Angelica Thieriot was one such individual, and her less-than-stellar experiences prompted her to found the non-profit Planetree in 1978. After undergoing an awful ordeal at a prominent teaching hospital in California, Thieriot decided to humanize the hospital experience. Plantree is now an international leader in helping hospitals promote patient-centered care. Their well-rounded model for care encourages family involvement in the system, and supports the use of arts, entertainment, and spirituality to heal the whole person. Today, more than 150 US hospitals have embraced Planetree, many of which outperform other hospitals on patient satisfaction measures.

Yet  Planetree isn’t the only organization attending to the mind, body, and soul of patients. After being diagnosed, cancer patients at Memorial Hospital & Health Care Center’s Lange-Fuhs Cancer Center in Jasper, Indiana are enrolled into the CompleteLife integrative medicine program. This program, spanning two-years, exposes patients to social work services, pastoral care, spiritual development, and art, music and massage therapy. Memorial Hospital’s Director of Medical Practice Management, Kelly Clauss, believes that the most unusual and fruitful aspect of the program is its involvement of the Sisters of St. Benedict of Ferdinand. She and other staff members believe that the partnership “empowers people to get in touch with their innermost selves.”

Here at Tanenbaum, we believe in patient-centered care. Not only is it important that health care providers ask their patients about their cultural and religious backgrounds, it is important that they use this knowledge pro-actively, making use of pastoral care resources. This is especially important in long-term care or rehabilitation facilities. Those patients who request these vital resources, regardless of their own beliefs, are able to access reservoirs of strength and comfort inside themselves, emerging from their health care experience with a positive outlook and attitude. The importance of creating a safe space for religion and spirituality in health care settings cannot be underestimated, as my blog of several weeks ago attests. The inspiring conclusion? More people are catching on to the fact!

We’re proud to announce that our very own Religion and Conflict Resolution team has published and article in the online version of the Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue. The article, “I am a doing woman” details the important work of Osnat Aram-Daphna and Najeeba Sirhan, two of Tanenbaum’s Peacemakers in Action working in the Galilee. Check it out!

Now, onto Oregon. In a 51-8 vote on Wednesday, Oregon became the 48th state in the union to allow public school teachers to wear religious attire in classrooms (the only two remaining states are Nebraska and Pennsylvania). Proponents of the repeal argued that public school teachers should have the same rights as any other employee based on the Workplace Religious Freedom Law that was signed last fall. Those against the repeal said it maintained prevented impressionable young students from indoctrination.

• David Fidanque of the ACLU argued, “Lifting the ban on religious dress could lead some Christian teachers to wear Jesus T-shirts or take other steps to evangelize at school.” (The Daily Vanguard reports.)

• Representative Sara Gelsner countered, “The many faiths and cultures alive in our state are what make it unique….To deny Oregon’s students exposure to that diversity is to deny them a comprehensive education and only encourage narrow-mindedness.” (The Democrat Herald reports.)

Oregon took a step in the right direction by repealing this ban. It’s only fair that public school teachers be treated like every other employee and allowed to wear their religious attire at work. Opponents of the repeal want to maintain religious neutrality in schools, but that doesn’t mean keeping religion out of schools period; it just means not favoring one religion over another. As long as educators don’t indoctrinate their students, they should be permitted to express their religion and culture through clothing.

The Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund commends the House for passing the bill and The Oregonian gives us an interesting piece on why some of Oregon’s believers choose to wear religious garb.

In other news, Britain’s first Asian judge says  Sikhs should be permitted to wear their ceremonial daggers, or Kirpans, in schools and other public places. Considering the U.K.’s problem with knife crime, is this a justifiable accomodation for a religious minority? Philosopher Rebecca Roache discusses the topic in BBC News Magazine.

As always, for more of the week’s top stories, check out our website. See you next Friday!

In the Jerusalem Post or at MarcGopin.com

This week saw headlines in many of the divisive topics we’ve been talking about for months. From burqas to crucifixes, faith healing to minarets, here’s the latest in religious diversity news.

In Malaysia, 4 more Muslims have been charged with attacking churches over the use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims (check out last week’s post for background on the issue). Though there wasn’t much in the news this week about the recent violence, Malaysia made headlines for other reasons. Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim went to trial for sodomy, which is illegal in the Muslim country that prohibits all homosexual activity. The New York Times reports.

Now that the violence has subsided in Nigeria (we covered the story a couple of weeks ago), the discussion has moved to how the country’s leaders can solve the crisis. IRIN argues that punishing those directly responsible for the violence is essential for Nigeria’s citizens to move on, while Malam Shehu Sani, President of the Civil Rights Congress says the answer lies in prosecuting political and religious leaders.

