Gathering interfaith history: 11-7-11

Given the importance today of interfaith dialogue and the growing pluralism found in America's religious landscape, it's perhaps surprising that not a lot of attention has been paid to the history of the interfaith movement.

The new online publication The Interfaith Observer (TIO), which I introduced to you some weeks ago here, is trying to fix that a bit by compiling essays and documents related to interfaith history.

I'm going to be brief today so you can click here and give some time to the good information that TIO has put together.

It's to Kansas City's credit, by the way, that it has long been a leader in the interfaith movement, thanks to efforts by such people as the Rev. Vern Barnet, whose long years of work in this area ultimately led to the creation of the Greater Kansas City Interfaith Council. You can explore some of Vern's work on his own Web site by clicking here.

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MAKING SENSE OF RELIGIOUS DISPLAY COURT CASES

I find I almost never agree with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, but he raised an interesting question in a dissent recently about the court's responsibility to clarify what is constitutional and what isn't when it comes to religious display cases. The court, he said, has left the issue of religious displays on public property in confusion and should accept some cases that would straighten things out. Not a bad idea, though as the piece to which I've linked you notes, it takes only four judges to accept a case, and for some reason Thomas can't get three others to agree with him. Odd.