens Utility Board of Wisconsin
Madison, WI

Pam Solo, President
(Co-convener, TheCLEAN.org)
The Civil Society Institute
Newton, MA

Norm Cohen
Coalition for Peace and Justice
Linwood, NJ

Cristina Castro, Coordinator
CODEPINK NYC
New York, NY

Medea Benjamin, Co-Founder
CODEPINK Women for Peace
Washington, DC

Bill Gallegos, Executive Director
Communities for a Better Environment
Huntington Park & Oakland, CA

Tam Hunt, J.D., President,
Community Renewable Solutions LLC
Santa Barbara, CA

John Calandrelli, Chapter Program Director
Connecticut Chapter of Sierra Club
Hartford, CT

Nancy Burton, Director
Connecticut Coalition Against Millstone
Redding, CT

Luke Lundemo, Director
Conscious Living Project
Jackson, MS

Lois Arkin, Executive Director
CRSP Institute for Urban Ecovillages
Los Angeles, CA

Stephen M. Brittle, President
Don't Waste Arizona, Inc.
Phoenix, AZ

Kathryn Barnes, Board of Directors
Don't Waste Michigan - Sherwood Chapter
Sherwood, MI

Lois Barber, Co-founder & Executive Director
EarthAction & 2020 Action
Amherst, MA

Jane E. Magers, Coordinator
Earth Care, Inc
Des Moines, IA

Chris Trepal, Executive Director
Earth Day Coalition
Cleveland, OH

Al Fritsch, SJ
Earth Healing
Ravenna, KY

Lester R. Brown
Earth Policy Institute
Washington, DC

Jim Bell, Director
Ecological Life Systems Inst. Inc.
San Diego, CA

Mahlon Aldridge, Vice President
Ecology Action
Santa Cruz, CA

Cara L. Campbell, Chair
Ecology Party of Florida
Ft. Lauderdale, FL

Dan Stafford, Organizing Director
Environmental Action
Denver, CO

William Snape
Environmental Law Program
American University Law School
Washington, DC

Lillian K. Light, President
Environmental Priorities Network
Manhattan Beach, CA

Don Ogden, Producer
The Enviro Show-WXOJ-LP & WMCB
Florence, MA

Jennifer Barker
EORenew/SolWest Fair
Canyon City, OR

Ben Mancini, President
EV Solar Products, Inc.
Chino Valley, AZ

Judi Poulson, Chair
Fairmont, Minnesota USA Peace Group
Fairmont, MN

Linda S. Ochs, Director
Finger Lakes Citizens for the Environment
Waterloo, NY

Dan Brook, Ph.D.
Food for Thought---and Action
San Jose, CA

Jon Blickenstaff, Treasurer
Footprints for Peace
Cincinnati, OH

Nick Mann, Legislative Program Assistant-Environment
Friends Committee on National Legislation
Washington, DC

Richard V. Sidy, President
Gardens for Humanity
Sedona, AZ

Amanda Hill-Attkisson, Managing Director
Georgia Women's Action for New Directions
Atlanta, GA

Peter Meisen, President
Global Energy Network Institute
San Diego, CA

Bruce K. Gagnon, Coordinator
Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
Brunswick, ME

Casey Coates Danson, President
Global Possibilities
Los Angeles, CA

Barbara Harris
Granny Peace Brigade NY
New York, NY

Vicky Steinitz
Greater Boston United for Justice with Peace Coalition
Boston, MA

Alisa Gravitz, Executive Director
Green America
Washington, DC

Jennifer Olaranna Viereck, Executive Director
HOME: Healing Ourselves & Mother Earth
N. Bennington, VT

Bonnie A. New, MD MPH; Director
Health Professionals for Clean Air
Houston, TX

Dr. Kathleen Sullivan, Program Director
Hibakusha Stories
New York, NY

David Morris, Vice President
Institute for Local Self-Reliance
Minneapolis, MN

Jaydee Hanson, Policy Director
International Center for Technology Assessment
Washington, DC

Victor Menotti, Executive Director
International Forum on Globalization
San Francisco, CA

Christian May, Founder
iSupportSolar
Frederick, MD

Daniel Ziskin, PhD; President
Jews Of The Earth
Boulder, CO

Andy McDonald, Director
Kentucky Solar Partnership
Appalachia - Science in the Public Interest
Frankfurt, KY

