The incidents of religiously-motivated violence that have occurred in recent weeks and days are an all to familiar reminder that our work in the URI network, and all interfaith related efforts, is of the most critical nature.
It can be a daunting, if not seemingly impossible task to comprehend the hatred, fear, pain and dissolution that exists in the minds of those who commit violent crimes upon another member of the Human family.
Where was it born? What fueled it’s power? What pain was it responding to? Who supported it’s growth and furry? What programs, initiatives, dialogues, etc. can we provide so that it ends or, better yet, cannot exist?
Naturally, as grassroots interfaith Cooperation Circles, we have all asked such questions in order to address the darkness through the many modalities that makes the URI the world’s largest grassroots network dedicated to ending religiously motivated violence.
Some point to education, economics, and the media as fueling a distorted and demented version of religion or cultural memes and, ultimately, public opinion. However, the complex darkness in our world that we are facing today is what is otherwise known as a “wicked problem.” It’s wicked because it resists change from evil and because of complex interdependencies. Therefore in order to provide solutions to this darkness, we must understand this for what it is and ask important questions.
The question we ask at the URI is, “What can we do to provide an environment that supports, nurtures and, in some cases, empowers our network to thrive?”
Basically, what can we do to support you, our Cooperation Circles and Affiliates, to succeed in your visions and missions. Through regional and global connections, resources, trainings, webinars, and education, we are committed to answering this question every day.
I invite you all to take a deep and thoughtful breath, close your outer eye and imagine a world where every one of the more than 670 Cooperation Circles, Affiliates and all individuals and groups doing this work around the world have each accomplished their goals as committed to in their respective mission and vision statements. We will then know a world full of trust, love, peace and justice. I invite you to keep this vision in your prayers.
If this is a wicked problem that thrives on interdependent complexity, then the solution may require interdependent collaboration. I also invite you to look around our website and search the network for fellow Cooperation Circles and Affiliates that may be a collaborative partner in your vision. Pray for one another’s success. Find ways to help one another. When our family members are successful, we are all successful, and we all need to be successful today to be the antidote to the cancerous fear and distrust that exists and that which we have all risen to the task to address in our own ways.