Tag: Economic Development

2019 – Year In Review

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The momentum from 2017 and 2018 continues in my interfaith ministry and the “Network for Religion, Media, and Civic Life” bridging academia, journalists, and policymakers to increase the public understanding of religion and its impacts in many domains. Here’s my “top ten” memories from the Year of the Earth Pig:

10. American Academy of Religion

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Reading Religion is an open-access book review website published by the American Academy of Religion [AAR], the world’s largest association of academics who research or teach topics related to religion. Launched in 2016, the site provides up-to-date coverage of publishing in religious studies, reviewed by scholars with special interest and/or expertise in the relevant subfields. Reviews are concise, comprehensive, and timely.

This year I read four books regarding literature and religion: an archetypal interpretation of the Gospel of John, an explication of the enigmatic mode, an inquiry into the grammar of messianism, and the legacy of Aldous Huxley. Due to editorial staff transitions, the latter two articles will be forthcoming in the new year. I phoned in an appearance (including fire alarms) at #AARSBL2019 which generated over 8,000 impressions.

For professional development, I completed the KAICIID certificate program on “Interreligious Dialogue to Strengthen Peace, Reconciliation, and Social Cohesion.” I was also accepted as a fellow (Spring 2020) of the Institute for Digital Civic Culture at the University of Southern California.

9. “High Church? Marijuana, Mushrooms, and Drug-related Religious Activism”

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God-beat journalists gathered for their annual conference in Sin City. I proposed the #RNA2019 breakout panel moderated by Kelsey Dallas, editor of ReligionLink. The Religion News Service (editor-in-chief Bob Smietana) also published my opinion as the last word in their year-end predictions for the 2020s.

8. Religion Communicators Council: Board of Governors, Chairman of the Communications Committee

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The Religion Communicators Council (RCC), founded in 1929, is an association of communications professionals who work for and with a diverse group of faith-based organizations in the areas of communications, public relations, advertising and development. Members represent a variety of communications disciplines, including: editors, writers and designers, photographers, videographers, broadcast, social media, web developers, marketers, fundraisers, project managers, and students.

At the end of a two-year professional development scholarship, I was elected to the Board of Governors during the Spring convention with the Associated Church Press in Chicago (#TheWorldTeacherIsHere with producers from CBS). We will join over 100 partner organizations for the Religion Communicators Congress on St. Patrick’s Day 2020 in Washington D.C. (the Papal coronation tiara is stored in the U.S. National Cathedral). The theme will be “Faith in Public Life.” Speakers include Dr. Azza Karam (Secretary General of Religions for Peace International), Rev. Susan Hayward (Senior Advisor for Religion and Inclusive Societies at the U.S. Institute of Peace), and Dr. Mohamed Elsanousi (Executive Director of the Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers).

7. World Interfaith Harmony Week at United Nations HQ in NY

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In a three-tier diplomatic system, Track II intermediaries are informal agents and private citizens from non-governmental organizations, religious institutions, academia, think tanks, and humanitarian groups. I joined youth leaders for meetings at United Nations HQ in New York  regarding the role of faith-based organizations in financing sustainable development, the role of religious actors in the prevention of atrocity crimes, and efforts for nuclear disarmament. We also enjoyed a concert hosted by Unity Earth at Unity Palace, an official event of the NGO Committee for Spirituality, Values, and Global Concerns. I wrote a full report for the United Religions Initiative, an international grassroots interfaith network with consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

6. United Religions Initiative

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Michael Pappas of the San Francisco Interfaith Council moderated a conversation with  United Religions Initiative  founders Bishop William E. Swing (Ret.) and Rita Semel, and Executive Director Victor Kazanjian at the Commonwealth Club. They discussed the origins of URI, how interfaith bridgebuilding works, and the future prospects for the harmony of religions. 

The United Religions Initiative announced a strategic partnership with the Institute for Economics and Peace during the Positive Peace conference. URI Executive Director Victor Kazanjian and Elias Szczytnicki from Religions for Peace discussed how faith-based networks are uniquely poised to mediate across conflict through strong interreligious constituencies in collaboration with other sectors in a shared agenda aimed at peace and prosperity.

URI is also partnered with the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy. Executive Director James Patton wrote about interfaith action in global peacebuilding for the Bush Center. URI is networked with 150 organizations and a worldwide audience of more than 20,000,000 people.

5. #AcceleratePeace

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This summer, URI gathered peacebuilders from around the world at Stanford University to discuss challenges to peace, both in their local communities and as global citizens, and to manifest action-oriented solutions for the common good. The diplomatic work of URI was enthusiastically endorsed by former Secretary of Defense General Jim Mattis.