Kay Tiffany, Steering Committee
Lexington Global Warming Action Coalition
Lexington, MA

Paul Gallimore, Director
Long Branch Environmental Education Center
Leicester, NC

Greg Mello
Los Alamos Study Group
Albuquerque, NM

Claudine Cremer, Owner
Meadow Cove Farm
Weaverville, NC

Linda Belgrave, Secretary
Miami for Peace & Justice
Coral Gables, FL

Barbara Jennings, CSJ, Coordinator
Midwest Coalition for Responsible Investment
St. Louis, MO

Mark Haim, Chair
Missourians for Safe Energy
Columbia, MO

Judy Treichel, Executive Director
Nevada Nuclear Waste Task Force
Las Vegas, NV

Lilia Diaz, Outreach Director
New Energy Economy
Santa Fe, NM

Penelope McMullen, SL
New Mexico Justice and Peace Coordinator
Loretto Community
Santa Fe, NM

Carolyn Treadway
No New Nukes
Normal, IL

Wells Eddleman, Staff Scientist
North Carolina Citizens Research Group
Durham, NC

Larry Bell, President
North East Arizona Energy Services Company
Concho, AZ

Barbara Haack, Member
North Shore Coalition for Peace and Justice
Ipswich, MA

David Borris, President
North Suburban Peace Initiative and Chicago Area Peace Action
Evanston, IL

Nina Bell, J.D., Executive Director
Northwest Environmental Advocates
Portland, OR

Alice Slater, NY Director
Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
New York, NY

David Krieger, President
Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
Santa Barbara, CA

Wendy Oser, Director
Nuclear Guardianship Project
Berkeley, CA

Jack & Felice Cohen-Joppa, editors
The Nuclear Resister
Tucson, AZ

Arn Specter, Editor
The Nuclear Review
Philadelphia, PA

Glenn Carroll, Coordinator
Nuclear Watch South
Atlanta, GA

Chris Daum, President
Oasis Montana Inc. Renewable Energy Supply & Design
Stevensville, MT

Philip Tymon, Administrative Director
Occidental Arts and Ecology Center
Occidental, CA

Patricia A. Marida, Chair-Nuclear Issues Committee
Ohio Sierra Club
Columbus, OH

Dave Robinson, Executive Director
Pax Christi USA
Washington, DC

Judi Friedman, Chair
PACE (People's Action for Clean Energy, Inc.)
Canton, CT

Aviv Goldsmith, President
Precursor Systems, Inc.
Spotsylvania, VA
...

[Message clipped]

Quakers and the Interfaith Movement: New Book and Workshop at FGC

Quakers and the Interfaith Movement is the title both of my soon-to-be-published book and also of a workshop I plan to facilitate this summer at the Friends General Conference Gathering at Grinnell College in Iowa (http://www.fgcquaker.org/gathering/this-year/workshop/friends-and-the-interfaith-movement). This book contains practical tips on how to do interfaith work (such as interfaith cafes and compassionate listening) as well as indepth essays by weighty Friends such as Michael Birkel, Sallie King , Gene Hoffman, Kay Lindhal, Rachel Stacy, Max Carter, Ralph Beebe, Michael Sells, David Ruth, Tim Sallingers, Richard Bellin, Rhoda Gilman, and Pablo Stanfield. The book will be published under the aegis of Quaker Universalist Fellowship and will be available in time for this summer’s FGC Gathering. Below is a draft of the introduction describing the contents of this new book.

During June and July I plan to drive across the United States again, sharing my interfaith ministry with interested Friends. If you’d like for me to visit your Meeting, please let me know as soon as possible.

Introduction: A Quakerly Approach to Interfaith Peacemaking and Dialogue

in the Twenty-First Century

During this era when religion has become an excuse for terrifying violence and endless wars, we need to take to heart the words of the Catholic theologian Hans Kung:

There can be no peace among the nations without peace among the religions. There can be no peace among religions without dialogue. And there can be no dialogue without a common ethic.

Quakers have had a Peace Testimony for 350 years, but it has become clear we cannot achieve our dream of world peace unless we work in concert with those of other religions who share our vision. As the British Friend Sylvia Stagg put it:

When I joined the Quaker Committee on Christian and Interfaith Relations (QCCIR), interfaith work was of general interest. Now in 2005… interfaith relations has become an over-riding necessity in all our community relations. It is no longer a choice but an absolute necessity.

