was a gun to mosaic on behalf of the rev. and myself with thanks for joining us for mosaic. the welcome back some good friends located here in the bay area charles gibbs with united religions initiative it's good to have you welcome now let's start right out united religions initiative we are global and interfaith organization our purpose is to promote in during daily interfaith cooperation to end religious the motivated violence and create cultures of peace justice and healing for the earth and all living beings. small bowls.

but carried out to many local groups called cooperation circles with over 550 of them in 80 countries over half a million members who each day tried to make some contribution to making that purpose a reality to interfaith cooperation. we are in 80 countries and 550 local groups and over half a million members. the begun here in santa to scope greta that's correct out of an invitation from the un in 1993 to the then episcopal bishop pierre william swing ask him to post a one hour interfaith service from the u.n. charter setting at the grace cathedral and he said he would be happy to and when he was asked to bring religions free

nations of the world he realized that the nation's worked together not to make one nation, but for a shared purpose of trying to create peace. the religions of the other hand weren't working together in and out of that can the question and a vision. the question is why aren't religious working together at the vision was of a time when people of all faiths could model cooperation not just for their own advantage but for the good of the whole world. clear no cat i know what to say headquarters but based here in san francisco and how many people are involved around the city? our global office is here with the staff of 16 here one of those people is an extension office of our global and another in london. but then the group's here in the

san francisco bay area better part of it their own operation the sentence is the interfaith council the marin interfaith council and contra costa and there's a wonderful group down on the peninsula. each of them in their own local work but through this they're connected in the global network that i was speaking about. so they get contacted at any moment of calling in pakistan or india or in liberia or argentina in germany and bosnia a global community where people are able to cherished their unique identities but claim the shared identity as citizens of the earth and recognizing that we all come from the same source even scientists agreed that is indisputable human life comes from the same source and

we say we should claim that shared identity and cherish and celebrate our unique identities and use those as guests to enrich the human community and critical areas like poverty and the environment in the mediation of conflict. helping to raise children with a new awareness of their neighbors. so instead of recapitulating animosity we see young people growing up with this sense that you're my neighbor and you may have a different faith in you may believe some different things but we are neighbors and we can work together in our own ways to make our communities better. we will talk more about the united religion's initiative right here in san francisco stay with this will be right back.

off in 1993 the then bishop episcopalian bishop of california was asked to put together something for these united nations celebration. an interfaith sort of thing that is still going on today. charles gibbs is with us talking about how successful was the center court and in center and the goals of the united religion's initiative and a couple of the examples of projects may be. one of the things that we believe is critical is that we raise a new generation of young leaders we have young leaders program that has pulled a global dimension and is identifying promising young leaders of different faiths and different parts of the world in designating them as u.s. ambassador's providing training for them both and interfaith dialogue and being able to

facilitate proper checks and the local centers. they create cooperation circles to moderate that model interfaith cooperation and also the bay area to mention that that that the pilot and programs for interfaith cooperation in different bay area high schools have also part of another program to help open the awareness of everyone in the bay area to the present and gas brought by our muslim neighbors here in the bay area. it's what i think is part of a much larger effort in the u.s. to recognize there's been a lot of negativity pointed toward our muslim neighbors in the last many years. and in some ways the creeping islam phobia and were part of an effort to say that these folks are neighbors every bit as much as anyone else. we need to get to know them and have them get to know us and we need to work together it's

happening all over the country in many ways. it's a focused effort we've let's talk about that. we've been working on this so talking about the youth initiative in the bay area were live for instance use of what religions. certainly christians and jews and muslims and hindus and buddhists and seeks greater you put of these young people and a room i assume and how he began. we had a phenomenal coordinator of our young leaders program here a young woman who was born in india and has largely grown up here in this country and she has a remarkable background and increase

training and helping to bring together diverse groups of young people in a sense it's not different from bringing any new group together. let's talk about a new group of the jolts. their young people would come together and just began to get to know each other as individuals. so you diffuse any stereotypes that might exist to start with. i come to know you as a fellow human being and what you care about when your passions? and the process we discover a lot of commonality. we talk about one of the things the challenges in our lives and where the issues in the world that were growing up in that are troubling to us. and discover a lot of common ground and that can be begin to drift into what is your faith teach you that would cause you to be concerned about what's going on in relation to the

environment or this is a key pieces of used work but also a key piece of our work around a lot of what some people would call the dialogue of action how to remove beyond talking into concrete projects. as a big component of service learning that the sun what does that mean? lets take a particular project an area that has been littered with garbage a group of young people would go to that area people of different faiths and spend a day working to clean that up. they're doing some kind of a service project and working with their hands. and after they've done the work they sit back and reflect on what the experience was like. what was it like for you to be doing this work and what was it

like for you to do this work in the community of people of different faiths? and what resources to draw on in your faith that makes this important for you to be involved in? it had you do that with the adults? @ thinking to that similarly. the younger generation anywhere from high-school early professional life, have largely grown up in a time when they been able to connect with the world pretty freely. the folks are age were set in our way as long before. so there isn't the same media experience immediate experience and that an older people have seen a means that people come together initially being a little and easy. i never met with the muslim a

muslim christian a hindu origin you and so all i know about this other person is what i've been taught and often lead to have been taught as a negative stereotype but to sit down and have an opportunity for one-on- one conversation about things that matter to you, what is your vision of this community? and what are the things you'd love to see improved? tell me when you've worked cooperatively cooperatively with other people and when you feel successful. and people should openly that way you discover very quickly strangers become friends and people who are suspicious of each other link arms as colleagues and say that we have work to do together and suddenly their strength for before we had division. united religions initiatives will be right back.

