The objectives of this project are --
AN ELECTRONIC
UNITED NATIONS OF THE SPIRIT
Proposal | Mission Statement | Guiding Principles | Network Overview | Academic Research and Dialogue Network | Activism
- To create a global "meeting place of religions", which promotes dialogue, community, and reconciliation between traditions, in a way that is affordable, accessible, and operating continuously
- To build a constructive working relationship with representatives of as many established religious institutions as possible, including existing interfaith organizations
- To fully recognize the "potential" of our moment in history, and to combine advanced religion, science and networking technology, into a single accessible framework, intended to promote cooperation among individuals and groups, on matters of common concern
- To identify and develop a basic common agenda, around which religious traditions can cooperate and unite, and to provide a medium through which they can act
- To introduce this process into the world in the most substantial and fruitful way possible
GUIDING PRINCIPLES This project will endeavor --
- To be absolutely inclusive, and to deny participation to no one
- To build on what has been learned and established about interfaith affairs, by the efforts of previous and currently active groups
- To recognize and honor the specific differences that distinguish individuals and cultural groups, yet seek the common principles and spirit through which they can be united
- To incorporate the best methods of science and democracy wherever possible
- To uncover and honor the truly sacred in all cultures
NETWORK OVERVIEW This project will build --
- A print newsletter (introduces project to the world, builds liaison, includes print-based poll)
- A polling system (runs on both print and Internet, as way to operate a massive "conversation" with many thousands of simultaneous participants)
- A journal (publishes critical articles on a periodic basis)
- Educational facilities (teach people about various religions, how to use the Internet)
- An online prayer and spirituality network (continuous prayers, from all over the world)
- Local level interfaith networks (real-world community activism)
- A multi-feature Internet system
- Libraries and archive
- A database system
- Members (personal data)
- Directory of interfaith organizations
- Polling data (positions on critical issues)
- Resources (information, facilities, funding)
- Agenda items (specific objectives of individual groups and organizations)
- Common factors (identifying specific ways diverse groups can work together, consensus development)
- An online dialogue network
- Interreligious dialogue
- Scholarship on matters of unity and diversity
- Global theology: points of convergence and divergence
- A global real-time chat system, running continuously
- A web-based online conference, for posting critical "white papers" and responses to them
ACADEMIC RESEARCH AND DIALOGUE NETWORK This project will explore and investigate --
- Theology - common values in a context of diversity, universal theology (?)
- Syncretism - universal religion, a new consciousness (?)
- Scientific approaches to comparative religion
- The cultural anthropology of religion: the universal symbolism of mandala (?)
- Ethics - is a global ethic possible and desirable?
ACTIVISM This project will consider issues of --
- Peace and war
- Ecology
- Ethics and values
- Economics and social welfare