This handbook consists of writings by Quakers who have played significant roles in the interfaith movement and have helpful advice and insights to offer. While this book is mainly intended for Quakers, we hope it will be useful for all who are concerned about interfaith peacemaking and dialogue.

The book begins with “Advices and Queries,” the traditional method used by Quakers to stimulate reflection through pithy quotations and open-ended questions. Quakers feel that before considering the ideas and opinions of others, it is important to reflect upon one’s own experiences, motivations, and inward wisdom.

The first section deals with reasons why the interfaith movement is important and describes various approaches to interfaith peacemaking. This article was the first to be published on this topic by a major American Quaker magazine.

The second section deals with compassionate listening (one of the most important Quaker contributions to peace making) and offers practical advice on how to organize encounters that can build trust and understanding among people of different faith traditions.

The third section contains essays by leading Quaker scholars/activists who examine interfaith dialogue in depth from various theological perspectives. Michael Birkel is a professor of religion at Earlham College, which was founded in Richmond, Indiana, by Quaker in 1847. A liberal Christian, he worships in an unprogammed meeting and engages in interfaith dialogue both locally and through the World Council of Churches. His colleague, Stephanie Crumley-Effinger, belongs to a pastoral Quaker tradition and is a campus minister. Sallie King, on the other hand, is a Buddhist Quaker who teaches comparative religion at James Madison University in Richmond, Virginia. Finally, Rachel Stacy is a young Friend who recently graduated from Earlham School of Religion and describes herself as a Universalist Christian Quaker.

The fourth section describes Quaker Universalist Fellowship (QUF) and the Christian and Interfaith Relations Committee (CIRC) of Friends General Conference (FGC), Quaker organizations that promote interfaith dialogue and understanding. It also contains an essay about the Parliament of the World’s Religions, which helped to launch the modern interfaith movement at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. Quakers played an active part in this extraordinary interreligious gathering, which led to the formation of CIRC.

The last two sections deal with how Friends can reach out to Muslims and Jews. It includes my pamphlet “Islam from a Quaker Perspective,” as well as my writings on the Qur’an and the Bible. Also included are excerpts from Michael Sells’ translation of the Qur’an, with an insightful commentary.

The final section of the book also examines the question of Israel/Palestine, the most divisive issue for those involved with interfaith work. Because a considerable number of Quakers are of Jewish background, and because Friends have had a deep commitment to this region for over a hundred years—since the formation of the Ramallah Friends School—Friends have played a small, but not insignificant role in the search for a just, compassionate and lasting peace in this region.

Those who wish to learn more are encouraged to go to the QUF blog: quakeruniversalist.org or our website: universalistfriends.org. The QUF blog contains lively and up-to-date information about what Friends and others are doing to promote Universalism and interfaith understanding. The QUF website is an online library of introspective pieces from renowned Friends, historical overviews and incisive book reports, and over 40 pamphlets downloadable for free. As QUF continues to put ever more content online, this Quaker Library will grow to become a great index of contemporary Quaker writings.

Because much of this material has been used in workshops I have facilitated at Friends General Conference, Pendle Hill, Quaker Center Ben Lomond, and various other Quaker venues, I would like to thank those who have taken part in these workshops, and are involved actively in nurturing what Martin Luther King called “the Beloved Community.”

I also want to express my heart-felt appreciation to QUF and CIRC, and to the numerous Friends and faith leaders who have made my interfaith ministry not only possible, but joyful: Stanford Searl, Diane Manning and Kathy Forsman (members of Santa Monica Meeting who are part of my accountability/support committee); George Amoss, Larry Spears, Sallie King, Sally Rickerman, Lynn Cope, Steve Angell, Michael Birkel, Jim Rose, Rachel Stacy, Mark Kharas (members of QUF); Tom Paxson, Dorothy Walizer, Michael Birkel, Charley Earp, Brad Oglivie (members of CIRC). I am also deeply grateful to my various interfaith colleagues and friends: Joseph Prabu, Ruth Broyde-Sharone, Noor Malike Chisti, John Ishvardas Abdallah, Rev Jeff Utter, Rev Jan Chase, Rev Richard Rose (Parliament of the World’s Religions); Milia Islam-Majeed (South Coast Intefaith Council); Steve Rodhe, Grace Dyrness, George Regas, Shakeel Syed, Cheryl Johnson (Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace); and many others too numerous to name.

