Pagan Interfaith Teaching

Sanctuary of Congregation Kol Shofar

Earlier this week Marin Interfaith Council sponsored an event called "Contemplative Service of Light," held in the beautiful sanctuary at Congregation Kol Shofar. The ceremony was intended to highlight the youth from various religious communities around the county.  However, since I'm just me, a Witch at Large, and because we Pagans have not yet established much in the way of lasting institutions, I had no youth to include.

We opened with everyone chanting "We are a circle within a circle, with no beginning and never ending."  If this sounds familiar to the Pagan reader, it's because it's a Pagan chant written by Rick Hamouris.*  How fine to have a chant of Pagan origin that people of many religions can relate to and sing with genuine enthusiasm.

Next the youth of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Tiburon offered a Biblical reading, followed by a period of silent meditation.

Diwali Candles

Our friends from Brahma Kumaris spoke of how they celebrate Diwali, concluding with a lovely brief meditation on the light in our bodies, extending from the point on the brow throughout our bodies, down each leg to the toes, down each arm to the fingers, and above the head.

Hannukah Menorah

The youth of Congregations Rodef Shalom (Reformed) and Kol Shofar (Conservative) told the story of the eight days of Hannukah as they lit each candle in the menorah.  "The ninth holder, called the shamash ("helper" or "servant"), is for a candle used to light all other candles and/or to be used as an extra light."

This lighting was followed by a second period of silent meditation, with the ringing of a bowl indicating its end. 

The youth of our local Baha'i community spoke and sang on their Seven Candles of Unity -- (1) unity in the political realm; (2) unity of thought in world undertakings; (3) unity in freedom; (4) unity of religion; (5) unity of nations; (6) unity of races** [sic]; and finally (7) unity of language --  as one teen after another lit each candle.  

After this, the youth from Unity of Marin also lit unity candles.  I was confused as to which community, Baha'i or Unity of Marin, lit which candles, since there was only one candelabra of unity candles.

Once more we sat in silent meditation until the ringing of the bowl.

Nancy Johnson from First Missionary Baptist Church in Marin City told us the history and meaning of the African-American and Pan-African celebration of Kwanzaa.  Kwanzaa is a Swahili word derived from the phrase "matunda ya kwanza," meaning "first fruits."  Created by Dr. Malauna Karengo in 1966, 

Kwanzaa is organized around five fundamental activities: (1) ingathering of the people which reaffirms the bonds between them; (2) special reverence for the Creator and creation which recognizes and reaffirms the bond of mutuality between the divine, social and the natural; (3) commemoration of the past which is directed toward honoring and emulating the ancestors and understanding the meaning and obligations of our history; (4) recommitment to our highest cultural values, especially our moral and spiritual ones; and (5) celebration of the Good of life, i.e., life itself, love, sisterhood/brotherhood, family, community, the earth and universe, the human person and human possibilities, our struggle, history and culture. 

Kwanzaa Candelabra

Kwanzaa is organized around seven principles, or Nguzo Saba. Each day of Kwanzaa emphasizes a different principle.

• Unity - Umoja:  To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and race.
• Self-determination - Kujichagulia :  To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves, and speak for ourselves.
• Collective Work and Responsibility - Ujima:  To build and maintain our community together and make our brother's and sister's problems our problems and to solve them together.
• Cooperative Economics - Ujamaa:  To build and maintain our own stores, shops, and other businesses and to profit from them together.
• Purpose - Nia:  To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.
• Creativity - Kuumba:  To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.
• Faith - Imani: To believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders, and the righteousness and victory of our struggle

The seven candles of Kwanzaa are: three red, symbolic of the blood shed in the struggles of African ancestors; three green, representing the fertile land of Africa and the concept of hope; and one is black, representing the color of the African race.**

It's interesting to note the similarities of the various candle-lighting ceremonies: Judaism has eight; Baha'i and Unity seven; and Kwanzaa seven.  We Pagans have fires in our hearths, bonfires on hills and beaches, Yule logs, and the reborn Sun.

Last but not least, I presented a 'teaching' about light and the Sun from a Pagan perspective.   Here is text of what I read is and here is a video by Clyde Roberts .

