As part of the Interfaith Community, we at the Temple of Understanding believe that we have a responsibility to share our vision of hope to heal the world.  I see racism as a disease that has been used for thousands of years by power hungry individuals to dehumanize another people, culture, religious following, skin color, etc. in order to take over their land and destroy them. This is the time for the Interfaith Community to stand together and not just oppose racism, denial of religious freedom, and oppression of the poor in all its ugly forms, but to present to the world a vision of hope, a vision of an alternative way of caring about each other and the planet. 

 

As an Interfaith Community, we are coming together  to call on religious leaders and actors to work in concert to promote a shared vision of a world where racism in all its forms is condemned; nuclear weapons are abolished; alternative energy is promoted; local organic farms and co-ops are supported; women, especially women of color, are respected, not abused.    

 

Read the full statement by Temple of Understanding Executive Director Alison Van Dyk. 

On October 16th and 17th 2020, the Temple of Understanding and Marble Collegiate Church are hosting a virtual Forum2020 event that includes the leaders of the major interfaith organizations, spiritual leaders and environmental actors.  We seek to strengthen and unify the interfaith response to the climate emergency. An interfaith prayer service and concert will lift our spirits.  Save the dates!

 

Our colleagues at Religions for Peace, Parliament of World's Religions, United Religions Initiative and the Interfaith Center of New York have held an online seminar, Addressing Systematic Violence Against the African American Community, and released a statement, This Perilous Moment.

"We write together and in one voice, with urgency, as people of faith and as religious and spiritual leaders that represent the diverse faith traditions of United States of America. We are Baha'i, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Humanist, Indigenous, Jain, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, Taoist, Unitarian Universalist, Zoroastrian, and many others.

 

Our words come in an hour of peril informed by a sense of crisis. Racial injustice, deep inequities, hate speech, brutality, and authoritarian power converge in a vulnerable moment when millions are infected and affected by a global virus that we have yet to find either a vaccine for or any medication to deliver us from. This endangers the fabric of our society.

 

Recent recurrent violence against African Americans made inescapably public has brought to a head long - stewing, justified, and righteous anger. 

Our wicked scourge of discrimination and racism is structural, systemic, systematic, and institutional. We live with its legacy daily in a myriad of forms, seen and unseen.

 

We soberly own up to the fact that our religious communities have been complicit for far too long. We have upheld in far too many ways the false tenets that enable racism to continue in our society."

 

Join us on Facebook Live Thursday June 18 at 2 pm (EST) for "Getting Under My Skin: Anti-Racism 201 for Faith Leaders" or register to join us with Zoom.

As an educational organization, the Temple of Understanding suggests WBUR's