July, 2004

Contents

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| editorial |
Alan Race
Dialogue is all
Kofi Annan
Do We Still Have Universal Values? a special message for readers of Interreligious Insight

| creative encounters |
Peshaura Singh
The Relevance of the Guru Granth Sahib in Interfaith Understanding
Jim Kenney
Sea Change: cultural evolution in the early 21st century
Jonathan Sacks and Leonard Swidler
Toward a Dialogue of Civilizations: a dialogue between Jonathan Sacks (Jewish, UK) and Leonard Swidler (Christian, USA)
Dhammananda bhikkhuni
Women and Buddhism in Thailand
K. R. Sundararajan
Comparing the Role of the Teacher, Student and the Process of Learning in Confucian Analects and the Upanishads
Suleman Dangor
Mediating Globalization: the role of religious leaders and communities

| sacred spaces |
Hazar Ibdah and Lawrence Woods
Learning from al-Andalus: lessons for contemporary interreligious interaction

| voices of youth |
Eboo Patel
Towards an Interfaith Youth Movement

| practically speaking |
Wendy Tyndale
Religion and Development: a different perspective
Irfan Ahmad Khan
A Dialogue of Civilizations: the Islamic community and western society in quest of a peaceful and just world

| focus on the interreligious movement |
Kathryn Lum
Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue in the Wake of 11-March: a portrait of the interfaith movement in Madrid

| poetry |
Georgene L. Wilson
Francis: the Troubadour of Goodness
Martha Bartholomew
Engagement
St. John of the Cross
Beloved

| prayers and meditation |
Jalil Bácena
Welcome and Blessing

| in review |
Raficq Abdullah
Review Article: books edited by Michael Ipgrave
Reviews
Film Reviews
Briefly Noted

| patrons and editorial board members |

In 1025, Abbot Oliba, bishop of Vic and abbot of Ripoll, founded the Monastery of Santa Maria de Montserrat, on Catalonia’s sacred mountain, near modern Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. In 2025, the community of Benedictine monks there will celebrate millennium of service to the Catalan church and to the culture and people of the region.

In July 2004, Barcelona will host the 3rd modern Parliament of the World’s Religions, in conjunction with the city’s Universal Forum of Cultures. Prior to the 2004 Parliament event, the Council will be hosting a three-day Assembly at Montserrat Abbey, gathering together religious and spiritual leaders, scholars, activists and practitioners, grassroots interreligious organizers, representatives of the world’s other guiding institutions, and young people, in order to consider the role and contribution of religion and spirituality to a better world. The 2004 Parliament Assembly will feature a series of conversations focused on four pressing needs in the world:

• improving the plight of refugees;
• canceling international debt for developing countries;
• overcoming violence, especially when religiously motivated or targeted;
• increasing access to clean water.

These themes will resonate through the entire Parliament event.

The cover photo gives a glimpse of the beautiful abbey that will play such an important role in the work of the 2004 Parliament of the World’s Religions.