Since the ceremony was running late, we dispensed with the final silent meditation and went directly to our closing song, Charley Murphy's "Light Is Returning."  Counting the e.e. cummings chant I sang in my talk, this makes the third piece of Pagan music in this interfaith service.  Here we are singing it, thanks again to Clyde.  The "ghosts" of light in the video are reflections from the mirror mobile hanging from the middle of the ceiling of the sanctuary.

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*  Although this chant appears in many places around the Web, perhaps not surprisingly nearly none of them credits the author.  I happen to know Rick.  If you're a regular reader of my infrequent blogs, you know that I feel strongly about crediting the sources of chants, songs, and liturgical pieces that find their way into the common Pagan culture whenever possible.

**  Personally, I consider there to be only one race, the human race, with various expressions of uniqueness.

Witches, Black Panthers & Sufis

Interfaith at Samhaintide

Marin Interfaith Council has been offering monthly interfaith contemplative services for peace.  The October gathering, at Sausalito Presbyterian Church, was to feature Pagan religions (specifically "Wiccan") in honor of the season of Samhain.  I had committed to conducting this hour-long service; however, I was also selected to be a Deputy Inspector at the polls and the mandatory training for that job was scheduled for the same evening.  So I asked my friend Gwion Raven, who had helped me at the Thanksgiving Eve service for the homeless (and their supporters) last year, if he would do it.  I had planned on two readings, which I suggested he use.  He did use them, plus taught some chants that the group did together.  In reflecting on his experience, Gwion said, "It really affected me...I had never experienced being recognized as a Pagan and been so warmly welcomed in a Christian church.  [Attendees showed] genuine curiosity." I thank Gwion for his work.

The following day, when I attended MIC's clergy luncheon, three people, including Paul Mowry, the new pastor at Sausalito Presbyterian, who had been to the contemplative service told me how much they enjoyed it.  I was glad to hear that and glad to relay that feedback to Gwion.

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Interfaith as Matrix for Social Justice

The topic of discussion at the luncheon, held in the new Hannah Project1 Gallery space at Marin City,2 where we sat amidst an exhibit of photographs and other ephemera called "Architects, Activists, and Avengers: The Black Panther Party 1968, and featuring photographs by Pirkle Jones and his wife and collaborator, Ruth-Marion Baruch, was "The Role of Religious Communities in Movement Making."

I shared a table with two friends from Green Gulch Zen Center and Chris Highland, while we listened to three speakers.  Sister Colleen McDermott, Ph.D., told us of her study of the Highlander Center in Tennessee.

Founded in 1932 during the Great Depression in Tennessee as the Highlander Folk School, it began with programs to help rural women and organized different groups working for social justice and workers' rights. Among its founders and prominent participants were Myles Horton and his wife, née Zilphia Mae Johnson, Jane Wilburn Sapp, and Septima Poinsette Clark.  In the '30s and '40s the institute helped organize miners and textile mill workers.

In the 1950s Highlander taught desegregation and citizenship workshops with such participants as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, and Ralph Abernathy, and organized voter registration efforts. The ubiquitous movement song "We Shall Overcome" comes from Highlander, which has always included music and the arts in its programming.  SNCC (Student Nonviolent Organizing Committee) has roots at Highlander.

During the 1960s and '70s Highlander refocussed on Appalachia, organized protests against toxic dumping, and more recently it has featured LGBT programs, multilingual programs for organizing immigrants (Pueblos de Latinoamerica Justice School), and post-Katrina relief.

Sister Colleen pointed out that religious organizations such as churches have the institutional structure that's an important underpinning of efforts at social change.  Institutions grant the authority to speak up and engage.  Myles Horton's early seminary studies at Union Theological Seminary in New York informed his dedication to organizing for social justice.

This is one of my arguments for having Pagans establish institutions such as Cherry Hill Seminary.

Pastor Johnathan Logan, Sr., from Cornerstone Church of God in Christ in Marin City, spoke of his church's mission, quoted in part below:

Glorifies God by its standards of holiness, righteousness, and obedience to His Word. Demonstrates Christ's command to love one another. ... Worship God in spirit and truth recognizing that Jesus is Head of the Church  Recognize its interdependence with other members within the body of Christ which [sic] may not be of the same denominational affiliation. ...  Fulfills Christ's command to evangelize the world.

