On the evening of June 17, 2015 Dylann Roof, a 21-year-old white supremacist, assassinated nine African Americans, including the senior pastor, state senator Clementa C. Pinckney, during a prayer service at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina. I use the word "assassinated" as opposed to the more common term "murdered" because Roof confessed to committing the shooting in the hope of igniting a race war. The shooting targeted one of the United States' oldest black churches, which has long been a site for community organization around civil rights.

In June of 2016 I attended the first annual memorial service held at Grace Chapel A. M. E. in Beaufort, SC. with my friend Rev. Nat Carter and was so moved that I immediately became involved with the organization now known as UICC, Unified Interfaith Community Coalition of Beaufort. Founded by Rev. Jeannine Smalls, this is our fourth year producing the event, this year returning to the Historic Grace Chapel, sister church to Mother Imanuel.

Out of that response to the 2015 shooting at Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, a concerned group of Beaufort clergy and community leaders began gathering to reflect on how faith communities in Beaufort might come together in such a way as to build relationships across historic divisions, in hopes that this might reduce the chance of such violent and hateful acts occurring in our community. Although this annual memorial is our best known event we also have an annual New Years Interfaith gathering in alignment with the annual Governor's proclamation of January as South Carolina's Interfaith Harmony Month, and a number of other activities throughout the year.

This festival which took place Sunday, April 28 at the Irmo community Park 1 to 4 PM,  was a splendid success. A beautiful warm day with hundreds of people in attendance, dozens of vendors, a continual presentation of performances on stage, and an astounding display of artwork were the essential ingredients making it such a satisfying event. Cosponsored by IPSC (Interfaith Partners of South Carolina) and the town of Irmo, it was the result of a rather remarkable story of interfaith tensions, resolutions, and the eventual formation of critical new alliances. More about that history a little later.

A key factor in the success of this festival was the deep involvement IPSC’s Mary Kennerly. Mary has deep ties throughout the community and served for many years as a principal in the local high school. For me the most outstanding element was the art contest for the youth. IPSC produces a calendar each year which features the artwork of our youth on the theme of peace and harmony in our community. Over 130 entries were received and displayed all around the outside and in several rows through the center of a pavilion which allowed all to view this work in the shade. Those who entered were given the option of also having their work entered into IPSC’s Peace in the Park competition and virtually everyone did. This year’s calendar promises to be stellar in the range and quality of art work that will be able to present there.

On the stage a number of performances were given over the afternoon including dance exhibitions from our Hindu and Sikh communities, musical performances from various cultures in a poetry reading by young people who were selected as the winners of a separate poetry contest addressing the themes of peace, harmony and inclusivity.

A local art teacher organized the presentation of a Rangoli, a giant one dollar like installation on one of the lawns consisting of flower petals, macaroni, various colors of soils all combined into various patterns and pictorial themes. Students, parents and others participated in making it before and during the festival.

And no such festival would be complete without food in this festival delivered in grand fashion. It was food from a number of different cultures and plenty to drink including the very best lemonade I’ve ever been served, made from fresh lemons as you stood in line to receive it. It is very clear from the success of this initial festival that we can expect this to be an annual event drawing people from an ever wider circle in the Midlands of South Carolina.

Now a bit about the remarkable history which led to this festival. In June this year, an opportunity presented itself for IPSC to mobilize in the midst of a local controversy. The Mayor of Irmo, Hardy King, had posted controversial comments about Islam on his Facebook page, prompting calls of both support and protest within the local community. IPSC wrote to the Mayor, offering to facilitate a meeting with local Muslims in Columbia. Mayor King informed us that he had already been approached by Chaudhry Sadiq, friend of IPSC and president of the ‘Peace and Integration Council of North America’ (PICNA) to visit the Masjid Noor Ul Huda. Members of IPSC joined the Mayor at the Masjid, and through those all-important encounters, we witnessed a remarkable transformation.

Following the visit, the Mayor apologized for his original postings, acknowledging he had been received at the Mosque better than his own family reunion! Wanting to build on this initial step, IPSC worked in partnership with the Mayor and PICNA, to host a public forum entitled ‘Demystifying Islam’ in the heart of Irmo, took place from 5:30 to 8 p.m. on Aug. 30 at the Irmo municipal building.  This was a valuable opportunity for people to come and learn about Islam, and to engage with panelists from the Muslim, Jewish and Christian community. This was an opportunity to ask questions and work together towards deconstructing harmful stereotypes, building in their place something far more enduring for strong and peaceable community. King said he was unaware of the ways in which Muslim leaders were distancing the faith from acts of terror until Sadiq spoke to him about it directly. Because of what is portrayed in the news media and on social media, King said, many people may believe Islam is a religion of terror and death. So he believed that this information session was very helpful to combat that perception. He said what started as a sour situation that drew much attention and backlash was, in his eyes, a great opportunity. “God has mysterious ways of bringing people together,” Sadiq said.

It was on the basis of the strong relationship that Mayor King had formed with IPSC that he reached out to us to cosponsor this first annual Irmo international Festival.

Since 1990, each of the FBI’s 56 field offices nominates one person or group to receive the “Director’s Award for Community Leadership”. The award, given on behalf of Director Christopher A. Wray, is in recognition of outstanding service to the local community and the enduring contributions to the advancement of justice. IPSC was nominated for this award by Denise Taiste, FBI Diversity and Inclusion Coordinator with the Columbia branch, in recognition of the excellent work of IPSC within South Carolina. Special Agent in Charge, Alphonso “Jody” Norris, presented the 2018 Director’s Community Leadership Award to Interfaith Partners of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, for impacting thousands from communities representing all cultures, religions and backgrounds through their efforts; building relationships of trust; prevention of terrorism; understanding of racial and religious bias, and establishing interfaith groups in various communities across South Carolina.

That presentation convened at the FBI office on Thursday, January 10, 2019. All recipients were invited to FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. on May 3, 2019 to receive the award from FBI Director Christopher Wray. Director’s Community Leadership Award (DCLA) was formally created in 1990 as a way to honor individuals and organizations for their efforts in combating crime, terrorism, drugs, and violence in America. Pictured receiving the award from Director Wray is IPSC’s President and Chair Dr. Adrian Bird. Those members of IPSC that were able to attend the ceremony were:  Amarjit & Amita Singh, Cheryl Glantz Nail, Sarah Kurlowich, Jon Leader, Zulfikar Berk, Holli Emore, and Ethel Crawford.  Adrian said “This award inspires us to keep up the essential work of building relationships of dignity and respect in SC.”

