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Message: <br /><br /> If you are having trouble reading this email, you may view this article online at: http://www.jweekly.com/18600/full/18600/interfaith-panel-in-marin-tackles-ethical-spiritual-issues/ <br /><br /> <b>Interfaith panel in Marin tackles ethical, spiritual issues</b> <br /> Friday, October 11, 2002 | by <p>RONNIE CAPLANE </p> <br /><br /><p>Despite its reputation for affluence, hot tubs and peacock feathers, not everyone in Marin County dines on pâté and caviar. Just like its surrounding communities, Marin has its share of homelessness, poverty and unemployment.<br /><br /> "The problems in Marin seem more hidden than they are in other areas," said Rabbi Doug Kahn, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council, a situation he attributes to Marin's lack of a town center and its lower percentage of needy families.<br /><br /> But visible or not, everyone, particularly the religious communities have an obligation to address these social problems.<br /><br /> "There is a tolerant environment in Marin, but it does not have communities actively working together," said Kahn.<br /><br /> How to remedy this situation was the topic of Sunday's community forum, "Building Bridges of Spiritual Values: Discovering Marin." The program, sponsored by Dominican University and the International Association of Sufism, included representatives of Marin's Catholic, Islamic, Protestant, Jewish, Zen and Sufi communities.<br /><br /> "This was an attempt to bring together the various faith communities in the county to cooperate on justice and social issues," explained event organizer Harlan Stelmach of Dominican University. "We have tremendous strength if the communities work together."<br /><br /> But harnessing that energy can be a problem for a couple of reasons. One is that although Marin residents are highly spiritual, the county has a very low affiliation rate. According to Stelmach, about one-third of the 128 people who registered for the conference are not affiliated with any religious organization. Another problems stems from the affluence of the area.<br /><br /> "Materialism and wealth can keep us from seeing what is really important in life," said Stelmach.<br /><br /> The conference began with a panel entitled "Opportunities," which focused on basics—defining core values and establishing commonalties among the religions.<br /><br /> Kahn discussed tikkun olam, the 613 mitzvot and what he believes to be at the core of Judaism—"the belief that God is one, that God is good and that human beings exist to be partners with God as stewards of the world."<br /><br /> Kahn then went into David Letterman mode and gave his Top 10 list of Jewish ethical values beginning with "No. 10, love your fellow human beings."<br /><br /> The other values included honesty, performing acts of tzedakah, fairness, treating people with dignity, choosing life, not oppressing the stranger, caring for other and the No. 1 value:<br /><br /> "All human beings are created in the image of God," said Kahn, explaining that we all are endowed with the positive attributes of God, are all equal and that "to treat any human being less than equally is to diminish not only that person but also God."<br /><br /> Once the common values were identified, the forum moved onto the second panel, "Future Vision," which looked at where to go next.<br /><br /> "One issue that seemed to come up [is that] for faith communities to work together, [they need] to have a better understanding of each other," said Stelmach, who added that this can be achieved through personal contact and attending each other's place of worship. "Some of this is already going on. Rituals we do together, meditation groups, social action projects."<br /><br /> Tiburon Congregation Kol Shofar's Rabbi Chai Levi, found that participating in the "Future Vision" panel was a good opportunity to get to know others in Marin County's religious community and meet its partners in social action projects.<br /><br /> At the end of the day, during the open forum, those attending the program were asked to put forth ideas for future projects. Suggestions ranged from dealing with the death penalty to affordable housing, and from racism to economic justice.<br /><br /> Stelmach and his co-chair, Nahid Angha of the International Association of Sufism, are still in the process of analyzing all the information from the conference. From that they expect to come up with interfaith programs, which can be implemented by the Marin Interfaith Council.<br /><br /> "We'll get the results out to participants, have ongoing planning meetings and follow through with the suggestions," said Stelmach. "This will become an annual event where we take stock of what we did during the year to deal with some of the issues."</p> <p> </p>

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