Unity of Hilton Head held its second annual Interfaith Harmony service in alignment with Governor Henry McMaster's proclamation of January as South Carolina's Interfaith Harmony Month. Among the faiths celebrated were Bahá’í, Islam, Judaism, Native American, New Thought, and Taoism. Here below 21 slides each of which have a Time Stamp in upper left hand corner if you would like to quickly navigate to that segment of the video which was made from the audio and these slides. Here's the link to the video: Unity of Hilton Head Interfaith Harmony Service.

On Sunday January the 14th I'll travel to the Midlands, North of Columbia to speak in Newberry, SC . This is my first venue of 2018 and I am in the process of arranging as many talks as I can through October to raise awareness of our work and promote the upcoming Parliament of the World's Religions in Toronto this November. If your congregation or other organization would like me to speak please send an email to [email protected]. 

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Toronto--acclaimed the most diverse city in the world by the United Nations and home to six million Canadians—has been chosen as the host city of the 7th Parliament of the World’s Religions, to be convened in November 2018. More than 10,000 people will participate in the 2018 Parliament, which will last for seven days and comprise more than 500 programs, workshops, and dialogues, alongside music, dance, art and photography exhibitions, and related events presented by the world’s religious communities and cultural institutions.

Since the historic 1893 World’s Parliament of Religions in Chicago, modern Parliaments have attracted participants from more than 200 diverse religious, indigenous, and secular beliefs and more than 80 nations to its international gatherings in Chicago (1993), Cape Town (1999), Barcelona (2004), Melbourne (2009), and Salt Lake City (2015). These Parliament events are the world’s oldest, largest, and most inclusive gatherings of the global interfaith movement. As one of the most international, multicultural, and religiously pluralistic cities in the world, Toronto provides a perfect venue for the Parliament of the World’s Religions. More than 140 languages are spoken every day, and at least 47% of Toronto’s population speak a native language other than French or English. Over half were born outside of Canada, representing more than 200 ethnic origins.

The exemplary effort of Canadians—and especially the people of Ontario—to welcome the stranger and immigrant, honor indigenous communities, and protect the earth with its public initiatives provides inspiration for other global cities that desire to build a better world. Parliament Site Selection Committee Chair Andras Corban Arthen says, “Toronto is a place where important conversations are taking place about reconciliation, environmental approaches, and the integration of immigrant populations. A vibrant and wide-reaching interfaith community was a determining factor in answering the question: Why Toronto? Why now?”

In a May 2 press conference and reception at the Toronto City Hall, Parliament of the World’s Religions Executive Director Dr. Larry Greenfield said the 2018 event is an “extraordinary opportunity for people of the globe to engage the crucial issues of our world, such as climate change, poverty, and violence."

Super Saver Registration is coming soon at ParliamentOfReligions.org, including rates exclusive to students and groups.

The above was taken from the Parliament of the World’s Religions press release.   I’ll be there! How about you? As I serve as an Ambassador of the Parliament of the World's Religions you will hear early and often the good news as it evolves.

While attending the 2015 Parliament of the World's Religions in SLC last year I signed the Indigenous Declaration which specifically addressed the desecration of sacred sites. We now have "boots on the ground" on site at Standing Rock. I was gratified to see Parliament Vice-Chair Andras Corban-Arthen leading the delegation meeting with the camp organizers.  I encourage all of you to visit the Parliaments site and sign this Declaration for Indigenous Peoples. The previous green text is a link.

Here is the Parliament of the World's Religions Statement On Standing Rock and the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) and an excerpt from it:

The Parliament of the World’s Religions denies any purported “rights” of the Dakota Access Pipeline to trespass on, build upon, and subsequently endanger the sacred land and water of the Standing Rock Sioux Nation. We do not speak for the peoples whose sacred sites and waterways are under attack. Instead we respond to a call from our 2015 Parliament keynote speaker Chief Arvol Looking Horse, Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe, and we are inviting you to join us in answering that call:

“What we are being faced with is a dark spirit. All life cannot afford to allow the same mistakes to be made any longer. Look what is happening to the four directions in the contamination of MniWic’oni – the water of life...”

“We are asking the religious leaders to come support them to stand side by side with them [the protestors at Standing Rock] because they are standing in prayer.”

                                                                       Chief Arvol Looking Horse of the Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota Nations

First off, I need to say that my wife Chris, my 99 year old mother-in-law Robina and I are deeply grateful to all those with IPSC who so generously offered us shelter from hurricane Matthew. Of the six offers, we accepted the one that we did for reasons related to mom’s difficulty with stairs, etc. I did not realize until after we had arrived at the home of our hosts that I was within walking distance of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Columbia where I was to speak the following Sunday. And that allowed me to make a poor joke “As I live in Bluffton, ordinarily I would have left at 5 am to drive here, but since it was a nice sunny day, I decided to walk.” Wonderful, welcoming and engaged congregation and I want thank Rebecca Drennan and Cheryl Soehl for the invitation to speak there.
 
But back to our accommodations. Our hosts fed, sheltered and entertained in the most gracious manner. My mother-in law-was as comfortable and as well taken care of as we could have hoped for. Our hosts were LDS, commonly known as Mormons, and as I grew up in that culture in Utah we had a lot to discuss. I was quite happy to find LDS participation in our organization and I must say that our hostess Deborah represents this faith in exemplary fashion. The LDS religion has a creed encoded in their 13 Articles of Faith, the 11th of which is “We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.” As open and willing to discuss religion as they were there was no proselytizing. All in all a most enjoyable visit and a kindness my family will long remember.
 
When Chris, mom and I returned home on Monday afternoon there was massive damage in our neighborhood, apparently a tornado cut a swath through as well as the destruction wrought by the howling winds of the hurricane. Our home was untouched, water and power working for which we are deeply grateful. Several days later we found that although the Port Royal Plantation of Hilton Head Island, where Chris' mom lives, sustained significant damage but her home suffered no damage either.

As Oprah and others often have said, there is no more important prayer than that of gratitude. Thank you!

Love and gratitude to the awesome Rev. Jimmy Dale Worley for the opportunity to premier this talk at his HOUSE, where my many limitations are overlooked by loving and supportive friends... my talk has improved a bit since then. It was a great blessing to roll this talk out on my mother Colleen's birthday as she introduced me to Buddhism, Hinduism and various metaphysical topics before I was ten!

Thank you to Kimberly Heck, the Spiritual leader at Unity of Mt. Pleasant for the opportunity to spend some time with her little flock!

Thank you to my gracious friends at Unity Christ Church of Myrtle Beach for allowing me to speak before a dyn-o-mite SEE week! The lavender of the poster was to match their great website: http://unitymyrtlebeach.org/

It was a pleasure to speak at my home church, Unity of Hilton Head 05/15/16