In the ceremony at FBI Headquarters on May 3, 2019, Director Christopher Wray recognized the most recent DCLA recipients. “These leaders, selected by their area FBI field office for their efforts in 2018, have demonstrated outstanding contributions to their local communities through service. The FBI is grateful for the work of each of these individuals and organizations on behalf of their communities.”

This is what the FBI has to say about the DCLA: “It’s a fact: The FBI can only conduct investigations and protect the American people from crime and acts of extremism if it has the support and understanding of the American people. That’s why the special agents in charge of each of our 56 field offices work so closely with their communities and community organizations. What happens when these special agents in charge get such tremendous support from people in their communities that they want to specially recognize them? They nominate them for a They nominate them for a Director’s Community Leadership Award (DCLA). This special award, presented on behalf of the Director of the FBI, was formally created in 1990 as a way to honor individuals and organizations for their efforts in combating crime, terrorism, drugs, and violence in America.”

IPSC was among great company, here is a sampling of the 55 other recipients: Albuquerque - Mescalero Apache Tribe Violence Against Women Program, The Jacksonville Division honored the Islamic Center of Northeast Florida (ICNEF). The Albany Division honored Susan Case DeMari. Through her work with the Jewish Federation Society of Central New York, DeMari has helped prevent and respond to threats targeting the Jewish community. The Buffalo Division honored Emma Buckthal, a passionate advocate for victims of trafficking. The Chicago Division honored Concepcion Rodriguez. For more than a decade, the funeral director, community activist, and gang intervention specialist was in a gang as a teen. Her presentation to teens is based on her firsthand experience of burying more than 200 youths involved in gangs. The Los Angeles Division honored Jodi Wing  an advocate for advancing social change through educational equity. Her Art of Peace Club program teaches children and families critical thinking skills and how to manage emotions and expectations through ethical, interpersonal, and civic engagement. The Louisville Division honored Soha Saiyed, who uses innovative events to raise funds for victims of human trafficking and to shed light on the problem. The Milwaukee Division honors Masood Akhtar. Akhtar is an Indian-born American Muslim activist and wanted to address the current environment of hate, bigotry, and racism. His movement, “We Are Many: United Against Hate,” is dedicated to building an all-inclusive community of people. The Minneapolis Division honors Judith Meisel. A Holocaust survivor, educator, and civil rights activist, Meisel shares her story, strength, and inspiration at high schools, universities, and other community events. “We cannot afford to say, ‘What can I do, I’m only one person?’ One person can do a lot,” Meisel says.”

IPSC was certainly honored to be selected from among many worthy individuals and organizations in South Carolina to receive the Director’s Award for Community Leadership. I personally am proud to work with the many good folks who work in our organization and to serve on IPSC’s Board.

Siljander, Mark D. A Deadly Misunderstanding: A Congressman’s Quest to Bridge the Muslim/Christian Divide Harper-Collins 2008
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I learned about this book in a conversation with Rev. Donna Johnson as we were talking about what had inspired us in our own interfaith work. When our conversation moved in the direction of our perceptions about Islam and how we deal with its radical variants she told me about how profoundly this book by Mark Siljander had moved her and changed her understanding of the conflicts between the Abrahamic faiths. When I obtained the book and began to read it I at once saw that there were unique and radical notions here that were worth pursuing. Over the course of the next several days a read the book and began to make notes for this little review of it.

Siljander’s path to his understanding is both surprising and to my mind heroic. He came from a deeply committed evangelical perspective, believing the Koran to be the work of the devil and Islam to be an evil perversion of the traditions of Judaism and Christianity. There were catalytic events that caused extreme emotional reactions in him, which in turn prompted mentors of his to suggest ways in which to reconsider his attitudes and his understanding of the problem.

“This was not the path I set out to follow twenty-five years ago, as a conservative Republican congressman and Evangelical Christian just entering the world of Washington politics. At the time, I believed that Islam was a religion of violence, that the Qur’an preached the destruction of all non-Muslims, and that the Qur’an and Islam were of the devil, as godless as the great evil of communism whose defeat was then the defining purpose of American foreign policy. I believed that Islam and Christianity were contradictory at their core, that the Eastern Islamic and Western Judeo-Christian cultures were irretrievably opposed to one another, and that the only possible solution to this conflict was the conversion of “them” so they would come to think like “us.” My worldview could not have been clearer or simpler—or more myopic.”

Perhaps the most profound turning point was when one of his mentors suggested that he begin to study the Bible in Aramaic, the ancient language that Jesus had spoken when he walked this earth. Already an accomplished and natural linguist Siljander took readily to this new course of study and began to have pivotal insights which built on each other, and combined with later experiences looked at in this new light, ultimately resulted in the chief premise of this book A Deadly Misunderstanding. As an evangelical Christian Siljander regarded it as his highest duty to convert others to his Christian faith. Among his earliest and most important struggles was coming to terms with where this idea of conversion came from. He concluded after much conversation, debate and study that it had no real foundation in the teachings of Jesus. From this point forward he would introduce himself as a follower of Jesus as opposed to a Christian. This would serve him very well in opening conversations with Muslim and even Jewish individuals, for whom Christianity is inseparable from its history of warfare and genocide. It is worth noting how potent the image of “conversion by the sword” is in creating a demonic image of Islam, yet anyone who knows the history of the Crusades understands the irony of this.

The task of translation is fraught with peril and often requires choices which emphasizes an important aspect of what one is seeing and wanting to convey, yet often at the expense of the complete truth of what was said. This is a problem for the most scrupulously honest translator, but even more so in the work of someone with a political agenda. Thus it is the case that translations of Scripture are often very different from the original intent and meaning of the authors. There are many points of inflection that illustrate this in the history of the evolution of the Christian Bible. The Council of Nicaea, a council of Christian bishops convened in the Bithynian city of Nicaea by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in AD 325, being a prime example. In that case not only were there debates on the meanings of words and phrases based on the agenda of the individuals in that counsel, there were also debates about which books should be included in the canonical text. Some of that discussion was of course motivated by the difficulty of proving the origin of some of those works, and clearly in other cases the messages contained in those debated books were anathema to the dogma they were trying to sculpt. For another example consider the Protestant Council of Trent 4 April 1546, which declared which books were to be officially considered canonical. To look at some of these excluded works I suggest you obtain a Catholic version of the Bible which contains the Apocrypha, the collection of books excluded from Protestant Bibles.