Third to speak was Pastor Veronica Goines of St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, a "historical multicultural congregation" also in Marin City.

I found the speakers demonstrated an inordinate underlying assumption of an Abrahamic religious viewpoint.  For instance, the name of Martin Luther King, Jr. was invoked frequently, yet no mention was made of such figures as Malcolm X and others in the Black Muslim movement that also arose from those fertile and changing times.  Neither was there acknowledgement of the African diaspora religions that also gained adherents since those transformative years of the '60s and early '70s.

Now I understand that Marin's population is predominantly white.  And I know that this program was not intended to reflect every change to have arisen from religious communities in the those times.  Further, local branches of the Black Muslim church have either dissipated or fallen into corruption.3

I wanted to mention this as I, a polytheist, sat there with my non-deist friends amidst the assumption of monotheism, but I couldn't come up with a constructive way to comment.  Having said all this, I will say I enjoyed the program; I learned a lot that I hadn't known before and may never have been exposed to otherwise.  The speakers provided insights and provoked further reflections.  It was worth every minute.

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Visionary Marin

In a busy two weeks for MIC, we concluded with the annual Visionary Marin Awards Ceremony, this year honoring Dr. Nahid Angha.  Musicians played while people sampled delicious food prepared by the sisters of Brahma Kumaris and from Green Gulch Farm and elsewhere, and bid on an array of silent auction items as well as buying raffle tickets for several beautiful gift baskets.  A slide show of photos of religious activities by the member congregations of MIC demonstrated the rich variety of our membership.  I was pleased to see some photos of Pagans dancing round a Maypole that I had taken.

Among the many accomplishments that led MIC to give Nahid this year's Visionary Marin award is her  founding of the International Association of Sufism and Sufi Women Organization  , "an international humanitarian organization promoting universal human rights."

We learned more about Nahid from a Q&A session done with the Rev. Charles Gibbs, Executive Director of the United Religions Initiative.

Everyone left feeling that their culinary, intellectual, and community appetites had been satisfied.  Plus we met our fundraising goal for the year.  Kudos to the Rev. Carol Hovis and her assistant, Allison Kirk, and the many volunteers who worked with them to make this event a success.


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1.  The Hannah Project assists African-American and other low-income students ages 8-22 and their families in efforts to boost academic performance and college graduation rates.

2. Marin City, begun with housing designed by the late Frank Lloyd Wright for the many workers who migrated here during World War II to work on the Liberty ships in the Sausalito shipyards. It is now home to the largest African-American community in the county.  Coincidentally, the famed architect's final commission was our Marin County Civic Center.

3.  See Your Black Muslim Bakery and murder of journalist Chauncey Bailey.

Marin Interfaith Council and International Relations

Two of my friends and colleagues in Marin Interfaith Council are doing their own work in a most sensitive area of the world, India and Pakistan.

Sister Elizabeth Padilla(1) of the Brahma Kumaris Worldwide Spiritual Organization, left last Friday for a month of travel, retreat and work in India, the founding country of the Brahma Kumaris.  The local Brahma Kumaris have a center here in Marin, Anubhuti Retreat Center, where I have attended several MIC days of retreat.

Another member, novelist Nafisa Haji, of the International Association of Sufism, left Sunday for two weeks in her family's homeland of Pakistan, where she has been invited by the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan to represent the US at the Karachi Literature Festival.  I have read Nafisa's first two published novels, The Writing on My Forehead and The Sweetness of Tears, and I recommend them highly, both for their eloquence and literary merit and for the unique perspectives on Pakistani-Americans and people of mixed heritage in today's complicated world.

Both prior to and since Partition in 1947, India and Pakistan have a complicated and challenging history. Today those relations continue to be strained relations.  Not to mention the challenging and complicated relationship between the U.S. and Pakistan.

To quote MIC's Director, the Rev. Carol Hovis,

It is fitting and hope-filled that two of our own MIC leaders (Elizabeth is currently on our Board of Directors and Nafisa served as Board President last year) are in these two countries, representing the very best of the US and world-wide humanity.

We send our traveling mercies, love, prayers and strength to these two courageous and talented women, Nafisa and Elizabeth.