The Challenge of Fasting

The Lenten experience also entails some form of self-sacrifice--giving up food or some other pleasure that stands between us and God. The point of sacrificial giving is to give not just to the level where it feels comfortable, but to give until it hurts. "To turn all of our treasures into channels for universal love is the real business of our lives," is how John Woolman put it. Self-sacrifice opens the door to love as we learn to care for others the same way that we care for ourselves.

Like repentance, the act of self-sacrifice can be perverted. Take, for instance, the phrase which I am sure that many of us had heard (or perhaps uttered) at least once in our lives:

"I made all these sacrifices for you, and look how you treat me."

Playing the martyr is not self-sacrifice; it's just a power trip with fancy bows and wrapping.

To understand self-sacrifice, we need to look at its root meaning: "to make sacred." To sacrifice oneself means to "make oneself a sacred gift, an offering" to God or to others.

True self-sacrifice is not about pain and self-deprivation, except in the sense that a drug addict experiences pain when going cold turkey. Self-sacrifice means giving up an addiction to a lesser good so that we can experience ultimate goodness. Giving up alcohol or heroin may be painful at first, but in the long run, sobriety is much more satisfying than addiction.

For this reason, self-sacrifice can be one of life's most fulfilling experiences. What a relief it is to say, "I am not a slave to my own selfish desires. I can choose not to eat candy or to drink alcohol or to be judgmental." Each time one gives up a lesser good for the sake of a greater good, one is "making oneself sacred." What freedom and joy such self-sacrifice bring!

For early Christians, "going without meat" meant "enabling your brother to eat"--or as we would say it today, "living simply so that others can simply live." In 128 A.D. Aristides explained to Emperor Hadrian the strange manner in which Christians lived: "When someone is poor among them, who has need of help, they fast for two or three days and they have the custom of sending him the food which they had prepared for themselves." Early Quakers had the same reckless habit of sharing with others: "Justices and captains had come to break up this meeting, but when they saw Friends' books and accounts of collections concerning the poor...they were made to confess that we did their work....And many times there would be two hundred beggars of the world there, for all the country knew we met about the poor....." (Journal 1660 p. 373).

The spiritual power of fasting and sharing with the poor came home to me recently when I helped organize a program for Junior Friends. During one of our planning sessions, I showed a video about starving children and asked how many of the teens would be willing to "give up meat so that others could eat." To my surprise, the entire group said that they would!

Fasting is something that Friends don't ordinarily do, especially out here in California, so I was taken aback by the enthusiasm with which these young Friends looked forward to self-denial. It was as if they had a spiritual hunger that could only be satisfied by giving up what teens sometimes seem to value most---food!

During Quarterly Meeting, our small, but enthusiastic group fasted for 30 hours to raise money for relief and development work in Third World countries. During the course of our fast, we watched videos, heard talks, and learned about the root causes of hunger in today's world. It's amazing how much more meaningful dry statistics about hunger become when you hear them on a empty stomach!

Fasting can be a powerful testimony, as I recently learned from the example of Joseph Havens. A psychologist and a peace activist for many years, Joe published a Pendle Hill pamphlet called The Fifth Yoga. I came to know Joe when he and his wife Teresina ran a retreat center called Temenos on a wooded mountain top near Amherst, Massachusetts. Temenos was a place where peace activists, artists, and spiritual seekers came together for spiritual growth and healing.

Joe and Teresina took very seriously the Quaker testimony on simplicity. They had no running water or electricity. They re-cycled everything; even their outhouse was equipped to turn waste products into compost. When I first met the Havens, they were both in their seventies, and yet they seemed full of zest and vitality. At the end of our lunch together, Joe asked me if I liked Greek dancing. Being Greek, I couldn't turn him down, but I wondered how he was going to create music without electricity. It turns out that he had hooked up a stereo system to car batteries. For the next hour, Joe and I danced with Zorba-like exuberance. Never have I met any one who loved life more than Joe Havens.