Retreating back to the simpler problems of translation, and disregarding agendas, Siljander carefully outlines a number of words and key phrases that are at the heart of disagreement between the Abrahamic faiths. Siljander arrived at his understanding of the importance of the Aramaic language as the root of both Hebrew and Arabic through a number of discussions over a number of years with Islamic, Judaic and Christian scholars and holy men. In many cases the Mullah, Rabbi, Minister or priest exclaimed “this is revolutionary” after hearing Siljander’s arguments. The notion of “a deadly misunderstanding” becomes very clear and specific over the course of this book.

Another critical consideration that goes well beyond any discussion of the value of particular translations of Scripture is the fact that throughout the world the bulk of believers have never read their scriptures, instead they have relied upon teachers who inevitably present to them portions of Scripture which serve their agendas. Radical Islam is the product of two very potent forces, one: the fact that the vast majority of Muslims do not even speak Arabic, and it is a tenet of that faith that in order to understand Islam one must read the Koran in its original Arabic. This is doubly difficult in that even if you are from a country in which Arabic is the official language, reading the Koran is very much like an English speaker attempting to read the old English of Beowulf which looks much more like German than any English we learned in school. And two: the undeniable impact of decades of colonization, brutalization and the theft of natural resources by the Western world in those places where radical Islam finds its most fertile ground.

Well beyond any academic exercise, Siljander’s book is really an exciting and well written journal of a very long, complex and arduous journey towards understanding and bridge building. In an early trip to Syria within a period of 24 hours he was nearly shot by both Palestinian and Israeli forces. With over 30 years of work in government and civil service including six years in the US Congress and an appointment to the United Nations General Assembly, his journey has taken him all over the world. Some of those journeys took him, practically alone and without any US government sanction, into very hostile countries to meet with leaders who were open enemies of the United States. Also early in his career when he was rabidly anti-Islamic a contract was taken out on him by the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who would later be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with Israeli leader Yitzhak Rabin. Years later when Arafat was visiting Washington DC Siljander was asked to host a private party for him. And although he found this deeply disturbing he did in fact host this party and further found himself being asked to help Arafat craft a speech he was to give the following day. He wanted to include some references from the Koran about Isa, as Jesus is called in the Koran. It may surprise some Christians that there are many mentions of Isa/Jesus in the Koran and in fact one of the books is about him, and another about his mother Mary. Siljander gave him six quotes to choose from and to his surprise Arafat used all six in the talk that he gave.

Siljander met with many heads of state and high officials in all of the Abrahamic faiths. He pursued his unique path to peace in spite of the many on all sides who had enmity towards him. Perhaps the most difficult phase of his work came after 9/11. His advocacy for understanding and communication with representatives of Islam was considered practically treasonous by many of those around him. It was also much harder for him to gain the trust of Islamic leaders, nevertheless he worked very hard to support Islamic moderates and to educate Americans about the misunderstandings which he saw as the cause of all of this conflict.

I too believe that the scholarly understanding of the roots of the misunderstandings between the Abrahamic faiths could be revolutionary. What will determine whether it is or not, is whether or not enough people, a critical mass, become aware of these ideas. I encourage you to do as I have done, read it, talk about it, and buy extra copies to give away. To purchase this book click on the title credit at the top of this page to go to Amazon. It is available cheaply as a used book and is also available for Kindle.

“Imagine an ocean moment: two waves converging in the same time and space. One is powerful but subsiding, the other just gathering momentum and presence but not yet cresting. At the moment of their meeting they are nearly equal in amplitude and influence. As they cross, who can say which is rising, which descending? In that moment only the chaos of wave interference exists. Now imagine modernity as a powerful wave of cultural values that crested half a century ago and is slowly beginning to subside. At the same time, a second wave of countervailing values rises equally slowly, building until its crest begins to rival the declining energy of the older wave”. This central image from James Kenney’s book offers a very clear and hopeful metaphor for the chaotic times in which we find ourselves.

I became aware of this important and timely book through the Association for Global New Thought’s online salon “New Thought on the News”, as the book’s central concept forms the basis of the dialogue as well as the lens through which each monthly topic is viewed. I have been involved in the Unity movement for a number of years now and Unity is one denomination of New Thought, along with Christian Science, Centers for Spiritual Living, Agape and others.  All New Thought affiliates place the importance of consciousness foremost in producing the changes we wish to manifest in our lives and in the world. At the extreme end of this understanding there are those who believe that it is best to just turn off the news, turn inward with prayer and meditation, forwarding the claim that ours is not to make the world right but to see it rightly. At the other end of the spectrum are those who are wanting to abandon this passive approach and get involved in direct action, perceiving evil in the world and picking up the gauntlet. There is a middle ground, where one remains engaged with the world, keeping up on current affairs and responding to a duty to “Stand Up, Speak Up, Show Up” in the words of Unity Minister Rev. Darlene Strickland. In this middle ground we do not pick arguments, promote confrontation nor assign blame, rather we look to find positive interpretations of the phenomena around us and to hold up a vision for self and others of the world towards which we are actively moving. AGNT’s New Thought on the News provides us with many tools holding this middle ground. We must stand in our truth and do so together.

In order to understand both Mr. Kenney’s passion and unique qualifications for writing about these topics it is useful to note some of the ways in which he has served. In 1988, he became a founding trustee of the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions and served as global director through the 1999 Parliament in Cape Town, South Africa. He is the Founder and Executive Director, Interreligious Engagement Project, and Co-founder, Executive Director, Common Ground, and Founding Trustee, International Committee for the Peace Council  and currently Project Coordinator; bringing together some of the world’s most revered and influential religious and spiritual leaders in service to world peace. He also serves as Co-Editor, Interreligious Insight: a Journal of Dialogue and Engagement.

