"Men with beards (Muslim Clergy) have for years told us how to think and what to think and we have not questioned these practices. It is time for us to question every answer. Yes, we have to." OMNIA Leader Soraya Deen One spoke to Sri Lanka's Leading Newspaper, the Sunday Observer, about the critical role of religious reform in the achievement of world peace.
OMNIA's Abare Kallah on WGN News discussing his role in Chibok girls release & OMNIA Leadership Summit. See story HERE
President Trump’s recent provocative tweet to Iran's President Rouhani caught many, including the U.S. State Department and the military, off guard. His threat, “NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE…” was not only one head of state threatening another; it was an emboldened self-avowed Christian confronting the leader of a Shi’ite Muslim theocratic state. The problem created for religious freedom worldwide is enormous.
The recent buzz around the documentary about Mister Rogers, "Won't You Be My Neighbor," has stirred up a lot of fond and poignant memories. At the start of my career I aspired to become a children's television producer and sought the counsel of Fred Rogers, who, against all odds, took me under-wing, served as my graduate advisor and mentor, and became for my family and me not only a dear friend, but the embodiment of what "loving your neighbor" was all about.
"Loving Your Neighbor." Teaching others how to do that - in all its simplicity and complexity - is really what we strive to do at OMNIA, and as I watched "Won't You Be My Neighbor" the other night I remembered that a few years back I had written a chapter entitled "Who Is My Neighbor" for the book "Connected Spirits" by Andrew Weaver. In that chapter I recalled times in which Fred's ability to "love his neighbor" permeated everything he did.
On July 6 OMNIA’s President Dr. Shanta Premawardhana sat down with John Kenyon, founder and director of The Institute for Global Church Studies (IGCS), an online forum started in 2007 for better understanding the impact of globalization on worldwide Christianity. They focused on the dynamic tension that exists when religion is used both as a liberating force and “righteous governance.”
There is nothing new in the way Attorney General Jeff Sessions used the Bible this week to justify the Trump administration’s outrageous policy of separating children from their families at the border. In fact, for centuries empires have used sacred texts to justify their violence. And through the centuries church leaders have colluded with empires. Sometimes by not challenging it, and at other times more proactively using sleight-of-hand theological trickery, changing a word here and there in theological positions to affirm the empire’s brutal policies. And then we, people of faith have often allowed ourselves to be fooled, believing the nonsense that the empire feeds us. So, let me offer a quick word about context, collusion, and the Bible.
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