TruthBook Religious News Blog

By Kathryn Kennedy
The Daily Reflector

Monday, March 23, 2009

Page one of three. Click on "external source of complete article.

One must only drive around Greenville to see how religiously diverse the community is today.

The city houses all the world's major religions, Mayor Pat Dunn pointed out: The Al-Masjid Islamic Center, Congregation Bayt Shalom, The Hindu Society, a Tibetan Buddhist Meditation & Study Center, a Unitarian Universalist Congregation, Protestant, Catholic and Evangelical churches.

There are no statistics available for Greenville or Pitt County in particular — the U.S. Census Bureau doesn't record religious data. But a recent American Religious Identification Survey showed increases in non-believers, Muslims, new religious movements like Wicca or Scientology, and nondenominational Christians nationwide. And as Greenville's population grows, so do the minority groups.

“The university and medical school bring in people from all over the world. When that happens, you will get a bigger picture of what the world religions are,” said Debi Habiba Niswander, leader of the Interfaith Alliance of Eastern Carolina which represents nine religious traditions and non-believers.

City government and other institutions are reacting to that growth in an effort to be more inclusive in a long-standing national tradition — public prayer.

“We have 200 years of history if you go back,” Dunn said, noting that Congress opens with a prayer. City Council has a prayer schedule wherein each council member has a turn at delivering the invocation.

Niswander, who is a Universal Sufi, said a large part of the Interfaith organization don't want people to stop praying before meetings and banquets — though a couple are concerned with the separation of church and state. Most just want to feel recognized.

“It's a social norm,” she said. “To ask them not to (pray) is not right either. To ask them to do that where it includes everybody in that room, I think that is right. And needed.”

With that idea, the Interfaith Alliance held a discussion on inclusivity in public prayer in February. More than 20 people of various religious backgrounds and traditions took part.

“I really wanted to see where people were,” Niswander said, “how much it affected them. If people say, ‘Well I'm so used to it, it doesn't bother me anymore,' which we did hear. As a minority, their views, their way of looking at things and beliefs are pushed down. And the more that happens, the more you just become conditioned to it, which does not make it right.

“A public prayer ... includes the whole group that's in that room. We pray. That kind of inclusiveness. But they're not really taking into effect necessarily who that whole group is.”

Some are already responding to the increased diversity locally. The city of Greenville adopted a pre-meeting prayer policy in 2002. It states that prayers should be sensitive to members of the audience who do not share their beliefs and should not be used to advance or disparage a particular faith or belief.

The council also approved an objective this year to “promote an inclusive community that is respectful of all faiths.”

Many council members, including Larry Spell, don't drop names during their invocations. They give what is clearly a prayer but ambiguously religious. At the March 2 council meeting, Spell's prayer was, “Let us pray. Grant us wisdom and peace so that we may do the city's business in a collegial manner.”

He described it as a general prayer that anyone attending or watching can “apply as they see fit.”

The Pitt County Department of Social Services board has held a moment of “silent prayer or silent meditation” for more than a decade. The change was initiated when non-Christians first served on the board.

“It's probably a step forward to attaining a politically correct agenda,” Chairman Chris Haddock said. He identifies himself as a Christian but said he's not uncomfortable with the procedure because the moment allows one to pray “in whatever way you see fit in that setting.”

City Councilman Calvin Mercer also asks the room to observe a moment of silence when it's his turn to deliver the invocation, but for a different reason.

“I pray in private,” Mercer said. “I pray for my city. But when I'm on the public payroll, conducting public business, I'm not comfortable giving a prayer.”

Labels: inclusion, interfaith, Kathryn Kennedy, prayer

Permalink | Link to External Source Article

Monthly Archives - Previous Articles
03/01/2003 - 04/01/2003 04/01/2003 - 05/01/2003 05/01/2003 - 06/01/2003 06/01/2003 - 07/01/2003 07/01/2003 - 08/01/2003 08/01/2003 - 09/01/2003 09/01/2003 - 10/01/2003 10/01/2003 - 11/01/2003 11/01/2003 - 12/01/2003 12/01/2003 - 01/01/2004 01/01/2004 - 02/01/2004 02/01/2004 - 03/01/2004 03/01/2004 - 04/01/2004 04/01/2004 - 05/01/2004 05/01/2004 - 06/01/2004 06/01/2004 - 07/01/2004 07/01/2004 - 08/01/2004 08/01/2004 - 09/01/2004 09/01/2004 - 10/01/2004 10/01/2004 - 11/01/2004 11/01/2004 - 12/01/2004 12/01/2004 - 01/01/2005 01/01/2005 - 02/01/2005 02/01/2005 - 03/01/2005 03/01/2005 - 04/01/2005 04/01/2005 - 05/01/2005 05/01/2005 - 06/01/2005 06/01/2005 - 07/01/2005 07/01/2005 - 08/01/2005 08/01/2005 - 09/01/2005 09/01/2005 - 10/01/2005 10/01/2005 - 11/01/2005 11/01/2005 - 12/01/2005 12/01/2005 - 01/01/2006 01/01/2006 - 02/01/2006 02/01/2006 - 03/01/2006 03/01/2006 - 04/01/2006 04/01/2006 - 05/01/2006 05/01/2006 - 06/01/2006 06/01/2006 - 07/01/2006 07/01/2006 - 08/01/2006 08/01/2006 - 09/01/2006 09/01/2006 - 10/01/2006 10/01/2006 - 11/01/2006 11/01/2006 - 12/01/2006 12/01/2006 - 01/01/2007 01/01/2007 - 02/01/2007 02/01/2007 - 03/01/2007 03/01/2007 - 04/01/2007 04/01/2007 - 05/01/2007 05/01/2007 - 06/01/2007 06/01/2007 - 07/01/2007 07/01/2007 - 08/01/2007 08/01/2007 - 09/01/2007 09/01/2007 - 10/01/2007 10/01/2007 - 11/01/2007 11/01/2007 - 12/01/2007 12/01/2007 - 01/01/2008 01/01/2008 - 02/01/2008 02/01/2008 - 03/01/2008 03/01/2008 - 04/01/2008 04/01/2008 - 05/01/2008 05/01/2008 - 06/01/2008 06/01/2008 - 07/01/2008 07/01/2008 - 08/01/2008 08/01/2008 - 09/01/2008 09/01/2008 - 10/01/2008 10/01/2008 - 11/01/2008 11/01/2008 - 12/01/2008 12/01/2008 - 01/01/2009 01/01/2009 - 02/01/2009 02/01/2009 - 03/01/2009 03/01/2009 - 04/01/2009 04/01/2009 - 05/01/2009 05/01/2009 - 06/01/2009 06/01/2009 - 07/01/2009 07/01/2009 - 08/01/2009

News Archives Predating March 2003

RSS Feed

Blogroll Me!

Blogarama
The Urantia Book : Pictures of Jesus : Angel Pictures: Inspirational Quotes : Life After Death : Story of Jesus : Truthbook.com : Urantia : The Urantia Book