Providing greater detail on these waves Mr. Kenney writes “In Western culture the modern wave has long been dominant. Deeply rooted in classical antiquity and European history, the modern wave has profoundly shaped every culture in the world. In our own time, however, we have begun to sense the weakening of its influence and to recognize the growing strength of a challenging newer value wave. This younger wave represents positive change. It is the wave of future possibility in the present, the advent of a cultural evolutionary transformation.”

Here I’ll quote him at length:
“As the long-dominant older wave loses amplitude and the newer one surges, we cross the threshold into an interesting time. The cultural critique—of patriarchy, the legitimacy of war, ecological exploitation and pollution, racism, injustice, religious exclusivism, and imperialism—has arguably never been more pronounced. At the same time, we’ve begun to explore and even embrace emerging values including non-violent conflict resolution, universal human rights, social and economic justice, ecological sustainability, and interreligious harmony. But the passage is anything but straightforward. The interference of two culture waves unleashes both apparent chaos and emerging order. This dynamic creates the signature turbulence of a sea-change : a profound alteration of cultural values toward a better fit with current realities. Sea-changes are rare—in this book, I identify only four since human prehistory. They are daunting but richly creative periods, with at least three recognizable benchmarks:
•          a dramatic increase in cultural complexity;
•          a growing awareness of the interdependence of all with all; and
•          a variety of new multiperspectival approaches to knowledge and action.
Never easy transitions, such evolutionary shifts in values produce profound inspiration and originality and, at the same time, cultural confusion and identity crisis. And, of course, the widespread emergence of new values and new ways of thinking always threatens established structures of power, thus adding a dangerous intensity to an already-volatile cultural mix.

These values form the nucleus of an emerging consensus that opposes globalization from the top down—the creeping Westernization and Americanization of the planet. The younger wave clearly represents a very different global order, a sort of globalization from the bottom up. Around the world, there is a noticeable shift from ethnocentric to world-centric values.

Each failing cultural dynamic of the older wave—sexism, racism, intolerance, fundamentalism, injustice, eco-abuse, imperialism, or materialism—manifests the essential blindness of ethnocentrism. That pathology is nurtured by the conviction that one’s own group, gender, race, class, nation, species, or way of living is somehow inherently superior to every other.”

For me one of the most useful understandings that come out of this model and his development of it is what he refers to as eddies, very fitting for the water metaphor of waves and for the trauma and danger that eddies present. We are living in a time of great cultural upheaval and social disorientation, we are witnessing a great deal of retrograde motion, with many pining for the way things were in a desire “to make X great again”. Driven by fear and identity politics there is a great deal of backlash, overturning of settled law and all kinds of violence precipitated by fear and outrage. These are some of the eddies of which he speaks. When one can take a drone’s view of the river and its inevitable downstream motion, these eddies are seen for what they are, temporary retrograde motion against the current that is ultimately futile. When actually in such a river one does all that one can to avoid being drawn into these eddies for the danger of such maelstroms include broken limbs and drowning. They certainly need to be regarded with caution and respect, but in the grand scheme of things the river moves on.

Mr. Kenney writes “as the influence of the older wave declines in the rise of the next sea-change becomes more evident, eddies form... As older certainties face new evolutionary energies, eddies appear — the vortices of resistance to change. Some of the most disturbing cultural patterns of our age belong neither to the older or the newer wave. Fundamentalism, fascism, greed, and hegemony, for example, are eddies — manifestations of the turbulent interaction of the two value waves.”

Seeing this larger, much larger view we can let go of some of the fear rising in us as we witness abhorrent behaviors and trends as well as the highly polarized and strident voices competing for attention. Indeed it does appear often enough that the hard won gains of the last sixty years in racial equality, environmental protection and economic justice are eroded. Divisive language and tactics result in a nasty identity politics and while the last presidential election was as partisan as any since the days of the Vietnam War, almost as many people did not vote as did.

Mr. Kenney proposes that “… this is one of those rare times in world history where old values and beliefs give way to new values and beliefs; that we are in the midst of what I call a sea-change . To understand this premise, let’s examine its four foundations: interdependence, paradigm shift, cultural evolution, and the emerging global consensus of values.” Further illuminating this idea he entertains the question “Just Changing . . . or Evolving?” and provides this answer “The sea-change lens offers us a panoramic view of the schizophrenic character of rapidly changing modern life. It reveals that cultures do indeed evolve and generates powerful new insights into the whys and hows of that evolution. Cultural evolution refers to a progressive movement of key human values toward a better fit with observed reality. Human observation of reality becomes more accurate and insightful. As a result, our conscious experience of the world grows clearer and our values tend to change accordingly. Cultural evolution is usually slow and fairly steady, but not always. Exceedingly rare periods—separated by intervals of several thousand to several hundred years—are marked by explosive growth in human understanding. Such world-shaking spans witness astonishing transformations of the value complexes that shape civilization.”

Mr. Kenney goes into great detail about what he has designated as “cultural sea-changes” and emphasizes that these major turning points are indeed rare, and as he sees it there are only four up to and including the one we are witnessing now. First there was the rise of agriculture with its establishment of permanent settlements, higher levels of complexity both in terms of social cooperation and the technical tasks involved in supporting these developments. Then there is what is termed the “axial age”, a period of around 100 years centering on the sixth century BC. In this relatively short period of time most of the world’s major religions were born or significantly altered through the agency of major spiritual teachers. Richard Tarnas author of Cosmos and Psyche makes this observation about the Axial Age: "This was the age of Buddha, bringing the birth of Buddhism in India; of Mahavira and the birth of Jainism in India; of Lao-Tzu and the birth of Taoism in China, which was followed a decade later by the birth of Confucius, Lao-Tzu’s younger contemporary. This same epoch coincided with that sudden wave of major prophets in ancient Israel—Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Second Isaiah...n this same era the Hebrew Scriptures were first compiled and redacted. The traditional dating for the immensely influential Zoroaster and the birth of Zoroastrianism in Persia. In Greece, the period... coincided with the birth of Greek philosophy itself, as the first Greek philosophers, Thales and Anaximander, flourished during these decades of the 580s through the 560s, and Pythagoras, towering figure in the history of both Western philosophy and science, was born. In Greek religion, Orphism was emerging and the oracle of Delphi was at the height of its influence."

