TOP INTERFAITH STORIES OF 2009

On September 21, more than 60 people of faith from across Philadelphia gathered in front of a gun shop to hold a prayer vigil as part of an International Day of Prayer for Peace Campaign. By September 30, the owner had pleaded guilty in court to gun law violations, the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives had permanently revoked the store’s license to sell firearms and the store had been closed down. This is one dramatic development in a string of actions, vigils, and protests by many faith communities in Philadelphia to do something about gun violence.

"We’re very clear that our goal isn’t to create Maptists and Buslims,"said A. Roy Medley, general secretary of the American Baptist Churches USA, about the historic interfaith dialogue that is taking place. "We recognize that while we share a 'common word' we do not share common theologies on many points." Rather, he said, the talks are an effort to find common ground, ways to understand each other.

 The members of the Maryknoll Sisters Peace Team in Kenya come from multicultural backgrounds themselves and are committed to effecting change in society through working with peoples from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. In a situation of violence and distrust, they dared to consider the power of relationship.

 "What the digital world makes so clear and evident today is what the suffering people of the world, from St. Louis to Peru to New York, have known for ages: it's a small world, and it's very interconnected. How we use our connections, how we live in partnership is the mission before us," writes Peru mission worker Jed Kobal, who is carrying on a more than decade-long effort to empower the people of La Oroya, where the extent of industrial pollution has elicited international concern.

 More than 6,000 individuals from some 200 countries, gathered to talk about indigenous reconciliation, global poverty and global warming, environmental care and degradation, education of the young and the challenges of social disengagement, voluntary and forced migration, artistic expression and spirituality and, the value of sports -- and trusting that these encounters "will give people of faith, spirit and goodwill new reason to say that peace is still possible."

 "Copenhagen, in the northern hemisphere, experiences vast darkness of the winter solstice season as thousands gather for this historic meeting," wrote Sr. Joan Brown in her reflections from the climate conference. "The symbolism of the season is not lost. We are an Earth people in a time of planetary dimming, and yet, we hold a promise of hope through choices for the common good."

From the launch of the Charter for Compassion to the foundations of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, people of faith and good will are promoting the most basic and univeral principle that others should be treated as we wish to be treated, and that we should do nothing to others that we would not wish to be done to ourselves.

News reports at the end of the year observed that the national debate over health care reform was engaging more people than perhaps ever before -- but was also resulting in divisiveness and incivility. Many faith communities spent this year trying to ground the discussion in the ethical and moral foundations of their beliefs.