Pagan Involvement in the Interfaith Movement

If you expect this Spring 2005 Cross Currents article to be an expose, Grove Harris thinks you're part of the problem.

Wiccan Priestess and Elder Deborah Ann Light, who has represented the Pagan community in many national and international interfaith gatherings, says that Pagans are now completely integrated in interfaith work on national and international levels. This integration involves full participation and consistent work in interfaith initiatives, not simply attendance at events or presenting informational sessions.

Not every religion in the Interfaith Movement is on board.

For example, in 2001 in Akron, Ohio, the Akron Area Interfaith Council moved an interfaith dinner from the hall of the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church rather than exclude the Pagan singing group from the program.

Acceptance must sometimes work within political constraints.

One very effective organizer of interfaith activism in a conservative state told me that in his context, Pagans are a political handicap, particularly when they show up at press conferences. Their tee shirts are often highly visible, and he gives them banners to hold that help block their political shirts. Atheists are also a political handicap, especially the ones that are so vehement he termed them "hyper-evangelical."

I, for one, am looking forward to any follow-up article on Atheist Involvement in the Interfaith Movement, especially the part on the Evangelical Atheists. But with atheists included, shouldn't it just be called the Inter Movement?

P.S. The Los Angeles Times reports this is A Time of Doubt for Atheists.
(via Get Religion)