Although the Berkeley Area Interfaith Council is a local organization designed to serve the needs of the Berkeley/Oakland area of the San Francisco Bay community in California, the wide publicity generated by its very active program has given it an unusual status and recognition in interfaith work in North America. It grew out of the former Berkeley Council of Churches, which had become known in the years immediately following World War II for its political activism but which began to dwindle by the beginning of the 1970s. In 1971 the idea was placed before the council to become more inclusive.

The idea of a new council became a reality in 1973 with the hiring of a full-time director, the Rev. William Shive, whose desire to live a simple life coincided with the minuscule salary the council could afford. He began the task of visiting all of the different churches and religious groups of the community. The council met each month in a different center, the host taking the lead in explaining what his or her group was all about as part of a program that would include a discussion on some topic of widespread interest. By the end of the 1970s the council had become involved in religious freedom controversies, advocacy of gay rights (including the right to marry), and various local issues.

In spite of ups and downs, the council survived. Its projects in the 1990s included working on the follow-up to the World’s Parliament of Religions meeting held in Chicago in 1993. The council is part of the San Francisco Bay Area Interfaith Coalition.

Membership

Not reported.

Sources

Magalis, Elaine. “Methodists, Moonies, and Mormons.” New World Outlook (May 1979): 1620.

Canadian Ecumenical Action

1420 West 12th Ave., Vancouver, BC, Canada V6H 1M8

Canadian Ecumenical Action is described as a multifaith community-services society. It was founded in 1973 as the People’s Opportunity in Ecumenical Mission by a group of Christians under the leadership of the Rev. Val Anderson. In 1975 the group began the Canadian Ecumenical News. Gradually people of other faiths were included and the group emerged as an interfaith work. The group operates primarily in western Canada.

Canadian Ecumenical Action seeks to promote interfaith understanding, provide information and resources on world religions to the community and encourage interfaith dialogue on community issues, and promote community service programs. Canadian Ecumenical News carried announcements of interfaith activities across Canada, though it no longer publishes as a separate entity. Canadian Ecumenical Action is headed by a planning board of 15 people. Board members serve as interested individuals rather than official representatives of their religious communities.

Membership

Participants in Canadian Ecumenical Action come from the many different religious communities represented in Canada.

Inter Religious Federation for World Peace

481 8th Ave., New York, NY 10011

Devoted to the relationship between religion and peace, the Inter Religious Federation for World Peace (IRFWP) has been involved in international negotiations such as those of the First Gulf War and its aftermath, the Ayodhya Mosque controversy, the Eritrea-Ethiopia border clashes, the battles of the former Yugoslavia, and many other areas of life-and-death confrontation. IRFWP’s root organizations include the New Ecumenical Research Association (New ERA), the Council for the World’s Religions, the International Religious Foundation, the Religious Youth Service (RYS), the Assembly of the World’s Religions, and many others. These organizations have maintained vigorous programs, some for decades, and often have played central roles in world affairs where issues of religion and peace are prevalent.

The IRFWP, formally established in 1991, grew out of an older organization, the Global Congress of the World’s Religions, which developed from an initial proposal for a centennial celebration of the World’s Parliament of Religions, originally held in 1893 in Chicago. The proposal was made by Dr. Warren Lewis, a professor of church history at the Unification Theological Seminary. It received the backing of the seminary, which sponsored several exploratory meetings in the late 1970s. The Global Congress was formally organized in 1980 and during the next few years sponsored a regular series of consultations around the world.

In the mid-1980s the Global Congress acquired the sponsorship of the International Religious Foundation, one of the arms of the Unification Church, which had supplied it with financial and personal resources. Its activity was then divided between two structures: the Council for the World’s Religions, which promoted worldwide faith meetings, and the Assembly of the World’s Religions, which met every few years. The assembly, which involves the leadership of the council, also draws upon the resources of the International Religious Foundation. At its 1990 assembly meeting, Rev. Sun Myung Moon (b. 1920) announced the formation of the Inter-Religious Federation for World Peace. The IRFWP has peace as its general goal, which includes peace within one’s self and one’s family, peace within societies and among nations, peace within and among religions, peace within and among cultures, and peace between the human and natural worlds.

In addition to the investment of massive resources into post–9/11 programs to restore and reconcile interreligious and international relations, especially within Islam and between Muslim and Christian world cultures, the IRFWP is active on other fronts such as India-Pakistan, the Middle East, and the Muslim-Christian encounters in Southeast Asia and in the countries of the former Soviet Union. The IRFWP acts as a watchdog and often criticizes those Protestant and Catholic organizations and institutions it views as critical of Islam. Services of the IRFWP include shuttle diplomacy, international programs, conferences/events, and periodical and literary publications. Such structures are used for special weekday ceremonial work rather than being centers for the weekly gathering of worshippers. The four main services performed in the temple are the baptism for the dead, in which the living are baptized as proxies for those who died in generations past; the temple endowments; temple marriage; and sealings, which establish family structures in the life beyond earthly existence.