The Oregon faith healing case has been decided. Jurors convicted Jeff and Marci Beagley of criminally negligent homicide for refusing their son medical care while he was dying, instead relying on the power of prayer to save his life. The verdict comes a year after the couple’s daughter and son-in-law, Raylene and Carl Brent Worthington, were acquitted of manslaughter in the death of their year-old daughter. In closing arguments, Greg Horner, the attorney who also prosecuted the Worthingtons, said the Beagleys “ignored the lesson that cost their granddaughter her life.” They’ll likely go to jail for 18 months. The Washington Post reports and The Oregonian weighs in.

Remember the contentious ruling that made displaying a crucifix in Italian public school classrooms illegal? The Italian government was outraged at the decision and vowed to appeal. This week, Court spokesman Stefano Piedimonte said the Italian government has lodged an appeal before the court’s Grand Chamber. Five judges will review the request and decide if there are grounds for an appeal.

While the crucifix was the catalyst for debate in Italy, it was minarets in Switzerland and burqas in France. In December, Switzerland banned the construction of minarets on mosques and last week, France came closer to legalizing a ban on burqas in public spaces.  A priest in Germany is working to heal Europe’s Muslim/non-Muslim divide by funding the country’s largest mosque, but a blogger at The Journal argues why the burqa ban is also necessary in Britain.

That’s it for updates! We’ll close the week with an interesting article by Dalia Mogahed, Executive Director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, in which she discusses the findings of her recent study on American perceptions of Muslims and what the results mean for President Obama’s global engagement initiative.

See you next week!

It is not easy to consider that you may not have been addressing all of a child’s learning styles, when you’re only desire is to see the children you have charge of thrive. 

It is not easy to consider the colleagues you’ve witnessed experiencing some form of bias because of their religious beliefs, or lack thereof.  And as much as you wanted to say or do something, not knowing what the appropriate channels would be – or if it was your place at all.

It is not easy to think that you may have given a child or book that had stereotypical images in it.  And it’s not easy to try to accommodate the parent of the child who knows he’s not supposed to eat certain foods, but is faster than you and snatches them and gobbles them down before you can get to him.

It is not easy to create global guidelines that will support the company’s diversity initiatives with a commitment to acknowledge the religious practices of its employees.

And, yet, with all these daunting tasks, people call us daily to take on these challenges and more.  So today, I want to acknowledge the people who have worked with us to make learning environments inclusive, workplaces receptive, health care institutions perceptive, and the pursuit of peace in the face of chaos and discord priority number one.  These people are truly doing the heavy lifting.  We are just the coaches!

Also, France approved a partial ban of burqas, and another Oregon faith healing case made headlines.

First, a quick update on Nigeria. Things are finally calming down after weeks of violence that left hundreds dead and thousands displaced. Business is picking up and people are returning to their normal activities. BBC reports that hundreds of text messages were sent to fuel the violence.  A Nigerian scholar weighs in on the conflict.

Now onto Malaysia. As you may have heard, on New Year’s Eve the high court overturned a law that prevented non-Muslims from using the word “Allah” for “God.” In the past few weeks, things have gotten ugly. Though non-Muslim Malay speakers have been use the word “Allah” since the ’20s, in 2007 the Home Ministry prohibited the Catholic monthly the Herald from using “Allah” to signify the Christian God. Catholics took the matter to court and won.

Well, some were not pleased and violence ensued. Ten churches were attacked around the country with molotov cocktails, stones and paint. Christians responded by putting severed pigs’ heads (pigs are considered unclean by Muslims) in mosques in Kuala Lumpur. Though no charges have been filed for the latter, three Muslim men were arrested for the firebombing of a church.

The Wall Street Journal and The Nation weigh in.

President Sarkozy’s crusade against the burqa is close to becoming law.  A 32-member, multi-party panel has approved a partial ban on full veils that would make them illegal in all places of public services, including on public transport. The panel’s endorsement will now move to Parliament for debate. The idea of a ban began last July (check out an older post for stories on the topic) when Sarkozy announced that burqas were not welcome in France. Though the government is wary of alienating its Muslim population, its is also fiercely protective of France’s tradition of secularism. Stay tuned for Parliament’s decision.  The New York Times reports.

Oregon is in the news yet again for a faith healing case (we talked about other cases back in July and August). Closing arguments began this morning in the case of Jeff and Marci Beagley, who are accused of criminally negligent homicide for allowing their 16-year-old son to die of a urinary tract blockage. The Beagleys are members of Followers of Christ, a denomination that follows faith healing.  The Oregonian weighs in on this case and others.

As always, you can find more headlines on our website. Have a great weekend and I’ll see you next week!

