This past Sunday, June 26th, some American churchgoers experienced something they may have never experienced before – someone of a different faith sharing their traditions with them during church. Not at all some sort of hostile takeover of America’s churches, this was instead the result of Faith Shared – a project coordinated by Interfaith Alliance, Human Rights First, and nearly 70 churches from diverse theological backgrounds across the country.

The idea was to have faith leaders of other faiths to come together. Focusing on the Abrahamic traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, Faith Shared gave Jews, Muslims and Christians a rare chance to try to overcome their differences by sharing readings from their own sacred texts. Examples of passages suggested were: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:4); “Jesus said . . . ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second one is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:37-39); and, “Correct and courteous words accompanied by forgiveness are better than a charitable deed followed by insulting words” (Qur’an 2:263).

In an era of increasing tensions between some Jews, Christians, and Muslims, the efforts of faith leaders and laity alike will be needed if more interfaith events like this are to take place – and events like this are going to need to continue to take place if Jews, Christians, and Muslims want to find a way to coexist in the twenty-first century.

For more information on Faith Shared, visit their website.

This evening I caught a story about the riots going on in Vancouver, BC. While I don’t agree with using violence as a tactic, I can at least understand riots breaking out over issues like oppression, hunger, and political corruption. But the riots in Vancouver aren’t the result of a repressive regime or police brutality, they are the result of a hockey team losing a hockey game. I cannot, for the life of me, wrap my head around why people would feel the need to set fires, turn cars over in the street, loot stores, or anything else of that nature because of a lost sports match. What positive results can come from such actions? I can think of none. I can, however, think of plenty of harm that such actions cause.

This certainly isn’t the first time this has happened. I guess riots broke out in 1994 in Vancouver for the same reason, and I know Vancouver isn’t alone. So what I am trying to understand is why. Why do people riot over sports? People could say: “That was a good game. The other team did very well and won. Now let’s all go home.” Why instead react in such a manner? I don’t have any answers, but am asking the question in an open forum in hopes that others may be able to fill me in on what I’m missing here.

UPDATE 6/16/2011 1:00AM
There are apparently nearly 10,000 (9,501 as of the time of this post) people that have already said they are going to help clean up Vancouver after this display of complete insanity. I’m happy to see that everyone hasn’t lost their mind. Click here for more info.

Today I found this great film on YouTube called Many Paths, One Goal. It seems to me that the spirit of this film is one of the most important messages facing humanity at the moment. I was so moved by it that I have decided to share it here.