I have always enjoyed a very warm and respectful relationship with both of these women.  I'm proud to report to the Pagan world the extent and potential of the work of my local interfaith colleagues.

1.  Sister Elizabeth, in a previous life, played Snow White in the well-known San Francisco revue, Beach Blanket Babylon.  Now she sings beautiful Hindu devotionals.

Retreat Day with Two Nuns

Yesterday I spent a restorative day with others in the Marin Interfaith Council at one of our quarterly retreats. The theme was balancing the inner and outer life, taught by Dominican Sister Marion Irvine and Brahma Kumaris ("daughters of Brahma")* Sister Chandru.

Sister Chandru, who speaks very quietly with a melodic Hindi accent, told us about the founding of Brahma Kumaris by Brahma Baba (Lekhraj Kripilani) in 1936 in an area that was then in India but is now part of Pakistan. At that time Hinduism was dominated by males, and Baba thought there would be benefit in giving women charge of a group dedicated to peace. The movement began with 300-400 young women aged 16-21 years, and has now grown to 8,500 centers in 100 countries.

Brahma Baba

The Brahma Kumaris sisters at Anubhuti Meditation and Retreat Center**, the location of the retreat, were in mourning for their late leader, Dadi Prakashmani, who had died only a few days earlier. (Dadi means respected elder sister.) Dadi Prakashmani was one of the original sisters to whom Brahma Baba entrusted his entire worldly estate and the administration of the order; she joined when she was 14.

Born in Mumbai, Sister Chandru uses the masculine form of her given name, Chandra, because in her youth when she joined Brahma Kumaris, Brahma Baba told her she was like a son to him.

The Brahma Kumaris practice a form of meditation called Raja Yoga. It is a method of relaxing, refreshing and clearing the mind and heart. It helps you look inside to rediscover and reconnect with your original, spiritual essence. Meditation enables an integration of your spiritual identity with the social and physical realities around you, restoring a functional and healthy balance between your inner and outer worlds.

We spent the latter part of the morning, through lunch (delicious fresh vegetarian lovingly prepared and served by residents of the retreat) in silent meditation. We sat, and later walked the grounds or the labyrinth.

Sister Marion is a hoot. Really unshakable. When she was 47, overweight and smoking two packs of cigarettes a day, she took up running to relax after her workdays as principal of a grade school. Soon she became the oldest to ever qualify for the Olympic Trials. She even made it into Time magazine. Here's a photo (about halfway down the page) of her in her running days. She's now 77, with the spirit of a youngster and the sass of a woman who knows who she is and enjoys life.

She told us a bit about the founders of her order, the 12th Century CE Spaniard, St. Dominic de Guzman, and St. Catherine of Sienna (the youngest of 25 children!). In general, Dominicans seek to purify themselves from 'evil' by asceticism. The sisters established places of retreat for itinerant friars during the Late Middle Ages.

Dominicans have three orders. Sister Marion is in the third, or active, order. The second is contemplative, and the third is completely cloistered.

Dominican sisters, also known as the Order of Preachers, live their lives supported by four common values, often referred to as the Four Pillars of Dominican Life, they are: community life, common prayer [both liturgical and contemplative, according to Sister Marion], study and service.

Of course, we Witches know the Dominicans as the propagators of the Inquisition, the authors of the Malleus Malifacarum (published in 1487), torturers and burners of heretics, and she did mention the Dominicans' persecution of the Albigensians. I actually considered mentioning Kramer and Sprenger, but just didn't think it was a good time to get into that particular discussion.

Sister Marion is a native San Franciscan and product of Dominican schools. In high school, she observed that her teachers, all Dominican sisters, seemed happy in their lives and work, and since she considered herself to be a rather upbeat person, she was attracted to that life. She claims she never had a mystical experience that lead her to join, and she's never had one in the sixty years she's been in the order.

I did manage to jump on a potential teaching moment when we were talking about the power of collective prayer, chant and meditation focusing on a common goal. I pointed out that this is another name for what we might call 'spellwork.'

Sister Marion showed us a teaching method used in her order wherein a short passage of the Bible is read aloud slowly, and really listened to. After a brief period of silence, they are read a second time. I volunteered and found myself in the odd position of reading just a few verses of the Gospel of Luke.

