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About this, there can be no space between us.

8/21/2018

We’re delighted to add MAPS - AMEN — the American Muslim Empowerment Network — and our good friend Aneelah Afzali — to the list of co-sponsors for this weekend’s 16th Annual Seattle Multifaith Summit.

It’s becoming clear how many faith-based organizations believe we are in this together, not because our theologies align at every point but because they align at this point: We Are Neighbors.

About this, there can be no space between us.

Does that ring true? We hope you’ll join us this weekend for a working summit on how to make Seattle a better place for all of us.

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16th Annual Seattle Multifaith Summit Partners

8/8/2018

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There’s a really interesting group of people and organizations behind the 16th Annual Seattle Multifaith Summit.

Join us. Bring a friend. Let’s punch holes in the religious, racial, and political barriers that complicate community-building in Seattle. We are, after all, neighbors.

Tickets: https://multifaithsummit.brownpapertickets.com

Info: http://www.callofcompassion.org/events.html

TICKETS

INFORMATION

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We Seek Understanding

8/2/2018

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16th Annual Multifaith Summit
August 25 | Queen Anne United Methodist Church | Seattle

Anyone can listen. The Seattle Multifaith Summit is about understanding.

Those of us who are organizing the 2018 Seattle Multifaith Summit don’t pretend to agree about everything. Clearly, we don’t.

What we do agree about, wholeheartedly, is that we’ll all be better off as we develop perspectives, skills and practices that enable neighbors to understand each other across religious, racial, and political differences.

We have been at this a long time and have discovered that pretending doesn’t do much good. We have learned that listening is not the same as understanding. We have learned that understanding is not the same as agreeing. And we have learned that understanding is a path to living in peace, even when we don’t agree.

"And after all isn't that what life is all about, the ability to go around back and come up inside other people's heads to look out at the damned fool miracle and say: oh so that’s how you see it!? Well, now, I must remember that.

— Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine, William Morrow, 2001, page xiii

This is a working Summit that will use mediated engagement to help us understand how our neighbors sometimes reach conclusions and embrace ideas and practices that are different from our own … how to stay in the room with difference (even when it is not comfortable) … how to achieve a deeper understanding of ourselves and each other that is beneath our emotional responses and the words we speak.

We invite you to work with us, because who is in the room matters … your voice is important as we bridge the divides between people of different religions, races, and political opinions. It is time for us to come together across the divide to hold uncomfortable tensions, to share our stories for a better community, and to re-discover a common truth that will bond us to a truly common good.

Please, save the date. Even better, register now. Invite your friends … you won’t regret it!

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We Are Mapmakers

7/29/2018

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Religion, Race, and Politics Complicate Building Community in Seattle

Our friend Jim Henderson talks about two sorts of explorers: Those who say, "You should’ve seen what we saw…" and those who say, "Here’s a map that shows where we went and how we got there…"

We are organizing the Seattle Multifaith Summit as mapmakers. We have gone, and are going new places together. We don’t get to these places borne by wings of eagles … we walk. When we encounter obstacles, we find workarounds. When we take wrong turns, we retrace our steps. When we can’t agree on a route, we look for a third way.

In all this, we are mapmakers. We serve all who wish to go where we are going — marking the obstacles, the wrong turns, the third ways, the path forward.

Our gathering next month is organized around showing our maps so far.

If you’d like to see our progress — and, especially, if you have your own maps to share — we’d be honored to have you with us.

The 2018 Seattle Multifaith Summit
Saturday. August 25
Queen Anne United Methodist Church.

@multifaithsummit

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We Are Pilgrims

7/28/2018

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Religion, Race, and Politics Complicate Building Community in Seattle

The people preparing to gather for the 16th Annual Seattle Multifaith Summit on August 25, 2018 are a peculiar lot — and we mean that in the kindest, most good-humored way.

The organizers think of ourselves as pilgrims — traveling with purpose, fueled by devotion.

[We also think of ourselves as neighbors.]

Frankly, we don’t all agree on the exact nature of pilgrimage. We don’t necessarily agree about the ultimate destination … or the route … or the provisions for the journey … or what, or who, we’ll find when we arrive. To those who say, "Total alignment or no deal," we say, "Don’t hold your breath."

We do agree about this, at a minimum: What we would not have done to us, we will not do to another pilgrim.

So, when people say, “Religion, Race, and Politics Complicate Building Community in Seattle,” we say, "Sure, but not always … not inevitably … not forever…."

We refuse to treat another pilgrim with contempt. We won’t intentionally cause another pilgrim to stumble and fall. We don’t cheat another pilgrim, and we won’t lie to - or about - another pilgrim. If we have water or bread, we will not see another pilgrim go hungry or thirsty.

If you’re that sort of pilgrim — or wish to be — we would be honored to have you join us for the 16th Annual Seattle Multifaith Summit | August 25 | Queen Anne United Methodist Church

@multifaithsummit

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WE ARE NEIGHBORS

7/27/2018

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Religion, Race, and Politics Complicate Building Community in Seattle

16th Annual Multifaith Summit
August 25 | Queen Anne United Methodist Church | Seattle

"Religion, Race, and Politics Complicate Building Community in Seattle."
That’s the common wisdom, but we don’t accept that as a given, steady state. That’s why we’re convening the 16th Annual Seattle Multifaith Summit next month.

The people behind the Summit are drawn together, with all our distinctions and differences, by the fact that we are neighbors.

We’re neighbors to each other in a sense held by all our traditions — even, we are learning, many folks who disavow religious traditions — that we are connected to each other in time and space by regard for a common good.

Safe drinking water benefits everyone … even folks who don’t mind putting a thumb on the scale from time to time, value fair weights and measures when they’re on the buying side of the transaction ... and so it goes....

We gather for this Multifaith Summit in Seattle because we are in this together, as neighbors.

We’ll be honored to have you join us for the 16th Annual Multifaith Summit — August 25, 2018 — at Queen Anne United Methodist Church.

@multifaithsummit

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About this, there can be no space between us.

16th Annual Seattle Multifaith Summit Partners

We Seek Understanding

16th Annual Multifaith Summit
August 25 | Queen Anne United Methodist Church | Seattle

We Are Mapmakers

Religion, Race, and Politics Complicate Building Community in Seattle

We Are Pilgrims

WE ARE NEIGHBORS

Religion, Race, and Politics Complicate Building Community in Seattle

16th Annual Multifaith Summit
August 25 | Queen Anne United Methodist Church | Seattle

We Are Pilgrims

We Are Neighbors

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