RFPUSA Blog
Hate in Manchester, TN — Where Do We Go From Here
By: Aaron Stauffer, Interim Executive Director Islamophobia in middle Tennessee is becoming a real problem. In the past several years, two mosques have been firebombed: one had swastikas drawn on its walls, with “White Power” written on the sides. In 2008 an...
Religions for Peace USA Immigration Reform Webinar on May 24th, 2013
Religions for Peace USA Immigration Reform Webinar on May 24th The Senate Judiciary Committee has passed the sprawling 900 page immigration reform bill, with its bipartisan vote, it becomes all the more important to know what immigration reform can mean for our...
Raising Up Interfaith Leaders
Aaron Stauffer Associate Director of Religions for Peace USA Raising Up Interfaith Leaders The interfaith and ecumenical movements need to raise up young people who understand how to delve into differences of faith and belief while also focusing on grassroots justice...
Why The ‘Interfaith Movement’ Must Rebrand
Rev. Bud Heckman Executive Director of Religions for Peace USA We've Got A Brand Problem If I ask you what the human rights, civil rights or environmental movements are about, you likely can give a semi- coherent description that sounds something like what your...
The Third International Interfaith Retreat, Celebrating UN World Interfaith Harmony Week
Representing Religions for Peace USA, Rev. Bud Heckman recently attended the third International Interfaith Retreat, Celebrating United Nations World Interfaith Harmony Week. The Retreat took place at the Won Dharma Retreat Center, New York. Celebrating UN World...
What Happens When Governments Foster Interfaith Action?
Rev. Donald Heckman The Potential Impact of the New Saudi-Sponsored Interfaith Center in Vienna The question is no longer, "Should governments foster interreligious action?" but instead, "How should they do it?" And then, "What happens when they do?" Governments...
The Open Spiral: The Ongoing Moral Commitments of Faith Leaders
“The Open Spiral: The Ongoing Moral Commitments of Faith Leaders” with Rev. Dr. Karen Hamilton, General Secretary of the Canadian Council of Churches in G8: The Camp David Summit, May 2012. See p. 220-221...
What they are not talking about at Camp David’s G8 meeting
(World leaders pose for a group photo at the G8 summit in Deauville May 27, 2011. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer) By Aaron Stauffer and Rev Bud Heckman, May 17, 2012 Vladimir Putin is sitting out this year’s G8. Why is it easy to skip all of a sudden? Is the sizzle gone...
Are We There Yet? The Progress of the Interfaith Movement
Are We There Yet? The $100,000 Question in the Interfaith Movement. by Bud Heckman How do we know when we havearrived in the interfaith movement? When religious pluralism is normative? When religious differences don’t cause conflict or even concern? Things have...
The UN and Religious Bodies in Common Search for Peace
“The UN and Religious Bodies in Common Search for Peace” Bud Heckman and Stein Villumstad New Routes. Peaceful co-existence: a faith issue, January, 2011. Volume 16. Uppsala, Sweden. http://www.life-peace.org/resources/publications/new-routes/2011.