Twenty pilgrimages and 13
years later, it
is hard to understand how groundbreaking and risky the first pilgrimage
felt. We were truly strangers going on a
sense of trust and goodwill. We had to iron out many differences and we were
formulating the process as we traveled.
Yet, we witnessed a profound transformation of strangers to
community. On the last days of the pilgrimage,
we came together and broke into groups to formulate this Declaration of Common Ground. Rereading this as I prepare for our
upcoming pilgrimage, I am moved by the integrity of the process and the
hopefulness in the pledge. While the
language is a bit “constitutional” for my taste, the sentiment resonates and it
brings me great hope even in dark times that we 45 Muslims, Christians and Jews
came together and pointed towards a better way.
WORLD PILGRIMS©
DECLARATION OF COMMON GROUND
PREAMBLE
We the inaugural group of World Pilgrims – 45 Jewish
Christian and Muslim clergy and community leaders from Greater Atlanta, Georgia
– traveled together through Turkey from October 20 -30, 2002, seeking Common
Ground. During this time we build upon
our mutual belief that God is the Creator of all human beings and discovered in
each other the spiritual abundance that God bestows upon us all. We prayed, laughed, wept, argued and
celebrated together, openly sharing our personal religious journeys and our
faith traditions.
We are here to declare to our communities that we have found
hope, trust and an abundance of Common Ground.
DECLARATION OF COMMON GROUND
WHEREAS we find the current state of relations among our
faith communities strained by misunderstanding and animosity;
WHEREAS people of faith are mandated by God to create
conditions in which all human beings may live in harmony and experience their
highest potential;
WHEREAS all people are created equal and loved equally by
God;
WHEREAS we affirm that remaining faithful and passionate
about our own traditions is critical to the continued vibrancy of religious and
community life;
WHEREAS we have found commonalities that supersede
historical tensions;
AND WHEREAS we are committed to building faith communities
based on mutual understanding;
WHEREAS we recognize our obligation to continuously examine
our own understanding and practicing of our religions;
THEREFORE, we affirm that we will:
· Strive to deeply comprehend and respect one
another’s views and defend each other’s rights to express those views;
·
Move beyond acknowledgement and tolerance and
engage in education and exploration of both our Common Ground and our
differences, in order to remove or minimize misunderstandings, misconceptions,
myths and stereotypes;
d
·
Create a common agenda to enhance spiritual and
social conditions of all faith communities individually and collectively;
·
Cultivate safe spaces where strong convictions
are heard without defensiveness and held in mutual trust;
·
Work to build understanding, respect and trust
among our clergy and leaderships, and our congregations and constituents;
·
Support each other in our efforts to build
interfaith dialogue and cooperation;
·
Challenge the forces in our own communities that
promote fear over faith, violence over dialogue and disrespect over
understanding.
RESOLUTION
We, the World Pilgrims of Atlanta, commit
to hold each other accountable to upholding these principles in the same spirit
of friendship and love shared on this Pilgrimage.
We invite all people of faith who agree with
these principles and who seek Common Ground to join this movement to build
communities guided by God’s World, Grace and Peace.
common + unity
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