The leadership of the federation believes that inter-religious peace is essential for world peace and that respect for religious pluralism is a key element of modern life. The federation is headed by an interfaith presiding council assisted by a board of advisers composed of a large number of religious leaders and scholars. An executive staff administers the day-to-day work of the federation.

Membership

Not reported.

Periodicals

IRFWP Newsletter. • Dialogue and Alliance.

Sources

Inter Religious Federation for World Peace. www.irfwp.org.

Bryant, M. Darrol, John Maniatus, and Tyler Hendrics, eds. Assembly of the World’s Religions, 1985: Spiritual Unity and the Future of the Earth. New York: International Religious Foundation, 1985.

Lewis, Warren, ed. Towards a Global Congress of the World’s Religions. Barrytown, NY: Unification Theological Seminary, 1978.

Thompson, Henry O. The Global Congress of the World’s Religions: Proceedings, 1980–82. Barrytown, NY: Unification Theological Seminary, 1982.

Walsh, Thomas G., ed. Assembly of the World’s Religions, 1990: Transmitting Our Heritage to Youth and Society. New York: International Religious Foundation, 1992.

National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ)

328 Flatbush Ave., PO Box 402, Brooklyn, NY 11217

Alternate Address

International Council of Christians and Jews, Martin Buber House, PO Box 11 29, D-64629, Heppenheim, Germany; Canadian Council of Christians and Jews, 4211 Yonge St., PO Box 17, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M2P 2A9.

The National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ), founded in 1927 as the National Conference of Christians and Jews, is a human relations organization dedicated to fighting bias, bigotry, and racism in America. The NCCJ promotes understanding and respect among all races, religions, and cultures through advocacy, conflict resolution, and education.

The NCCJ was founded by Charles Evans Hughes, Newton D. Baker, S. Parkes Cadman, Roger W. Straus, and Carlton J. H. Hayes. The work extended to Canada in 1940 with the formation of the Canadian Council of Christians and Jews and to Europe in 1950 with the formation of the World Brotherhood (now embodied in the International Council of Christians and Jews).

Through the years, NCCJ has promoted interreligious dialogue, especially between Jewish and Christian leaders, and in the 1980s moved into the needful area of Jewish-Christian-Muslim dialogue. It has also initiated dialogues between African Americans, the Jewish community, and the larger non-Jewish white population. In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the United States the NCCJ hosted various conferences and workshops in an effort to combat perceived discrimination against Muslims and other Arab communities.

NCCJ focuses on the multiple manifestations of discrimination and oppression based on religion, race, gender, sexual orientation, economic and social class, age, or physical ability status. Through its programming strategies, research, and public policy initiatives, NCCJ works to transform communities so that they are more whole and just and to promote understanding and respect across groups by preparing and supporting faith, economic opportunity, education, youth, news and advertising media, and government leadership to build inclusive institutions.

Membership

In 2008 the NCCJ reported more than 55 regional offices in 32 states and the District of Columbia and more than 400 full- and part-time staff members.

Sources

National Conference for Community and Justice. www.nccj.org.

Braybrooke, Marcus. Inter-Faith Organizations, 1893–1979: An Historical Directory. New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 1980.

North American Interfaith Network (NAIN)

4910 Valley Crest Dr., St. Louis, MO 64128-1829

Alternate Address

Canadian Office: c/o Rev. David A. Spence, Multifaith Action Society, 33 Arrowwood Pl., Port Moody, BC, Canada V3H 4J1; Mexican Office: c/o Jonathan Rose, Mexican Interfaith Council, Calle Matameros 4, Tepaztlan, Marleas, CP 62525, Mexico.

North American Interfaith Network (NAIN) was established in 1988 out of a gathering in Wichita, Kansas, of some 350 people from across North America representing the spectrum of the world’s religious faiths. NAIN emerged from that meeting as a network of participating member organizations. It has been successful in involving local interfaith councils and groups representative of traditions other than Christian.

NAIN sponsors an annual conference, during which it awards several scholarships to students. Through the affiliated Interfaith Voices for Peace & Justice, it publishes a directory of more than 800 faith-based and interfaith organizations.

Membership

In 2008 NAIN reported approximately 100 member organizations.

Periodicals

NAINews & Interfaith Digest.

Sources

North American Interfaith Network. www.nain.org/.

Temple of Understanding

211 E 43rd St., Ste. 1600, New York, NY 10017

The Temple of Understanding grew out of the vision of Juliet Hollister for a center for the promotion of understanding among the world’s religions, recognition of the oneness of the human family, and ultimately the organization of a spiritual United Nations. The ideas as put forth in the 1950s were warmly received by a number of prominent leaders around the globe, from Eleanor Roosevelt to Albert Schweitzer, who in 1960 became “founding friends” of the temple.

The temple is headed by a president, a board of directors, an advisory board, and an international committee. Over the years the temple has held a number of Spiritual Summit Conferences. Plans have existed for many years to create a permanent home for the temple on land near Washington, D.C., but financial resources to construct the facility have not as yet been forthcoming.

