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I am finally reaching a point where I can begin to unpack my feelings concerning this year's Parliament of the World's Religions. On many levels this was a life changing experience, and one that I won't soon forget. I have read several other posts concerning the event as folks return home and back to daily life--taking the time to unpack their own feelings and put them in words. The majority of what has been written is positive, which I won't deny is a good space to hold for all the amazing occurrences and connections that were made. But allow me to be a dissenting voice for a moment...because despite all the positive aspects of this event, there is work yet to be done.

I'd like to start by quoting one of my favorite professors: "Stop focusing on what all religions have in common, and start doing the work of learning to live with the differences. Some religions are concerned with reaching the top of the mountain, others don't even care that there is a mountain." --Jacob Kinnard

A Jain writer expresses what it's like to live and work as one in the West. Pew Research rates the most racially diverse religious groups in America. And Alaa Murabit carries the fight forward for Muslim women in Libya and other parts of North Africa and the Middle East. It's Faithful Friday, our weekly segment on world religion. All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!

This week for Faithful Friday we're taking a particular focus on interfaith interactions, be they either cooperative or combative. Join us as we investigate efforts to end the tragic fighting between Muslims and Christians in Central Africa, the lives of Sikhs her in America, and the role of ethnic and religious minorities in Turkey. All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!

Welcome back to Watery Wednesday, our weekly take on community-centered news relevant to witches and Pagans! Join us as we review some of the positive outreach to the Ásatrúarfélag in Iceland, Tess Dawson's take on the desecration of ruins taking place in the Middle East, and the surprisingly occult history of World War II. All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!

We're back for Watery Wednesday, when we bring you news about Pagan and interfaith communities around the world. This week we have stories for you about the various controversies within Paganism, requests for submissions by both PantheaCon and Humanistic Paganism, and interfaith cooperation in North Carolina. All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!

Often it is painful for me to attend a ceremony in a Christian church. I don't feel safe most of the time and rarely feel included. Certainly there are some notable exceptions to this, but it is too often true. Today at noon, at the AME church in downtown Asheville, there was a service to honor the people who were killed at "Mother" Emanuel AME in Charleston.

I told myself this morning that my attendance--my considered presence--at the noon service was something I needed and representing them was something my community needed. So I sat with an extraordinary group of colleagues in the choir pews at St James AME, Episcopalians, UUs, Baptists. And I looked out over the anguished faces of friends who had brought their grief and fear to this service, to sit with others in the pain and wonder of what had happened.

So, one day the Interfaith Council asks the witch the deliver the opening prayer.

(By the way, this actually happened. My long-time friend and colleague Macha Nightmare has been active in Interfaith for years.)

She stands up.

“Witches dance to pray,” she says. “So I'm going to teach you one of our oldest, most sacred dances. It's called the Spiral Dance.”