4. Compassionate California Screen Shot 2019-12-30 at 5.01.44 PM.png The Silicon Valley Interreligious Council (a United Religions Initiative cooperation circle) recently organized an interfaith panel for a California State Assembly hearing on Compassionate California (ACR 108). Similar resolutions are underway in other states. Read all about it in my article written for URI.

3. Faith For Forests Screen Shot 2019-12-30 at 5.40.24 PM.png We are facing abrupt, irreversible climate change and near-term human extinction. But we are not yet defeated. Even if we see all the signs of the end of the world, we will still plant a tree. This can be a good time! Our goal is to plant a trillion trees, and a unique coalition is moving forward together, including the Catholic Church (which hosted a controversial Amazonian Synod), the Interfaith Rainforest Initiative, and #TeamTrees (crowdfunding launched by the top YouTube stars).

2. Faith-and-Works Movement @Google / #TheWorldTeacherIsHere @Facebook technoloply.png “May the Fourth” #NDA – I was recruited in graduate school by the Intelligence Community Center of Academic Excellence to study the intersection of religious doctrine, economies, and global security, with an emphasis on narrative as a tool for social mobilisation and peacebuilding. I am an unpaid consultant to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (inventors of the internet), and I am indoctrinated in the Sentry Eagle program (core NSA secrets). My activities are monitored by computer. Google AI engineers had a moral dilemma and invited me to lunch and a prayer circle. The Google Area 120 broom closet (7th-floor SF HQ) is a hidden speakeasy and corner office arranged for a game of bluff.

FYI: Google Compute Engine Incident 19003, Facebook Global Security Red Team Manager – #BattlefieldIllusion #VoiceOfGodWeapon : #100YSS Principal Dr. Mae Jemison [pictured at #GCAS2018 Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco] – “We’re not talking about avatar—No, we might, we might, we might.” 100 Year Starship Honorary Chairman is “Big Dog Billy Jeff” Clinton – “There is one other connection I have that I think is largely unknown…”

 

1. Pacific Coast Prophecy

After the 1893 Parliament of World’s Religions, the Bank of England gave an enigmatic group of mystics the equivalent of $5-billion to develop 25-million acres along the Pacific Coast as a stage set for the advent of the Future Buddha (“Fameseeker” in the Lotus Sutra).

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i love LA.png A CITY UPON THE HILL – The Krotona Plan included “temples, schools, and cities” and a Hollywood Hills estate intended as a home for the Christ of the Aquarian Age. In 2019, a whistleblower revealed that the Latter-Day Saints saved $125-billion for the Return of the Christ. You know how the Mormons are about Leap Day!

hollywood ashram.png Doctor-Proficient: I joined the Vedanta Society in 2003, and I sang in the choir, attended lectures and classes, and served the senior monks. I became a voting member in 2008, discovered my interfaith mission in the midst of a heroic ordeal in 2009, and received mantra initiation from Swami Swahananda in 2010. He invited me to join the Order to write and lecture, and I received monastic training in San Francisco in 2015 – 2016.

desert bloom.png“Almost all of the secret societies of the past have been dedicated to clean-up jobs.” – MPH33* (Los Angeles Scottish Rite Temple 1990)

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Pictured below: Vatican II investigation, NASA coin toss, ecclesiastical determination in secret council, Pope Benedict quits, lightning strikes the Vatican twice, Pope Francis gives away St Peter’s relics, Christian church leaders unite, peace at St Patrick’s Cathedral. Promotion is good and necessary. Give information, and tell the story.

prophecy fulfilled.pngThe Philosopher-King is a Neo-Brahmin and bodhisattva unrestricted by cloistered austerities, the incarnate good will and conscience of mankind, and the answer to the powers that hypnotize and destroy. Gerald Heard warned that humankind could avert extinction only by a new vision. Aldous Huxley imagined small-scale producer cooperatives enabling a rebirth of democracy and a more ethical relationship with Nature.

home.pngMeanwhile, back at the Ranch… Marie’s Farm is managed by Simm’s Organics for Pescadero Grown. My local civic engagement includes town planning and emergency management.