Mr. Kenney refers to the third sea-change  as “Copernicus’s Planetquake” and points out that “the three most familiar manifestations of the last sea-change  prior to our own were the Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation, and the Scientific Revolution. But we often associate the entire crossing with the vision of a single man. In 1543 Nicolaus Copernicus published his masterwork, De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium, and the world was about to change. The emergence of a sun centered model of the cosmos was profound, literally revolutionary and indeed a dangerous position to advocate.”

In discussing this third sea-change  Mr. Kenney makes extensive references to T. S. Kuhn’s seminal work The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, and in particular to Kuhn’s understanding of the role of anomalies in generating alternative explanations to the models that no longer fit reality as we understand it. This is one of those areas where I was tempted to give you much more detail than is appropriate in a book review because this Kuhn’s book, which I was introduced to in my college days in the 1970s, continues to reverberate through my understanding of how the world works.

I’ve been working on this review off and on for over a month now, in each fresh attempt I’ve had to carve off major chunks of what I found truly important and had a desire to share, but the truth is that the first couple of drafts were essentially a Reader’s Digest Condensed version of the original book. I certainly do not want to give you enough information that you no longer feel the need to read the book, and so I’ll just cursorily list some of the other elements that Mr. Kenney drew upon to make and extend his argument.

Among the tantalizing concepts he explores in supporting his central themes are: “complexity: the evolution of consciousness; chaos to order: how open systems advance; creativity: bottom-up, self-organizing, emergent forms; and cooperation: interdependence as evolutionary touchstone.”  In discussing complexity Mr. Kenney aptly notes that "Complexity does not mean complication. A jumbled pile of orchestral instruments is complicated. The performance of a symphony is an example of organized complexity.” In discussing chaos to order he relies upon the writings of such luminaries as Stuart Kauffman and James Gleick. Having studied chaos theory in some depth I feel compelled to note that the everyday use of the word “chaos” is rather different from the technical, mathematical understandings of this science, often associated with the phrase “dynamical systems”. It is a sophisticated understanding of how just a few elements in simple relationships can evolve into very complex structures and systems. Here is a bit of amplification on Mr. Kenney’s understanding of cooperation: "Non-Zero-Sum Games. This theme is emblematic of the sea-change concept, demonstrating that our evolution tends toward cooperation and interdependence rather than endless competitions involving winners and losers. Cultural evolution favors non-zero-sum behaviors (cooperative win-win or lose-lose interactions) over zero-sum (win-lose) social patterns. "

Another important chapter looks at the thought of American philosopher Ken Wilber and his widely studied conceptual framework: the Four Quadrants, an Integral Approach to Knowing. This model describes four essential realms of human knowledge and endeavor, the four are divided into two hemispheres, where two are concerned with the individual, in both their interior and exterior dimensions, and two address the collective, in its interior and exterior dimensions. This seemingly simple model can be elaborated into a rather detailed diagram of almost any human phenomenon one can imagine. Just enter “four quadrants” into your search engine and specify that you want to see images to verify this. Wilber is among the most revered and prolific thinkers of our times.

All in all taking on this book review has been a daunting task, but entirely worthwhile if it inspires you to pick it up and share its insights with those around you. Mr. Kenney ends this book with a discussion of Joseph Campbell’s notion of the great stories. Campbell maintained that the great stories “have at least four basic functions. 1) They orient us within our cosmos and disclose the mysteries of nature and of the times and spaces within which life unfolds. 2) They ground us in our social nexus, reminding us of the protocols, the limits, and the values that make our place and our time unique. 3) They aid us in the passages from one life stage to the next, recalling those first humans who walked the same path from birth into this world to birth into the next. 4) They arouse in us a sense of wonder, an awareness of the divinely mysterious character of all existence.”

Mr. Kenney concludes “That’s why I find cultural evolution so empowering. It’s a story that needs telling, and it’s beginning to be told in a variety of powerful ways by committed and persuasive teachers around the world. The new story is especially urgent in a time of sea-change, one of the very rare periods of a potential evolutionary quantum leap. If the story of the evolution of human values over time is worth telling to the children around every campfire, how much more important is the story of an extraordinary time of crossing? And who needs to hear it more than those who are trying to thrive in a crosscurrent they may not understand?” Who indeed?
 
Kenney, James. Thriving in the Crosscurrent: Clarity and Hope in a Time of Cultural Sea-change. Quest Books. Also available in a Kindle Edition.

“So that we might be illuminated, to be called to significant action so that what may seem to be a tragedy to some can become a triumph to the rest of the world”.

These were the closing words of Rev. Dr. Kylon Middleton, Pastor, Mt. Zion AME Chapel, Charleston, SC and keynote speaker at Unified Interfaith Community Coalition of Beaufort’s third annual Mother Emanuel Nine Memorial on June 15th, 2018. His rousing sermon in this interfaith event at the historic Brick Baptist Church, adjacent to Penn Center, honored those nine slain souls, and very personally that of Rev. Clementa Pinckney, his lifelong friend and pastoral colleague. To see his sermon click on the image above. Rev. Middleton went well beyond that though, furthering UICC’s goal of transcending the pain, of not being bound by the past, with a fervent desire to give meaning to the suffering we have sustained in the loss of so many to violence.

UICC was founded by Rev. Jeannine Smalls, Pastor Grace Chapel AME Church, in response to that tragic event in 2015 at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. From the beginning she felt that it was important that this tragedy unite us, transcending the barriers among denominations and between faiths, knowing that our faith communities share a common humanity, a desire for justice and a hunger for peace. Her longtime friend and spiritual brother Rev. Middleton spoke of this very eloquently “We are stronger together because of our faith, we are stronger when we stand as Baptists, and we are stronger when we stand as AME, we are stronger when we stand as Jews, we are stronger when we stand in the Baha’i faith, we are strong when we acknowledge our Unitarian Universalism, we are strong when we’re Islamic, we are strong when we stand up to be Episcopalians, especially in South Carolina in 2018, we are strong when we are Lutheran, we’re strong in our Presbyterianism, we are strong as non-denominationalists, we are strong as Catholics, so we are stronger in our faith together! It is larger than one church, it is larger than one denomination, is larger than one faith, it is about our human community.”

