Star Trek Movie Fundraiser launches!

By Milind Shah

Can Star Trek fans, energized by the new movie premiering in just a month, combine their enthusiasm to benefit a cause? Consider this: the Star Trek movie will sell over a million seats opening weekend. If every one of those fans donates just $1, think of the goodwill that can be generated. But ask a fan to make a contribution in honor of Star Trek, ask them to consider what Star Trek means to them when they donate, and it becomes possible to revolutionize the way fans express their passion and make a difference that changes the lives of people around the planet. Star Trek fans are just the sort of fan-base to change everything.

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Sheffield teacher quits over multi-faith assembly

Jessica Shepherd

A headteacher has resigned after parents objected to her replacing separate assemblies for Christian and Muslim pupils with a single multi-faith assembly.

Julia Robinson was accused of racism for instituting the change, which she believed would promote tolerance and celebrate diversity.

Parents at the school, Meersbrook Bank Community primary in Sheffield, complained that the multi-faith assembly included “hymns” and demanded the school return to separate assemblies.

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Florida school sued: Refused gay-straight club

(Jacksonville, Florida) Two Florida high school students on Tuesday sued their school board because they were not allowed to form a club that promotes the tolerance of gays.The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida filed the suit Tuesday in federal court on behalf of Yulee High School students Hannah Page, a freshman, and Jacob Brock, a junior.

The lawsuit claims violations of the First Amendment and the Federal Equal Access Act. The act requires schools to grant access and recognition to a Gay-Straight Alliance and other groups if the school allows any extracurricular group to meet on campus, said ACLU attorney Robert F. Rosenwald.
The lawsuit seeks a preliminary injunction to allow the club to meet at Yulee High while the case makes it way to trial.

Page said the group just wants to meet like others do.

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Give tolerance and respect this Christmas

By Russ Neal

“Tolerance, respect, and trust are always two-way streets, and tolerance, respect and trust often do not include agreement, or even approval. We need to be able to disagree without being disagreeable.We need to stop talking as if we are experts on the real motives of people with whom we have never even spoken. We need to stop hurling names like ‘bigot’ and ‘pervert’ at each other. And we need to stop it now.”

-San Francisco Archbishop George H. Nieder-auer, December 1, 2008 In one of my recent columns I took to task those liberal thinkers who mistakenly believe (1) that those who belong to organized churches believe and follow every dictate of that church. And (2) that these same church-going folks should not use their religious convictions, whatever they may be, to form political opinions.

I contend they are wrong on both counts. Although I am not a Mormon, I doubt the church hierarchy had spies at the voting booths on Nov. 4 coercing members into voting for Prop. 8.

At the same time, I am keenly aware that some church members, regardless of denomination, will follow blindly the dictates of their leaders. It is a shame that some ministers try to bully their flocks into voting one way or another, and it’s a shame that some members acquiesce to the coercion. Sharing deeply held moral beliefs and preaching the Word of God as they know it are fully within the duties of the pastoral office.

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Spread the truth about religious tolerance, PM tells leaders

Azura Abas

SUBANG JAYA, THURS:

Religious leaders have been told to spread facts about Malaysia offering religious tolerance and freedom to profess different beliefs.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi made the call today at a Christmas open house organised by the Christian Federation of Malaysia here where about 200 people turned up.

“If all of us love Malaysia, love peace and want to create harmony, whatever we say and do must emphasise on religious tolerance and freedom available here,” he said, asking such messages to be spread at mosques, churches and temples.

At the same time, Abdullah urged everyone to join hands and ensure that all could enjoy together the fruits of success this country offers.

“We must eliminate polarisation. I know there are difficulties today. Let us work together.
“I like to meet leaders of other religions. We hope to come up with the best ways or mechanisms that can be developed to solve problems and differences amicably,” he said.

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Gustav Niebuhr’s ‘Beyond Tolerance’

By Kenneth L. Woodward

Religious tolerance is a necessary but overrated virtue. Its practice comes easiest to the religiously indifferent and to the condescending: “You know this is a Protestant country,” President Franklin D. Roosevelt reminded two non-Protestant members of his administration, “and the Catholics and the Jews are here on sufferance.”

What lies beyond tolerance? Respect and recognition – not just for individuals but also, as Gustav Niebuhr argues, for the faiths to which they are committed. Formerly a religion reporter for The New York Times and now an associate professor of religion and the media at Syracuse University, Niebuhr here gathers tales of interfaith dialogue and good will; he estimates they are representative of the practices of thousands of American believers. He claims these efforts are “largely untold.” If that is so, it’s only because such dialogues are no longer news. American Protestants, Catholics and Jews have been talking interfaithfully for more than 50 years.

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Tolerance lesson has traction

By Mary O’Keefe
With the first black president-elect, the United States has made a leap forward in dealing with extreme prejudice, but to think that intolerance over race, gender or sexual orientation is history would be wrong.

According to Los Angeles County Sheriff Chief of Field Operations Region One Neil Tyler, hate crimes and prejudicial thinking is still very much a part of our society.

According to reports, L.A. County hate crimes increased by 28% in 2007, while the rest of the nation showed a decrease. In 2007, according to the L.A. County Commission on Human Relations, there were 535 racial and 111 sexual orientation hate crimes reported.

Region One includes La Cañada, Crescenta Valley and Altadena, as well as Palmdale, Lancaster and Temple City. This region has one of the highest number of reported hate crimes in the county, Tyler said.

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Lafayette Senior Matt Pagano of Branchburg Spreads Tolerance On Campus

Michelle Veresink • December 5, 2008

BRANCHBURG —Lafayette senior Matt Pagano of Branchburg is working to spread awareness and tolerance on campus. A psychology major at Lafayette College in Easton, Pa., Pagano serves as an executive board member of the interfaith discussion group Journey, vice president of the Association of Lafayette Feminists, and is completing research which examines the relationship between ambivalent sexism and chivalrous behaviors with Professor Susan Basow.

“Religious and sexual awareness and tolerance on campus are important because I believe that everyone needs to feel like there’s someone else with whom they share something in common,” says Pagano. “No one should have to feel like they are part of an ignored minority, and organizations that unite people with common interests or backgrounds can combat individuals’ feelings of isolation. The religious and activist clubs of which I am a member are like families.”

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Playing vs. Praying

KANSAS CITY, MO — From the soccer field to the basketball court, the fight is on. But, instead of school versus school, it’s religion versus religion.

View the story at myfoxkc.com and let us know your thoughts on the subject.

Campus programs promote tolerance

By KOSAKU NARIOKA

A few minutes before lunch time last Thursday, an announcement came through the speakers at Deer Park High School-North campus.

“Think about that. In the past a village was made up of people of the same race with common ideas about life. Today our global village is very diverse with people of many, many different religions, races, cultures, governments …,” the announcement continued.

It was the message of the day.

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