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united religious initiative we were aware of is asking about how to bring people together i am familiar with the various areas of cities are people have things in common with the cleanup with a lot more police but had you bring people from some in the bay area and i have an interest in meeting somebody had been involved in this with thing, a direct call you up? how can people respond? one thing certainly people can contact the office a good place for anyone to start would be the web site greta there is

on the screen. there is information and stories from all of the world and a list of cooperation circles someone in the bay area could go to our web sites and find cooperation circles that already exist in the bay area and make contact that way and our hope is that people will do two things. one that might connect with an existing cooperation circle and another is someone might become inspired and say i've been interested for years about that mosque that's 2 mi. away and there's a synagogue this direction and there's anything there is an indigenous community somewhere near here. i'd like to begin to get to know those folks in the last word in you or i know its name is initiative. we hope people will take the initiative and the inspired to

what to get to know their spiritual neighbors to find out the resources that they bring but also i think most people understand and experience this often the question is don't you lose your faith if it involves an interfaith work most people would say none of that they feel their faith is been deepened because as they learn about other faith to look at their own faith in a new way study it in a new way has the capacity to strengthen my belief as a christian and to open me to the possibilities that exist in as receive religion six spiritual expressions and traditions have so often been humbled by the faithful this princetons of indigenous people who have such reverence for the earth and if only we western culture had picked up on some of that a few centuries ago when

might not be measuring the melting polar ice cap as we gather here. the un + twenty in arm and a gathering is giving up down in rio. people from all parts of the world that are participating in that frame a uniquely religious or spiritual perspective into the conversations about climate. added to get interested in this? good question there are two pieces to that when i was born and raised in the episcopal church and yet have always felt that as much as the cherished by christian identity that that was not the only path to the ultimate truth to god and that pena and non been known and unknown and that part of life has been the most compelling to me and learning from others not just from people who practice my

own state has always been compelling for me. the other is a group with a brother who had down syndrome and he taught me in his life that there really are no other people in this world the matter how different someone might seem we really are fundamentally sisters and brothers and our job i believe is to do my best to be a sister from brother for me to another brother or sister this world and to call in to that relationship to desist deepest and best spiritual resources that i have and that other people have created a sense of family where everybody is welcome and all of the riches of our wisdom traditions helped to guide us to work for the good of all. i was born in new mexico and grew up there and in oklahoma. and went to school there i demand a graduate work

stoppage in colombia and pomona college of is a theater major and ended up going back to school and getting a master's degree in fiction and poetry writing and teaching writing at the university of minnesota before i finally went to seminary had my wife of 37 years is the head of a school known washington d.c. so i jumped back and forth across the country on a regular basis and our son newest 31 years old is now the father of and eight months old and so we're grandparents for the first time and her daughter is headed off to the summer program at columbia university focus on the publishing industry and co and they used to be called king's college and the scriptural thing is unlikely shall discover late the looking into got as scripture we shall discover everything around us and natural sciences as well.

what is a cannon? an honorary canon of grace cathedral designated so by the bishop as a way of saying i think the interfaith court should be part of what the church is doing and appointed thing for an area to think this service staff and a cathedral are called canton's because the cathedral is the bishops home the bishop this responsible for innocents representing the unity and a normative practice of the diocese the people who wrote are responsible for helping the bishop and that have the title can in his comes from the word that goes to law. the english department and the university where there is the canon of english literature to finance what the normal this cannons have a responsibility to

help represent the normal focus the best focus of a dialysis so in honoraria can in my understanding is designated at a time when the bishop feels that this is a new focus that deserved to have a spot like put on it. the spotlight and sup being in the person who's designated that way. this really pointing at the work. another wonderful on every canon at grace cathedral the rev. sallie bingham whose work the focus on the recall and to take a break and we'll be right back.

tough grain to the reverend charles begins is a lesson with united collisions initiative based care. the idea it's a precursor to the internet and the horizontal communication cut get people together and take initiatives going on for how long? extra time working on a charter in 1996 and slandered charter on june 26th in 2000 and

we're creeping up toward our 12th anniversary of son in the charter. the wind down anniversary 50 years was the launch for this. that was an 95 there was a couple of years getting ready for that in the year between service and the formal beginning of our charter ring process that brought together thousands of people ultimately from all over the world. sometimes in the bay area and often in other parts of the rose green people who would never spoken with each other often together to dream and plan and commit to work side by side and that was the birth basically of this community. our core mission. we believe this people told us that the people on the ground know best what needs to happen.

they can choose what they wanted to have what organize the the half and the manner that upholster highest vision and values and that's the commitment of recruit makes. groups of the middle of a civil war in northern uganda and different face leaders coming together saying that our primary obligation as we were caught between the hammer and anvil is to protect people and for for for a visionary fifth leaders from different traditions standing to between the government to lift resistance army working to reclaim child soldiers and get people to the peace table that's one example another might be small group of schoolchildren in india who are reclaiming land that is been turned into a garbage dump and planting fruit trees. and repairing to have a training to bring people of different

faiths and cultures together to provide them with some expertise in working across a and cultural boundaries to help deepen peace and address urgent need in the community. if you want to do huts at the webb said up they're the easiest way to contact as go on the web site and see will bring our. and your hopes for this you have about a minute left the next couple of years what we've been working on? we see the growth of you or i around the world what to grow for impact numbers are great but we want to see this work deeper and deeper impact we want them to be more visible so people see it as a resource to hope but address issues that present themselves anywhere in the world. the other part, is growing for sustainability is the organization grows will work

more broadly all around the world to attract human and financial resources that are needed to see this work and not become an exception that the rule to human interaction in communities all around the world. we think were divided to find out which is beginning to get together. it's been our pleasure to have reverend charles gibson at great conceit cathedral with united religions initiative and wonderful place good stuff thanks very much for joining us. we will be back next month.

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