Rev. Smalls in her introduction for Rev. Middleton quoted Martin Luther King “…the most segregated hour in Christian America is 11 AM on a Sunday morning”. The interfaith work of UICC has as a key goal of the change to this “appalling” situation. It is common for events like these to be held on a Friday evening when many people are able to come, and appropriate venues are available. We are deeply grateful to Rev. Dr. Abraham Murray, pastor of the Brick Baptist Church for hosting this important event and for his gracious welcome in his opening remarks. Several of the most dedicated and hardworking members of our organization are members of the Jewish faith and we recognize that it is a hardship, and somewhat insensitive of us to hold these events on their Shabbat. In keeping with who we are and what we are about, it was the first time a Shabbat candle was lit in this august sanctuary. Rabbi TZiPi Radonsky of Watering the Tree Outside the Fence Foundation lit the candle and offered a prayer, closing with a reading from Numbers 6:23-27.

A number of segments of the evening were beautifully woven together with the music of choirs and Emma Stevenson of Rev. Murray’s congregation as soloist. “Aunt Emma” is the aunt of both Rev. Pinckney and Rev. Middleton. Rev. Penny Rahm of Waters Edge United Methodist, had written words reflecting our theme to go with the tune “we shall overcome” which she led a jubilant congregation through. Mostly behind the scenes though absolutely essential to the success of this event was Rev. Shannon Mullen, Pastor of St. John’s Lutheran. There was a slideshow honoring The Mother Emanuel Nine which was shown while one by one individuals in the congregation stood and spoke loudly the name of one of those nine followed by a hallowed chime from Rev. Lori Hlaban, of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Beaufort, as she conducted the remembrance portion. Theresa White of the Pan-African Family Empowerment and Land Preservation Network spoke to us about the history of Juneteenth and related a number of stories from her family history that brought it home to us all. Members of IPSC, Interfaith Partners of South Carolina, traveled down Columbia to attend including Dr. Adrian Bird, Carey Murphy, and Ethel Crawford. Rev. Roy Tripp of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church offered the closing Benediction.  

Our second keynote speaker was Victoria Smalls who currently serves as Commissioner, Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor and program director for the International African American Museum being built in Charleston South Carolina. Ms. Smalls served a number of years as director of History, Art an Culture programs at Penn Center and also serves everywhere she lives on Baha’i Local Spiritual Assemblies. As Ms. Smalls grew up on St. Helena Island and still had a lot of family living there she was able to offer a unique perspective. Her talk was informative, as she is an historian at heart, inspiring, and she ended with relevant quotes from her Baha’i scriptures. One point in particular that she made is that Penn Center was one of the very few places that Dr. Martin Luther King felt safe, and perhaps the only place where blacks and whites were able to sit down, speak and plan together, during the very segregated 1960s. Many of his most famous speeches were written here and shared with those who accompanied him. At the time of his death plans were in the works to build him a cottage on the marsh on the eastern edge of Penn Center where he could rest and find peace.

Our theme, “We Remember and We Do Not Forget” was suggested by Rabbi TZiPi Radonsky at one of our early planning meetings for this event. She shared with us that in her Jewish faith this phrase “We Remember and We Do Not Forget” is part of her weekly spiritual practice. That it is important to review and remember the blessings and challenges of the past week on the Sabbath and to remind one of the blessings and opportunities to come in the following week. She had a vision that this practice could be extended further back in time and further into the future in the context of this memorial service. One component of the evening was a slideshow where this phrase appeared and was followed by an image reminding us of many of the painful tragedies that somehow unite us. The images included scenes from more than a dozen of the mass shootings of the past few decades, atrocities committed at Jewish concentration camps, numerous slain martyrs to beloved causes, Dr. Martin Luther King, Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, Harvey Milk, and others, slaughters of Native Americans at Wounded Knee, the Cherokee Trail of tears, the Japanese internment camps and most especially the assassinated Mother Emanuel Nine. It ended with these words “We Remember Those We Have Lost To Violence, And We Do Not Forget Our Commitment To Peace”.
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Rev. Smalls has carried the conviction that these tragedies might unite us and give us hope for the future, that our shared understanding and efforts will eventually make such things impossible. Just this morning as I was thinking through all of this in order to write this blog post a friend of mine shared with me this quote from the Talmud “Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.” People become martyrs when they are assassinated to prevent them from bringing to completion their life work, and though their deaths are a sadness to us they are most clearly a call to complete their labors.

The Association for Global New Thought (AGNT) has initiated a series of online salons based on various topics. The New Thought on the News salon began in January 2018 and occurs monthly at 5:30 PM Pacific daylight Time. I have found this timely and powerfully engaging.  I have been involved in the New Thought movement for about eight years now and was initially drawn to it by articles written in the local paper by Rev. Justin Epstein, who was the minister at Unity of Hilton Head at that time. Rev. Epstein had deep connections to Hinduism and particularly to the work Paramahansa Yogananda. I had had a long-standing interest in Hinduism. I also had a decades long involvement with interfaith work. After attending his services for a little while it seemed to me that Unity was an ideal faithpath to promote interfaith understanding.

Since my early teens I’ve considered myself an activist, particularly with respect to environmental issues and indigenous rights, and have found it important to keep abreast of the news and issues that most concern me. For much of the time that I have been involved in the New Thought Movement I have encountered resistance to my activist proclivities and my interest in worldly events. A central concept of New Thought is the importance of consciousness in manifesting the world we wish to see. Many long time practitioners of new thought hold that the answer to the problems in the world is through prayer and meditation and that ultimately our task is not to change the world so much as it is to see it rightly. I do agree about the centrality of consciousness in manifested reality, but I also believe that one should stand in their belief and be present as a harbinger of positive alternatives to unsatisfactory circumstances. Only in the last several years have I witnessed stirrings of a different point of view among New Thought adherents. There are now a number of ministries that I am aware of that hold that it is important to remain conscious of what is going on in the world and that when we find ourselves in circumstances where it is appropriate we must stand up and speak out. In fact, last year I attended a marvelous event sponsored by Rev. Darlene Strickland’s Unity of the Blue Ridge with the theme of Our Love Is Power, Standup, Speak Up, Show Up. The choice of Marianne Williamson as a keynote speaker signaled the sincerity of the organizers as change agents.