We Pagans don't have a sacred text, per se; however, I intend to try this practice with a few lines of poetry, lyrical words about Nature, or maybe part of The Charge of the Goddess. I think it could enhance our understanding. As I get older, I find I enjoy contemplative spiritual practices at least as much as more active practices, if not more.

There were some things said that were mistaken assumptions on the part of the teachers, particularly assumptions about monotheism from Sister Marion.

Although we usually think of Hindus as being polytheists, the Brahma Kumaris seem to pay little heed to individual deities. Instead, their focus is on world peace. The artwork at the retreat was comprised of a surprising number of white sculpted angels -- a large angel stood at the edge of the labyrinth -- plus photographs of temples and assemblies of people, and mystical paintings of colors and images drawing the eye into "the one."

I find enrichment in every retreat I've attended. This is the fourth. I missed the one at the Vedanta Society in West Marin, but attended two at Santa Sabina Center and one at Green Gulch Zen Center, plus several International Day of Prayer breakfasts at Congregation Rodef Shalom.

Our director, the Rev. Carol Hovis, has a real talent for putting together interesting spiritual leaders to present on topics relevant to all of us. She's someone other interfaith folks might consider looking to for creative ideas leading to greater religious tolerance and understanding.


*Brahma Kumaris means ‘daughters of Brahma.’ Seminal to the vision of world renewal was the revelation of the important and prominent role of women as spiritual teachers. Brahma Baba correctly foresaw that core values based on traditionally feminine qualities – patience, tolerance, sacrifice, kindness and love – would increasingly become the foundation of progress in personal growth, human relations, and the development of caring communities. To maintain the emphasis on this vital core of leadership, he named the organisation the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University.

** Anubhuti means 'to experience."

MIC Celebrates National Day of Prayer

Thursday was National Day of Prayer. For the eighth year, my local Marin Interfaith Council has held a prayer breakfast, produced by our sterling Director, the Rev. Carol Hovis.

I note with disappointment that the National Day of Prayer Task Force, which calls itself the Official Website for National Day of Prayer. In part, is says:

The National Day of Prayer Task Force exists to communicate with every individual the need for personal repentance and prayer, mobilizing the Christian community to intercede for America and its leadership. [Emphasis added.]

Under "Who We Are," it says:

We are the Judeo-Christian expression of the National Day of Prayer which was established in 1952 by a joint resolution of the United States Congress and signed into law by President Harry S. Truman. The United States was born in prayer and founded on a relationship with God while instituting His biblical principles and moral values. [Emphasis added.]

MIC's prayer breakfast had nothing of the flavor that the the task force's "official" site has. One wonders if they are self-designated and how they view interfaith activities.

Last year's speakers were from diverse religions. See this Broomstick Chronicle. This year's breakfast was held at the same venue, Congregation Rodef Shalom, and our speakers were just as diverse, with Caleb Klinge, Senior Pastor of New Life Christian Center in Novato, a Pentacostal Christian; Clerk Linda Lang of the Quakers Marin Friends Meeting; and Ebrahim Nanan a Sunni Muslim from the Islamic Center of Mill Valley *

Although I do not resonate with Christian belief, I was able to find common ground with Pastor Klinge when he spoke of the joy of being filled with the love of God, in the sense that I think this parallels some of the ecstatic practices found in some Pagan paths, particularly my own Reclaiming and Faery/Feri. He claimed that his Christian life is lived and experienced rather than written about and debated. More experiential than scripture-based.

Clerk Lang spoke modestly yet knowledgeably about how Quakers worship. She told some of the history of their religion, which began as a type of Christianity, and moved on to the "consensus process" used in their meetings. Individuals speak at the spirit moves them rather than just to be filling up air space. Some meetings are silent ones while others, when many are moved to speak, may fill with locquacity. Her words found resonance in my soul.

Mr. Ebrahim spoke in a straightforward way about how Muslims practice and their reliance on the Koran. As you might expect, he fielded several questions about the differences between Sunnis and Shiites, yet he refused to be drawn into what he sees as political differences. He said the beliefs and practices of the two Islamic lines are identical, and that the only thing they differed on was lineage.