A couple of years ago, Joe came down with Parkinson's disease. As his palsy grew worse and worse, he kept a sense of humor ("Now I really am a Quaker," he once quipped.) But when his condition reached the point that he finally had to go to a nursing home, Joe decided to stop eating. When he died, this final message was sent to all his friends:

I believe that we each must look at our dark side, and learn from it, in order to become more complete, whole persons. In the same way, we need to look at the dark side of our society and its institutions, and at the fact that our prosperity is founded on the hunger of others. In sharing what we learn, we can shed light on the adjustments required to forge a more just and equitable society....

Joe passed through his final Lenten experience with a clear mind and an open heart. His testimony was both a political statement and an act of love, even of joy. "Look around us!" he affirmed. "Talk to a stranger, hug a friend, or share with your family, but please, do help this wonderful process along."

The Lenten experience is not only about penitence and self-denial, it is also about prayer and renewal. For Friends, the highest form of prayer is silent worship. Silent worship, like meditation, can be a wonderfully relaxing and healing experience--a "safe haven" during times of spiritual upheaval. But silent worship can be also extremely painful. Many people (particularly those who are young) find silence so excruciating that they cannot handle it for longer than ten or fifteen minutes. As Caroline Stephen once pointed out,

Silence is often a stern discipline, a laying bare of the soul before God, a listening to the 'reproof' of life. But the discipline has to be gone through, the reproof has to be listened to, before we can find our right place in the temple. Words may help and silence may help, but the one thing needful is that the heart should turn to its maker as the needle turns to the pole. For this we must be still.

The seventeenth-century Quaker apologist Robert Barclay sometimes talks about meeting for worship as a birthing process. He says that when worshippers get together, their inner struggle can be like the battling of Jacob and Esau within Rebecca's womb. This inner conflict results in "many groans, and sighs, and tears, even as the pangs of a woman in travail...." According to Barclay, it is from this that the name Quakers, i.e. Tremblers, was first derived.

Nowadays, Friends are not apt to shake physically from their struggles against self-will. But when difficult issues arise, or when troubled personalities appear on the scene, it is not unusual for Friends to experience times of pain and turmoil, when it feels as if dark forces are tearing the meeting and our souls apart. In silent meetings, it is hard to gloss over or hide from what is painful, neurotic, or demonic within ourselves and our community.

During these dark times, it is tempting to withdraw from meeting altogether, or to fall asleep, as Jesus' disciples did in the garden of Gesthemane. But those who stay attentive during these times of spiritual crisis can make some astonishing discoveries. In the heart of darkness one can discern a light that cannot be extinguished---a sense of peace that cannot be shaken--a love that never fails. No one who has ever experienced this peace, this light, would ever want a mere "safe haven." But this peace has a price. In order to taste it, we must take the cup of fear and trembling to our lips and say to the Creator of the Universe, "Let Thy will, not mine, be done."

Homage to snow drops and other early spring flowers

During my recent visit to Pendle Hill, I was enchanted by a tiny white flower that shyly drooped its petals towards the earth. It was the first flowering of spring. Clustered together in little groups, shivering in the brisk breezes, these delicate blooms seemed incredibly fragile... and incredibly brave.

I later learned these flowers were snowdrops and are so hardy they sometimes emerge while the snow is still on the ground. Some think this flower may have been the mysterious moly--the flower that Hermes gave Odysseus so that he wouldn't be affected by Circe, the enchantress.

I am always happy to make the acquaintance of a new flower--it's like making a new friend. And I love to share these little discoveries with others, especially with those I love.

Several years ago I wrote a letter to my wife Kathleen while I was at Pendle Hill in which I described another flower that tugged at my heart. This yellow flower with star-like petals takes over Pendle Hill in April, yet no one knew its name. I was intrigued to learn this flower was called the lesser celandine and was loved by William Wordsworth even more than he loved daffofils.

Inspired by this flower, I wrote the following piece that became the lead story in the spring 2008 issue of Friends Journal.

On Falling in Love with a Weed at Pendle Hill:

A Letter to my Wife Kathleen

Dear One,

Today a flower caught my eye—a little yellow flower which grows everywhere here in Pendle Hill in the spring, and which I must have seen hundreds of times, but I’ve never paid any attention to it before. It’s the kind of flower you would have noticed and admired with the enthusiasm that I love so much in you. I can almost hear your “oohs” and “ahhs” of admiration.