The temple is a nongovernmental organization (NGO) in consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council, as well as an active entity within the United Nations itself. The temple also offers programs in interfaith education for students at the secondary level and beyond. These programs include seminars, community visits, and immersion experiences.

Sources

Temple of Understanding. www.templeofunderstanding.org/.

Braybrooke, Marcus. Inter-Faith Organizations, 1893–1979: An Historical Directory. New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 1980.

United Religions Initiative

PO Box 29242, San Francisco, CA 94129-0242

The United Religions Initiative (URI) dates to 1990, when Rt. Rev. William E. Swing, the Episcopal bishop of California, conceived of a global interfaith community that could work toward ending religiously motivated violence by putting in place new structures based on healing, peace, and justice. He began to share his vision with colleagues, and its ideals generated a response internationally. In 1996 the first of what has become an annual Global Summit Conference gathered in San Francisco.

As the idea of a United Religions Initiative, the name attached to the vision, took shape, the group sponsored the 72 Hours of Peace program to promote the idea of a transition to the year 2000 in a prayerful and spiritual context. Subsequent conferences initiated a spectrum of projects internationally that drew the support of prominent religious leaders to its cause. The international work led to the formation of local groups (“cooperation circles”), the appointment of an interim Global Council, the formation of regional (continental) assemblies, and the establishment of an office and executive staff in San Francisco. Staffing was being established on each of the six major continents.

In June 2000 an inaugurating conference was held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at which the URI was formally organized. The ceremony was highlighted by people from 39 different religious traditions and 44 countries penning their names to the charter. The URI’s program initiatives are based upon a belief/hope that daily interfaith cooperation can lead to the end of violence caused by religious conflict and the establishment of a new culture characterized by peace, justice, and healing. To implement its ideal, it promotes a variety of training and pilot projects aimed at creating a new paradigm for peace building through the twenty-first century.

Membership

In 2008 the initiative reported 398 cooperation circles in 67 countries representing over 100 religions.

Periodicals

URI Update.

Sources

United Religions Initiative. www.uri.org/.

World Conference of Religions for Peace (WCRP)

Religions for Peace International, 777 United Nations Plz., New York, NY 10017

The World Conference of Religions for Peace (WCRP; originally named the World Conference on Religion and Peace) grew out of an initiative to bring religious resources to bear on world situations threatening to lead to war. It calls upon people of different faiths to unite in a common effort for world peace.

The work that led to the founding of WCRP can be traced to 1962 and to the Unitarian-Universalist leader Dr. Dana McLean Greeley (1908–1986), who brought together Rabbi Maurice N. Eisendrath (1902–1973), Bp. John Wesley Lord (Methodist; 1902–1989), and Bp. John Wright (Roman Catholic; 1909–1979). The occasion for their first gathering was the Cuban Missile Crisis of that year. Their informal gatherings led to an initial conference in New York in 1964 and a National Inter-Religious Conference on World Peace in Washington, D.C., in 1966. The next year, two representatives of the National Conference made a round-the-world tour to ascertain support for an international meeting.

An initial International Inter-Religious Symposium on Peace in 1968 led directly to the first World Assembly held in Kyoto, Japan, in 1970, at which time the WCRP was formally established. The founding of WCRP occurred in the wake of the heightened war effort in Vietnam. Since that time, WCRP has been given status as a United Nations nongovernmental organization. It has carried on a regular program of relief to the victims of war and speaking to nations either at war or threatening to go to war. The WCRP convenes a World Assembly every five years, bringing together hundreds of representatives of the world’s religions to discuss global issues. The Eighth World Assembly of August 2006, meeting once again in Kyoto, had as its theme “Confronting Violence and Advancing Shared Security.”

Periodicals

Mosaic.

Sources

World Conference of Religions for Peace. www.wcrp.org/.

Braybrooke, Marcus. Inter-Faith Organizations, 1893–1979: An Historical Directory. New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 1980.

Jack, Homer. WCRP: A History of the World Conference on Religion and Peace. New York: World Conference on Religion and Peace, 1993.

World Conference on Religion and Peace. Religions for Peace: Action for Common Living. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2000.

World Fellowship of Religions

Current address not obtained for this edition.

The World Fellowship of Religions was founded in the 1950s in India and later established branches in more than 30 countries. It was founded by Jain master H. H. Acharya Sushil Kumarji Maharaj (1926–1994), who presented an initial proposal for the fellowship in 1955. This led to the World Conference of All Religions held in Delhi in 1957, following which the World Fellowship of Religions was formally inaugurated. Subsequent world conferences have been held, primarily in India.

WFR set as its goals the promotion of peace, the establishment of right human relationships, and the building of right human relationships through love, equality, compassion, and friendship. Stressing nonviolence as essential to its mission, it created a number of projects to directly help suffering people, such as the setting up of medical facilities and development of nutrition programs.