Religious and Spiritual Work
Organized religion and spirituality has always been a key driving factor of culture. Questions of faith and connection to something greater than ourselves is a key way in which we connect to each other and create common value systems of morals, ethics, and norms. Problems in the world today are rife with religious and spiritual underpinnings. It would then stand to logic that to address these things we need to be concerning ourselves with communities of faith and how they are rallying to create a better world. The areas I focus on in this realm are: Interfaith dialogue, anti-hate/anti-extremism work, and work internally in my own community of devotional polytheists to create healthy culture and boundaries.
Interfaith Dialogue
Creating opportunities for different faith traditions to interact is a wonderful way to create deeper meaning around spiritual process. Coming together as spiritual practitioners and being willing to work through difficult dialogue in the spirit of reaching common understanding lends itself well to our global culture. IT is also important to create a larger platform for those willing to connect with other faith traditions, as opposed to amplifying the voices of xenophobic religious institutions, or those involved in extremist thinking.
Anti-Hate/Anti-Extremism Work
I work in groups and communities that are willing to address the extremists and factions in their ranks that participate in hate ideology. Whether members of Isis or Norse based neo-nazi groups. Every religious culture has extremist adherents and removing the energy from their platforms through education and healthy culture building is essential.