As I sat outdoors with friends eating lunch, I looked out across the unkempt lawn and noticed that it was covered with little yellow flowers strewn about like clusters of stars.

“Does anyone know what these little yellow flowers are?” I asked.

“They’re buttercups,” someone said without much interest as she grazed on her salad.
“I’m pretty sure they’re not buttercups,” I replied. “Buttercups are round and when you put them under someone’s chin, you can tell if they like butter.”

The memory of buttercups brought smiles to both our faces, but still I wanted to know more about these yellow flowers with star-like petals and heart-shaped leaves. I asked again if anyone knew the flower’s name.
“It’s an invasive weed,” someone else said as if she were talking about an undesirable alien that had moved into the neighborhood. “We have to pull them up all the time in the garden. They’re a nuisance.”

“At least, they’re an attractive nuisance,” I replied.


All day as I went about my other business, I puzzled about this little flower. Its tiny yellow petals reached out to the sun with such joy and hopefulness. Surely it had a name and a story.


I went to the Source of All Knowledge, Google, and found images of hundreds of little yellow flowers, but none were like the ones that blanket Pendle Hill.

Later I had dinner with an interesting young African American man named Adam who told me about his spiritual journey. Born into a Baptist family, he had discovered Islam and then explored various African religions and now was experimenting with Quakerism. As often happens at Pendle Hill, our conversation took a mystical turn and we both agreed that everything is interconnected. We are all One, and yet somehow diverse and individual.

“It’s like those flowers,” I said. “We are all alike and yet unique. Each of us has been given a unique name so we can know each other. As God says in the Bible, I will call you each by name. When we can name each other, we can have a relationship. We can love each other, as God loves us.”

Adam has a beautiful wife with the lovely name Saba and two beautiful children, a boy and a girl, whose names are Morningstar and Little Bear. It’s nice knowing that my new friend’s name is Adam, and that Adam means “earthling” in Hebrew. If I didn’t know Adam’s name, how could I be his friend?

As a wandered about Pendle Hill, enjoying the trees with their nametages, I continued to wonder about the nameless flower that seemed to pop up at my feet wherever I walked.

Not far from the Barn, I ran across O. “O” is the name of an African American woman who wear all-black clothing (t-shirts and pants) and has a Mohawk tinged with gray (she has a daughter in her 20s). O often gives messages during meeting for worship that speak to and about the mysterious depths of the soul and body. O’s official job is to clean up the rooms and do other chores, but her real position is that of prophet-in-residence. I asked O if she knew the name of this flower.

“It’s a lesser celandine,” she said very calmly and confidently.

I was impressed but not surprised that O knew what no one else seemed to know or care about. O knows everything worth knowing about Pendle Hill.

So I returned to that lesser oracle, Google, to find out more about the “lesser celandine.”

Its Latin monicker is ranunculus ficaria. It is described in Wikipedia as a “low-growing, hairless perennial with fleshy dark green, heart-shaped leaves.”

Hmm. Hairless. Fleshy. These are adjectives that never would have occurred to me. And there is no mention of its lovely yellow petals. Who could fail to notice the celandine’s most striking feature?

The article went on to note that the celandine is one of the first flowers to bloom in the spring. and is found throughout Europe and west Asia and was imported to North America. It prefers bare, damp ground and is considered a persistent garden weed by many people.

But not by all. William Worthworth “discovered” the celandine and was proud of the fact that he was the first English poet to celebrate it in verse. Like most of us, he passed by the celandine for many years until one day he noticed its simple, yet striking beauty:

I have seen thee, high and low,
Thirty years or more, and yet
Twas a face I did not know.


Once he came to “know its face,” the celandine became a flower that Wordsworth loved and celebrated throughout his life. He identified with its ordinariness, its lack of aristocratic pretense. Unlike the rose or the orchid, the celandine did not expect or need special treatment. Unlike the tulip or the daffodil, it was never prized. Yet it was at home everywhere:

Kindly, unassuming Spirii
Careless of thy neighborhood.
Thou dost show thy pleasant face
On the moor, and in the wood.
In the lane—there’s not a place,
Howsoever mean it be,
But ‘tis good enough for thee.

