By Jonathan Miller, on Mon Oct 31, 2011 at 12:00 PM ET
Louisville’s reputation outside Kentucky rests, in part, on baseball bats, fried chicken, Muhammad Ali, and a horse race, but now one must add the Festival of Faiths to that list.
There’s never been more of a cynical curmedgon than David Hawpe, the former editor of the Louisville Courier-Journal. So his glowing endorsement of this week’s upcoming 16th annual celebration of the Festival of Faiths is something for all to take notice.
Read Hawpe’s entire piece here.
This year’s event — entitled Sacred Air: Breath of Life — takes place from November 2nd – 7th, and it reaffirms our commitment to come together as many faiths, united in our mutual respect for each other, so that we can engage in common action on behalf of our community.
 The chair of the festivities, Christy Brown, is one of Kentucky’s greatest treasures. Recently widowed from her extraordinary husband Owsley Brown II (whom I briefly eulogized here), Christy has shared her heart, soul, and considerable talents transforming the Festival of Faiths into an internationally-celebrated event.
Both the Mrs. RP and I are proud to take part in the festivities.
 Lisa has helped organize a full day of Yoga, Tai Chi and Meditation exercise. A wide range of movement and breathing exercises will be available, suitable to every level from beginner to proficient, and appropriate for families as well as individuals. Classes will be offered continually throughout the day on Saturday and Sunday. For details, click here.
I will be joining a panel on Friday afternoon, from 3:00-4:30 PM in the Tavern Room at the Henry Clay at 604 South Third Street in Louisville. At this session, participants will be developing a Statement of Belief for the festival, in order to leave the week with a powerful call to action. The goal of the session is to come up with evidence of actions and steps to present to churches, synagogues, mosques, religious organizations, and other leadership bodies.
Read the rest of…
The RP: Join Me at The Festival of Faiths
By Grant Smith, RP Staff, on Tue Oct 25, 2011 at 9:15 AM ET The Politics of Central Banking?
In a just-released document, the Vatican appears to support the creation of a global central bank. [Washington Post]
By Sandra Moon, RP Staff, on Mon Oct 24, 2011 at 1:30 PM ET
In Egypt, a man has been sentenced to three years in prison for mocking Islam on Facebook posts. [Washington Post]
The Bank Transfer Day grassroots movement is an effort to get Americans to leave major banks for regional banks and credit unions. A church in California transfers its $3 million from Bank of America to a local credit union–the church leader stated that this transfer was made as a way to say no to the bank’s investing in bad loans and unfair negotiations. [Good.is]
A Florida public elementary school teacher’s promotion of a weekly on campus prayer session is stirring up debate. [LA Times]
By Sandra Moon, RP Staff, on Mon Oct 17, 2011 at 1:30 PM ET
What insight can Buddhism offer to the Occupy Wall Street movement? Here’s one perspective. [Elephantjournal.com]
Israel has agreed to release 1,027 Palestinian inmates in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. While this news has been met with joy, it has also been surrounded with controversy. [CNN]
Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith often makes headlines. Here’s an article that gives a more in-depth look into Romney’s role in the Church of Latter Day Saints. [NY Times]
By RP Staff, on Tue Oct 11, 2011 at 12:00 PM ET The RP will be speaking TONIGHT at 6:00 PM at the University of Kentucky’s Singletary Center on the subject of religion and politics as part of the Bale Boone Symposium on the Humanities: “Religion and the 21st Century”
Click here for a good write up of the event.
All the details of the RP’s speech, and the rest of the week’s events, can be found below:
By Sandra Moon, RP Staff, on Mon Oct 10, 2011 at 1:30 PM ET
After decades of debate in the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. over the inclusion of gays and lesbians in ministry, the first openly gay minister was ordained by the denomination on Saturday. [JS Online]
Yom Kippur is the Jewish day of atonement and it is the holiest of Jewish holidays. This year, a Friday night Kol Nidre service was held in Zuccuotti Park, site of the Occupy Wall Street protests. [Religion Dispatches]
In Egypt, clashes between Christians and Muslims over a recent church attack leave 24 dead. [NPR]
By RP Staff, on Mon Oct 10, 2011 at 10:00 AM ET
By John Johnson, on Fri Oct 7, 2011 at 12:00 PM ET 
I am not Jewish, but I have so many friends who are that over the years I have learned a lot about Judaism.