This New Thought on the News salon is based on the premise that we must attend to the news, to the issues in the world, but that we must interpret them from a New Thought perspective, and not accept the slant that is presented to us by the media, which has a vested interest in exploiting fear and uncertainty in order to sell their products. The moderator of this program is Dr. Barbara Fields who serves as the executive director of AGNT, and who served as program director for the first modern Parliament of the World’s Religions in 1993.

​The inspiration and central reference for this series is a book by Jim Kenney entitled Thriving in the Crosscurrent: Clarity and Hope in a Time of Cultural Sea Change. Mr. Kenney is a longtime friend of Dr. Fields and was global director of the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions up to and including the parliament which was held in Barcelona in 2004. There are some preparatory tutorials for this salon based on Mr. Kenney’s book and there are some very useful diagrams provided which clarifies the concepts, click here for links to those materials.

Mr. Kenney presents the central concept of the sea change as having four foundations: interdependence, paradigm shift, cultural evolution, and the emerging global consensus of values. His book is rich with visual intuitions and potent metaphors. Among these, in keeping with the idea of sea change, is the notion of cultural values presenting as waves, and that there are periods of transition, where the wave of old values are descending and the wave of new values are arising, and that, necessarily, this period of transition generates turbulence. One of the key understandings of what we are seeing in the news these days in the strident voices calling for a return to older ways, to fundamentalist values, and the demonization of those involved in the ascendancy of these new values, are the manifestation of this turbulence. A choice metaphor of his is that of the “eddy”, which anyone who has ever spent time in a river is familiar with and uses this apt metaphor for the counter motions observable in the general flow of change. Perhaps the overarching theme of Mr. Kenney’s work is that cultural values are inevitably moving ever upwards and outwards, evolving, as they approach the realities that human culture must face. Although he arrived at this viewpoint independently, he frequently references Steven Pinker’s book The Better Angels of Our Nature which presents a great deal of data supporting this view.

A prime example of this evolution of cultural values is the institution of chattel slavery, which was universally accepted and defended well into the 19th century, it is now generally recognized that slavery is everywhere and always wrong. Another example is patriarchy, which since the 1960s has rapidly diminished in its scope and power. All of which is not to say that these problems have ended, but that they are rapidly moving out of the realm of issues of central concern. Another key point that Mr. Kenney presents is that although this cultural evolution continually trends upward in the history of our shared world, there are times when this evolution is greatly accelerated. He posits, and I agree, that we are living in just such a time.

Regarding the salons themselves, the general format includes an introduction by Dr. Fields of this month’s topic, introductions to guest speakers by cohost Stephen Pope, a recap of the foundational perspectives by Mr. Kenney, followed by presentations and responses by guest speakers and the hosts. The salons are presented via Zoom and those watching the live presentation have the opportunity to chime in and express themselves on the various points presented. Guest speakers have included such luminaries in the New Thought Movement as Dr. David Alexander, Rev. Temple Hayes, Rev. Kevin Ross, Dr. Kenn Gordon thus far; and scheduled for upcoming salons are Dr. David Goldberg, Dr. Roger Teal, and Dr. Michael Beckwith. Click for bios of these and other leaders in AGNT.
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I am deeply grateful for this initiative by the AGNT which is both timely, deeply engaging and very energizing. I wholeheartedly recommend this salon to readers of this post and suggest that they check out the other salons made available by the AGNT. Click to view previous sessions of the New Thought on the News solons.
 

In response to the announcement by the host of the radio quiz show "Truth or Consequences" that he would air a program from the first town that renamed itself after the show, Hot Springs, NM won the honor officially changing its name on March 31, 1950. And, to my mind ironically, the program was broadcast from there on April 1st or April Fool’s Day.

On the show, contestants received roughly two seconds to answer a trivia question correctly, generally an off-the-wall question that no one would be able to answer correctly before the buzzer went off. If the contestant could not complete the "Truth" portion, there would be "Consequences," usually a zany and embarrassing stunt. From the start, most contestants preferred to answer the question wrong in order to perform the stunt.
At this juncture of history, political theater has become a twist on this improbable theme. The President of the United States has chosen to “answer the question wrong” (even the most straightforward and earnest questions posed by respected journalists and concerned citizens) with shockingly wrong and inane answers, and following the game show format, seemingly in order to perform “zany and embarrassing” stunts in front of the widest audience imaginable. The notable twist is that we the people are the ones who are and should be embarrassed. And as for POTUS, it is well known that those with Narcissistic Personality Disorder are unable to see themselves as others do and he seems completely immune to shame.

I have been heartened to see that even among those most politically aligned Senators and members of Congress there is backlash about this violence being done to truth. Perhaps nowhere more eloquently and stridently than in Senator Jeff Flake’s scathing message to the Senate from the podium on Jan. 17, 2018. He opened his remarks saying “Mr. President, near the beginning of the document that made us free, our Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote: “We hold these truths to be self-evident...” So, from our very beginnings, our freedom has been predicated on truth. The founders were visionary in this regard, understanding well that good faith and shared facts between the governed and the government would be the very basis of this ongoing idea of America.”  The speech was lengthy and full of salient details and I will only quote a few of his particularly pungent remarks:

   “It is for that reason that I rise today, to talk about the truth, and its relationship to democracy. For without       truth, and a principled fidelity to truth and to shared facts, Mr. President, our democracy will not last.”

    “2017 was a year which saw the truth – objective, empirical, evidence-based truth -- more battered and             abused than any other in the history of our country, at the hands of the most powerful figure in our                   government. It was a year which saw the White House enshrine “alternative facts” into the American lexicon,     as justification for what used to be known simply as good old-fashioned falsehoods.”