It’s been a great run. I’m happy to report that our outreach eastward was helpful -we’ve learned for the first time about creative and effective peacemakers in India, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Bhutan. Less women have been nominated than last year (8 as opposed to 13), so bringing that number back up – and higher – is on the agenda for next time.

The behind the scenes work will continue, and you’ll hear from us again around April. We can’t wait to share the winner (and perhaps the top ten?) with you. Thank you to all who have helped us to uncover the conflict resolution and peacebuilding “light” of relatively unknown “stars.” With your participation, we’ll continue to increase the gender, religious and geographical diversity of the Peacemakers in Action - and inspire more religious peacemaking in more and more corners of the globe!

p.s.  Special thanks to Religion and Conflict Resolution team members who have been with us at some point or throughout this long, thrilling process:  Jenny Catherall, Szonja Ludvig, Tanya Ghaziani, Laura Fedoryk, Matt Lucas and Nick Jaeger.

The violence in Nigeria didn’t let up this week, and the media dug into the story, trying to understand the motivation for the killing:

• CNN reports on the situation itself.

• The National urges us to “look beyond the sectarian motive.”

• The Independent Online reports on religious leaders who say the crisis is an ethnic one.

• The Christian Science Monitor asks “What’s behind Christian-Muslim fighting in Nigeria?”

In Philly, a plane made an emergency landing after passengers and flight staff became concerned that a  passenger’s tefillin – a set of small black leather boxes containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with verses from the Bible, connected with leather straps that are wound around the arm/hand and head – were an explosive device. Look for our statement in an upcoming SHRM article, or learn more about the incident in the Philadelphia Inquirer or the New York Daily News. Also big in the news this week was the discovery that U.S. military weapons had been inscribed with “secret” Biblical references by their manufacturer; ABC News reports.

In other news, John Freshwater is causing quite the stir in Mount Vernon, Ohio. Reports The New York Times:

Mr. Freshwater, an eighth-grade public school science teacher, is accused of burning a cross onto the arms of at least two students and teaching creationism, charges he says have been fabricated because he refused an order by his principal to remove a Bible from his desk.

CBS News also picked up on the story.

And finally, a study – a depressing one. A new Gallup poll finds that:

More than 4 in 10 Americans (43%) admit to feeling at least “a little” prejudice toward Muslims — more than twice the number who say the same about Christians (18%), Jews (15%) and Buddhists (14%).

The Washington Post analyzes the study, with some articles generating heated debate in the comments.

Caity will be back with you next Friday; until then, enjoy your weekend!

Texas is deep in debate on how to characterize the role of religion in the U.S.’s founding. The Austin Statesman reports on those pushing for change:

“Their key recommendations for revision include more emphasis on documents from early America like the Mayflower Compact of 1620, written by Christian pilgrims who wanted religious freedom, or adding the Bible to sources that influenced the creation of significant documents when America was founded. If their changes are accepted, students who now receive a more generic overview of religious freedom and its importance in the country’s founding would be taught that the nation’s founders wanted to shape America based on biblical principles.”

The Washington Post also reports, and the Dallas Morning News reports that “scores of Texans” showed up at the Board of Education discussion to try and sway the debate.

We’ll keep on eye out for the Board of Ed’s Decision.

Meanwhile, in Oregon, legislators are considering whether or not to let teachers wear religiously-mandated headwear in the classroom. Reports local station KATU:

In the 1920s, when the Ku Klux Klan had political influence, a state law was passed prohibiting public school teachers from wearing religious dress in the classrooms like turbans and head scarves.

A hearing room in the Capitol was packed Wednesday with many people wearing their religious clothing. They came to testify before a House committee in hopes of getting legislators to repeal the law.

“It’s a history that Oregon needs to move away from,” said Sava Ahmed who is Muslim and one of several people who testified.

She said if she and others aren’t allowed to wear their religious dress in the classrooms it would be “just like saying, ‘Why not just change the color of your skin?’”

The controversy stems from those who fear teachers who wear religious dress would try and influence or convert their students to their religion despite teacher conduct rules that keep them from proselytizing in the classroom.

The Oregon Statesman-Journal adds, ‘The bill is supported by state Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian and state Schools Superintendent Susan Castillo.”

In national news, a coalition of organizations including universities, the ADL, the ACLU, the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations, the Sikh Council on Religion and Education and the Islamic Networks Group  have issued a master document, Religious Expression in American Public Life:  A Joint Statement of Current Law. It explores issues from whether printing “In God We Trust” on money is unconstitutional to whether religious groups should be allowed to meet on government property – to whether and how teachers should teach about religion in public schools. The document is the “first ever consensus,” says the Baptist Standard.

And, as always, a new study: this one from Gallup, on the conservatism of various religious groups – Mormons come out on top.

Enjoy your weekend, and I’ll see you again next Friday!