Self-reflection, introspection, exploring the meaning of your own path. Anyone who knows me knows I am incredibly emotional and a constant thinker. Yom Kippur was tailor made for me!
When I think of my life the last few years, I realize the constant has been rapid change, stress, and lots of perpetual motion. This can often lead me to lose perspective.
When I was thinking about this blog post, I came about this story which I think captures my resolutions far more effectively than I ever could express in my own words:
There once was a woman who woke up one morning, looked in the mirror,
and noticed she had only three hairs on her head.
’Well,’ she said, ‘I think I’ll braid my hair today.’
So she did and she had a wonderful day.
The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror
and saw that she had only two hairs on her head.
’H-M-M,’ she said, ‘I think I’ll part my hair down the middle today.’
So she did and she had a wonderful day.
The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror
and noticed that she had only one hair on her head.
’Well,’ she said, ‘today I’m going to wear my hair in a pony tail.’
So she did and she had a wonderful day.
The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror
and noticed that there wasn’t a single hair on her head.
’YAY!’ she exclaimed.
‘I don’t have to fix my hair today!’
Attitude is everything!
Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.
Live simply, Love generously, Care deeply, Speak kindly
.
Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass…
It’s about learning to dance in the rain.
—
Author Unknown
By RP Nation, on Thu Oct 6, 2011 at 12:00 PM ET My resolution is to take 10 to 30 minutes every night to reflect on all of the interactions I had that day with all other humans. I will reflect to see if I could have handled the conversation better than I did. I believe that words are the most powerful thing we have and they can build up or tear down people in a very few minutes. I want to be true to myself and my opinions but not in a way that destroys other people.
Having a strong personality can be a gift or a curse. I want it to be a gift.
By Patrick Derocher, on Wed Oct 5, 2011 at 4:30 PM ET This is what I need to do. Congress should be getting us a budget. While considering what I would write for this (potentially) apolitical piece, all I could think about was my senior thesis. I’ll be finishing my bachelor’s in December, and while this plan has certain advantages (moving out of dorms a semester early), it also means I have to write my thesis in my last semester of school. I mean that I really have to get it done, which is a bit of an issue given that it’s a month in and I have… slightly more than nothing. Granted, it’s not that I’m worried about finishing. Rather, it’s that I need to put my nose to the grindstone; focus on doing the research, writing, and classwork I have to do; and not let unnecessary distractions get in my way. There is something here that needs to get done, whether I like it or not, and only once I have it taken care of can I do other things, engage in the activities I want to, expand beyond what I have to do…
Kind of like Congress.
It occurs to me that this is a rather simple lesson Congress could learn, too, and use as its New Year’s resolution. At the risk of inflicting overly-cute wordplay on this blog’s readers, it seems that Congress should adopt a Resolutions Resolution. In recent years, Congress has become reliant upon continuing resolutions as a way of allowing the federal government to function in lieu of actual appropriations bills. Although Congress hasn’t been using such measures as much as a decade ago (there were 21 for the 2001 budget), it is much worse now than in, say, the latter half of the Bush Administration, and still historically very high. This is silly. Constitutionally, the budget is absolutely paramount among Congress’s duties; that the body cannot even pass such basic laws is a travesty, one that Congress should take it upon themselves to fix. Here is my proposal for Congress’s Resolutions Resolution: focus until you can pass a budget in a timely fashion. No commemorations, no pet projects, no filler, no nothing until continuing resolutions are not in constant use as a fiscal and legislative crutch.
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Lisa has helped organize a full day of Yoga, Tai Chi and Meditation exercise. A wide range of movement and breathing exercises will be available, suitable to every level from beginner to proficient, and appropriate for families as well as individuals. Classes will be offered continually throughout the day on Saturday and Sunday. For details, click here.