     “It was the year in which an unrelenting daily assault on the constitutionally-protected free press was                launched by that same White House, an assault that is as unprecedented as it is unwarranted. “The enemy        of the people,” was what the president of the United States called the free press in 2017. Mr. President, it is      a testament to the condition of our democracy that our own president uses words infamously spoken by          Josef Stalin to describe his enemies. It bears noting that so fraught with malice was the phrase “enemy of          the people,” that even Nikita Khrushchev forbade its use, telling the Soviet Communist Party that the phrase      had been introduced by Stalin for the purpose of “annihilating such individuals” who disagreed with the            supreme leader. And, of course, the president has it precisely backward – despotism is the enemy of the            people. The free press is the despot’s enemy, which makes the free press the guardian of democracy. When      a figure in power reflexively calls any press that doesn’t suit him “fake news,” it is that person who should          be the figure of suspicion, not the press.”

     “No longer can we compound attacks on truth with our silent acquiescence. No longer can we turn a blind        eye or a deaf ear to these assaults on our institutions. And Mr. President, an American president who                cannot take criticism – who must constantly deflect and distort and distract – who must find someone else        to blame -- is charting a very dangerous path. And a Congress that fails to act as a check on the president          adds to the danger.”

      “We are a mature democracy – it is well past time that we stop excusing or ignoring – or worse, endorsing -      these attacks on the truth. For if we compromise the truth for the sake of our politics, we are lost.”

When in college I majored in Philosophy and was drawn to the field by a class I took in Ethics. A close study of ethical traditions throughout human histories and cultures inseparably links ethics to truth telling. As some of you are aware I serve as an Ambassador for the Parliament of the World’s Religions and in preparation for a talk I recently gave to a Quaker Meeting on the Parliament’s Mission, Vision and Approach I re-read the Parliament’s initial declaration at the first modern Parliament in 1993, Towards a Global Ethic. I had forgotten the great emphasis that was placed on the importance of truthfulness. This document was drafted by Hans Küng, President of the Foundation for a Global Ethic (Stiftung Weltethos), in cooperation with the Council for a Parliament of the World's Religion’s staff and Trustees and experts. Küng is a noted German Catholic Theologian who has long been willing to speak truth to power and was stripped of his authority to teach Catholic Theology in part for his stance against the dogma of Papal Infallibility, a notion that is close to the understanding that many have of the authority of the President of the United States.

Towards a Global Ethic details four major principles or directives. This document draws on many of the world's religious, spiritual, and cultural traditions, identifying the Golden Rule: “What you wish done to yourself, do to others!” as an "unconditional norm for all areas of life".  It asserts that these four principles "can be affirmed by all persons with ethical convictions, whether religiously grounded or not". The third principle is Commitment to a Culture of Tolerance and a Life of Truthfulness, which upon careful consideration are inseparable precepts. Although I encourage everyone to read this beautifully crafted, well-reasoned document in its entirety (click this link) I am quoting the entirety of this third principle as central to the issues I’m addressing in this article:

3.   Commitment to a Culture of Tolerance and a Life of Truthfulness

Numberless women and men of all regions and religions strive to lead lives of honesty and truthfulness.  Nevertheless, all over the world we find endless lies and deceit, swindling and hypocrisy, ideology and demagoguery:

• Politicians and business people who use lies as a means to success;
• Mass media which spreads ideological propaganda instead of accurate reporting, misinformation instead of information, cynical commercial interest instead of loyalty to the truth;
• Scientists and researchers who give themselves over to morally questionable ideological or political programs or to economic interest groups, or who justify research which violates fundamental ethical values;
• Representatives of religions who dismiss other religions as of little value and who preach fanaticism and intolerance instead of respect and understanding.

a) In the great ancient religious and ethical traditions of humankind we find the directive:  You shall not lie!  Or in positive terms:  Speak and act truthfully!  Let us reflect anew on the consequences of this ancient directive:  No woman or man, no institution, no state or church or religious community has the right to speak lies to other humans. 

b) This is especially true

• for those who work in the mass media, to whom we entrust the freedom to report for the sake of truth and to whom we thus grant the office of guardian.  They do not stand above morality but have the obligation to respect human dignity, human rights, and fundamental values.  They are duty-bound to objectivity, fairness, and the preservation of human dignity.  They have no right to intrude into individuals’ private spheres, to manipulate public opinion, or to distort reality;
• for artists, writers, and scientists, to whom we entrust artistic and academic freedom.  They are not exempt from general ethical standards and must serve the truth;
• for the leaders of countries, politicians, and political parties, to whom we entrust our own freedoms.  When they lie in the faces of their people, when they manipulate the truth, or when they are guilty of venality or ruthlessness in domestic or foreign affairs, they forsake their credibility and deserve to lose their offices and their voters.  Conversely, public opinion should support those politicians who dare to speak the truth to the people at all times;
• finally, for representatives of religion.  When they stir up prejudice, hatred, and enmity towards those of different belief, or even incite or legitimize religious wars, they deserve the condemnation of humankind and the loss of their adherents.
• Let no one be deceived: There is no global justice without truthfulness and humaneness!

c) Young people must learn at home and in school to think, speak, and act truthfully.  They have a right to information and education to be able to make the decisions that will form their lives.  Without an ethical formation they will hardly be able to distinguish the important from the unimportant. In the daily flood of information, ethical standards will help them discern when opinions are portrayed as facts, interests veiled, tendencies exaggerated, and facts twisted.
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d) To be authentically human in the spirit of our great religious and ethical traditions means the following:

• We must not confuse freedom with arbitrariness or pluralism with indifference to truth.
• We must cultivate truthfulness in all our relationships instead of dishonesty, dissembling, and opportunism.
• We must constantly seek truth and incorruptible sincerity instead of spreading ideological or partisan half-truths.
• We must courageously serve the truth and we must remain constant and trustworthy, instead of yielding to opportunistic accommodation to life.

 
To reiterate these points made by Küng and adopted by the Parliament of the World’s Religions, “Speak and act truthfully!  Let us reflect anew on the consequences of this ancient directive:  No woman or man, no institution, no state or church or religious community has the right to speak lies to other humans.” This imperative is noted as “especially true” for four named groups: journalists and those charged with the public trust of media; artists, writers and other creatives; political leaders and parties of all stripes; and representatives of religion. The declaration repeatedly uses strong, emotive language with words like “courage”, “sincerity”, “humaneness”; it forcefully points to consequences. And so Truth or Consequences is not just the namesake town of a defunct gameshow, rather it is the pivot point about which the ancient Greek, dual-faced mask of tragedy and comedy spins so precipitously.