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"Faith of the Free"
-- A "grassroots forum" of information, inspiration and ideas...in the spirit and tradition of critically-thinking, broadly inclusive, "liberal religion"...about its rich heritage, intrinsic values, and growing relevance for an ever-shrinking world. --
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uufreespirit
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Joined: 16 Apr 2007
Posts: 1744
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 Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2007 5:55 pm Post subject: "Building Community Across Differences" |
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"But the focus on religion's connection with the nuts and bolts of national politics ignores how religion, which is irreducibly diverse, is going public in some form every day in this country. And this has as much to do with our democracy as with who influences our institutions of government. Seeing how citizens, like [New York Buddhist priest Rev. T.K.] Nakagaki, mix religion and democracy requires us to remember how complex our concept of citizenship really is.
On the one hand, a citizen may be asked to leave his or her religious or ethnic identity at home when engaging in the public life of democracy (that's the tradition of separation of church and state). On the other hand, the public sphere is the place where people of different cultures and views interact, share ideas and create public opinion. This keeps our government in check and helps legitimize our democracy....
Religion shapes the moral and social identity of its community members. It is often what propels citizens to work together and then reach across difference. Hindus, Buddhists, Jews and members of all the other faiths that make Americans so diverse are a part of the pro-religion camp, whether they want them or not. Often these faiths model a different kind of political behavior, which seeks participation, but in less polarized ways...."
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-- This is from a NewsDay article, by MATTHEW WEINER. Mr. Weiner is director of programming at the Interfaith Center of New York. You can find the complete article here;
http://tinyurl.com/2cvhw7
Ron
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"Freedom depends on free thinkers." --- Dan Barker
"The Reformation Must Continue!" --- Friedrich Schleiermacher
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