Oslo Tropical Forest Forum 2018

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On June 28, 2018, Gunnar Stålsett, Honorary President of Religions for Peace, gave a briefing to the Oslo Tropical Forest Forum on the Interfaith Rainforest Initiative, the emerging multi-faith alliance of Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and Taoist religious leaders and faith communities united to protect the world’s tropical forests. He outlined a vision and objectives: dialogue and consensus-building for solidarity among spiritual leaders, politicians, academics, business and industry captains, scientists, and indigenous communities; raise awareness and facilitate education with information and tools; and, mobilize coalitions and commitments among governments and companies to be honest, respect laws, and fulfill policy goals. He described the project as different faiths in common action aligning religion to reality and inspiring reality to take religion seriously.

Erik Solheim, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, the lead implementing agency and publisher of Foresight, discussed building popular opinion through every sector of society; networking with grassroots efforts and citizen movements; and, persuading Amazonians of a more prosperous and better life through economic development.

Fletcher Harper, Executive Director of GreenFaith and member of project’s steering committee, suggested success can be measured in advocacy efforts (especially action among shareholders and investors), moral and operational agreements, and public statements/declarations/op-eds. He also stated a need for religions and others to acknowledge the long and complicated history of oppression and exploitation so as to rebuild trust and honest partnerships.

Josien Aloema-Tokoe of COICA urged preserving the language and cultural traditions of indigenous peoples as well as training and empowering youth.

Mauricio Lopez Oropeza of REPAM Red Eclesial Panamazónica championed the values of reciprocity, collaboration, and local sovereignty; made an appeal to correct inequality, human rights violations, and censorship; and embraced an ethical approach founded in love, honor, and courage.

Din Syamsuddin, Chairman of the Center for Dialogue and Cooperation Among Civilizations, identified key challenges in forest burning, illegal logging, and river pollution and also highlighted a new widespread attitude of respect for living nature.

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous People, made a special appearance to condemn assassinations of forest guardians and criminalizing opposition to abuse and destruction.

The Pontifical Academy of Sciences – Ethics in Action project sent video greetings from the Vatican.

Interfaith Rainforest Initiative

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On June 21, 2017, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, and Daoist leaders joined indigenous forest guardians in a global coalition to protect rainforests.

The group was convened by Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative (NICFI), Rainforest Foundation Norway (RFN), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in cooperation with the Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale University, GreenFaith, the Parliament of the World’s Religions, Religions for Peace, REIL Network, and the World Council of Churches.

Citing the spiritual, environmental, social and economic benefits provided by the world’s tropical rainforests, the partners of the multi-faith initiative emphasize humanity’s shared ethical and moral responsibility to protect them. They are committed to concrete, collective action to protect, restore, and sustainably manage those forests.

Indigenous Peoples will play a leadership role in the initiative, as their traditional wisdom evolved in intimate interaction with rainforests. A growing body of scientific evidence shows Indigenous Peoples to be the best guardians of the forests, and confirms that granting strong land rights to Indigenous Peoples and forest communities serves as an effective, inexpensive solution to the deforestation crisis, while delivering social, economic, and climate benefits.

Although the traditional knowledge of Indigenous Peoples is recognized in the Paris Agreement as a potent tool against climate change, these traditional forest peoples are under siege from governments, multinational companies, and other encroachers eager to chop down forests for infrastructure, palm oil plantations, soy, and cattle.

Launch Announcement – Participant Statement – Press Materials – Summary Report

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UPDATE: The IRI global steering committee reconvened at the UN Headquarters in New York on April 19, 2018 to give a briefing on this initiative and to receive consultation.

Leaders and representative of NGOs and advocacy groups (such as the Water Culture Institute and Rainforest Alliance) were eager to learn how they, as secular organizations, could help. The steering committee members were clear that atheists, humanists, and any person of ethical convictions had a place in dialogue and coalition building.

IRI will launch early programs in five high risk, high priority countries: Brazil, Colombia, Peru, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Indonesia. These programs will support the development of faith-based networks with diverse advisory councils which include local indigenous people.

Interfaith Voices: Define “Interfaith”

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Interfaith Voices, a weekly syndicated radio show, recently featured an interview with Katherine Marshall, senior fellow at the Georgetown University Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs.

SYNOPSIS: Republican Spiritual Revival – White Christian Nationalism – Liberty of Conscience and Religious Freedom – Evangelical Protection of Religious Minorities – Interfaith: Problematic Term – Parliament of World’s Religions: Controversy and Suspicion – Alliance of Virtue – Theology of the Hammer – Ambitious Global Institutions – The Good City – Diplomacy and Development – Preconceptions and Prejudice About Religion – Symbolic and Practical Leadership – Visionary Agenda – Pluralism and Exclusivism – Public Acts of Solidarity – Peacemaking and New Partnerships