I had an opportunity to chat with Sister Elizabeth Padilla of Brahma Kumaris at breakfast. She's active in the URI and the Interfaith Center at the Presidio, where knows and works with Don Frew. Afterwards I was approached by a woman who is a Religious Science minister and also a member of the Fellowship of Isis. She wanted to circulate notice of the upcoming pentacle quest event in Lafayette. I find interfaith events more enjoyable as I continue to participate.

* Mr. Ebrahim knew John Walker Linde from his time of seeking when he began to attend this mosque.

Marin Remembers MLK

The Marin Interfaith Council and the Marin Interfaith Youth Outreach presented an event in honor of Dr. King called Jubilee: Civil Rights & Marin County 50 Years Ago at Congregation Rodef Sholom tonight. I went alone. Some of the speakers were people I'm acquainted with, mostly through the MIC.

Rabbi Stacy Friedman, the senior rabbi of the host site, spoke of the meaning of the 50th anniversary, or jubilee. The jubilee is a year of restoration and celebration, called in Hebrew yobel, or "ram's-horn trumpet" with which the jubilee year was proclaimed. Besides celebrating 50 years of civil rights activism in Marin, the event also celebrated the jubilees of none Marin religious congregations.

Noah Griffin recapped significant events in the struggle for civil rights, citing legal rulings, Rosa Parks' bus ride, and his own few meetings with prominent civil rights leaders. He just rolled off all these facts; probably is asked to to it a lot.

Sister Chandru Desai of the Brahma Kumaris Meditation Center (soon to open a meditation center in Novato), in her very gentle way, lead us in chanting "Om Shanti Peace."

Interspersed between the speakers was some lively gospel singing. Fortunately, for me at least, most of the gospel singing was of well-known freedom songs rather than Christian hymns. Many, if not most, of the 500 people in attendance, sang and clapped and stood up and rocked. I'm always happy to join in good-time song.

The highlight of the evening was a screening of "Civil Rights & Marin County: 50 Years Ago," a film by Scarlet Shepard. Most of the interviewees were in attendance. Among those interviewed were American-born Nisei who'd been rounded up and interned during World War II -- a shameful chapter in U.S. history. Others were African-Americans whose families had come to Marin during WW II to work for Bechtel building Liberty Ships at Marinship in Sausalito. One of the women spoke of growing up in Marin City, how most of the housing for the workers had been temporary and Marin City itself had been integrated. The housing complex at Marin City was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

A white woman who was graduated from Tam High in 1950, spoke of the covert racial discrimnation she witnessed in earlier years, and noted landscape architect Lawrence Halprin and his dancer wife Anna spoke of their thwarted efforts to buy real estate in Kent Woodlands because they were Jews and how Roger Kent stepped in and made it happen.

I found the interview footage fascinating, yet I think the film needs to be expanded to contextualize the interviews and some polish. I'm viewing it as a work in progress.

One of the speakers preached, and as preaching goes she was good, but I don't want to be preached to no matter how skilled the preacher. I feel that preaching is inappropriate in interfaith contexts, even ones that celebrate the life of another African-American preacher.

I must admit that when one man sang a song he'd written about 'the Lord,' I just had to walk out for a while. He was a fine singer with a good strong voice, but the song made me so uncomfortable. Daresay it offended me. I know it was meaningful to him. But was it appropriate to all present? I don't think so. Not to me anyway. I returned after he finished.

What should a nice Pagan woman do in such a situation? I felt the only option I had to address my own discomfort was to absent myself for the duration. I did mention to the Director of MIC, who was one of the main organizers, how I'd been put off by such overt religiosity of a particular stripe. Maybe I'm just not cut out for this kind of work. I don't seek it out. It comes to me -- not this particular event, but in general I participate in interfaith activities because someone asks me to. I pass such opportunities to others when I can, and generally I feel I do a credible job, but still -- I'm never sure I'm the best person to be doing it.

We share many values -- peace activism, concern for the poor and homeless, opposition to capital punishment, green concerns -- and when we work together on those problems, I'm just fine. But still I find that the majority Abrahamics tend to slip into their assumption that all the world's population is monotheistic. It bugs me. I feel I should try to bring it up in as constructive a way as I can. How do others deal with it?