Category: Social Issues
Guest Post Part Four: HINDU GOOD NEWS™
On occasion, State of Formation is pleased to offer its readers and contributors selections from guest bloggers. Over the next week we will publish four part series containing excerpts from a recent b... Read More
Praying at the Wishing Wall of Jerusalem
The first thing I noticed about the Western Wall is that everybody was crying. I had been lost in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City, and when I rounded the gate above the Wall (the Kotel) t... Read More
The Obligation to Vaccinate: “Health Freedom” and communal responsibility
A poster opposing "Mandatory Vaccination" speaks to a fear of losing the individual freedom to make choices about health. But is freedom really the best framework to use in this scenario? Or was the a... Read More
New Journal: Claremont Journal of Religion
A new journal is born! “Religion” is one of the most difficult words to define. People use the word all of the time but have a hard time flushing out its precise meaning. Having spent ... Read More
Being the Change You Wish to See in the Middle East
Today is the first full day in Israel. Jet lag woke me up at 5:45am and I grew restless waiting out the dawn in my twin bed, so I pulled on running shoes and trotted out into the indigo chill. The Sea... Read More
Religious Wisdom the World Needs Now
This was my first visit to the Zen Center. One of the Buddhist priests had invited me to encourage his students to engage in interfaith environmental work. I was a little nervous, but something about ... Read More
Anyone Can Edit: What Faith Communities Can Learn From Wikipedia
On January 15, 2001, Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger launched the free, web-based encyclopedia known as Wikipedia. Wikipedia is collaborative and open-source, meaning that anyone can add and edit materia... Read More
Seeking Freedom Behind the Partition
I arrived at Gate 6 in Terminal 3 at JFK an hour before departure to Tel Aviv. It was technically yesterday, but due to the flight and the travel I’ve only scraped together some shallow dozes, and t... Read More