Wordsworth saw the celandine not simply as a ubiquitous presence, but as a “prophet of delight
and mirth.” And like most prophets, the celandine is “ill-requited upon earth."
The Germans called the celandine Scharbockskraut (Scurvywort) because they believed that the leaves, which are high in Vitamin C, could help prevent scurvy. The English nicknamed the plant Pilewort because the knobbly tubers of the plant resemble piles and therefore could help alleviate hemorrhoids. I don’t want to speculate how this herb was used.

Folks in earlier times may have given this little flower unappealing names, but at least they thought that it was a useful herb. Nowadays, we regard it simply as an invasive weed.

Excited and delighted to learn so much about this flower, I went back to the dormitory to see if I could find anyone to share my discovery with. A bunch of mostly young students were about to watch a documentary called “The End of Suburbia.” It’s a doomsday film about peak oil and how the American way of life is about to go down the tubes. I told them about the celandine.


The only thing that caught their attention was my comment that the celandine was a non-native species. This factoid got everyone talking about how awful non-native species are, and how they are ruining the environment.

In a sense, this is true, but many indigenous folk would see all of us in the room as “non-natives” and we are indeed ruining the environment in ways far worse than what the celandine is doing.


But maybe that’s being too hard on the celandine, and on ourselves. Maybe we need to see the world through the eyes of a prophetic poet like Wordsworth.

Wordsworth saw the world with the kind of vision that enabled Jesus to say of wildflowers. “They neither toil nor spin, yet Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”


The compulsive workaholism of Americans, and our obsession with celebrity and success, would not have impressed Wordsworth. He enjoyed debunking the pretensions of “great men” by praising this simple, everyday flower known to all, but noticed and appreciated by very few:

Eyes of men travel far
For the finding of a star;
Up and down the heavens they go,
Men that keep a mighty rout!
I’m as great as they, I trow,
Since the day I found thee out.
Little Flower! I’ll make a stir,
Like a sage astronomer.


Wordsworth ends this poem by addressing a flower as humble as an old shoe, yet as praiseworthy as a pyramid, when seen through the eyes of a lover:

Thou art not beyond the moon,
But a thing “beneath our shoon.”
Let the bold Discoverer thrid
In his bark the polar sea;
Rear who will a pyramid;
Praise it is enough for me,
If there be but three or four
Who will love my little Flower.

Wordsworth continued to love and to write about this little flower even as he grew older and became aware of his infirmities and dark moods. In a later poem, he writes that “there is a flower, the lesser celandine, that shrinks, like many more, from cold and rain.” But on “one rough day” the poet notices a celandine that doesn’t close up against the storm; it stands up stiffly in the icy blasts. That’s because the celandine is old and dying. Wordsworth again identifies with his “old friend.” “In my spleen,” writes Wordsworth. “I smiled that it was grey.”

Perhaps it seems sentimental or “romantic” to have a long-term relationship with a flower, particularly one that most people regard as a weed. Yet I feel somehow richer and more complete having shared this experience with Wordsworth. I am grateful to have had the time to commune with the living things here at Pendle Hill and to have come to know the lowly celandine as a f/Friend.

Whenever I come back to Pendle Hill in the spring, I will remember the time when I first noticed this little flower that caught my eye and captured my heart. There will doubtless come to a day when I am old and gray and have to hobble along with a walker just like some of the older Board members who come here faithfully each spring.

Feeling the need to write and reflect on the celandine, I left the room where the young students were watching “The End of Suburbia.”. When I returned, I said, “What did you think of the movie? Are we doomed or is there any hope?”

“We’re all going to die someday,” a young man said with a brave show of cheerfulness.

This is true. But when I pass on, I will have experienced the little celandine in all its glory. Maybe at my memorial meeting, someone will remember me by saying, “Anthony was someone who loved flowers and wrote a little essay about some little flower here at Pendle Hill thought was an invasive weed. What was that flower’s name anyway?”

When Wordsworth died, it was proposed that a celandine be carved on his memorial plaque inside the church of Saint Oswald at Grasmere. But unfortunately they used the wrong flower, the Greater Celandine.

Only those who know the little celandine and love it as Wordsworth did would notice or care.

That, my Friend, is the latest news from Pendle Hill, where there are no weeds, only flowers and plants that we don’t have a name or story or a poem for yet.

Love,

Anthony