Social Justice as a Unifying Issue for Dharmic Communities

Posted: 04/22/2012 12:46 pm
Joshua Stanton.
Co-Founder, Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue and State of Formation

Religious communities are never the same once they reach America. In my view, they often become even more remarkable.

As a third-generation American Jew, it is at times even challenging for me to think of Judaism apart from the American experience. In spite of hardships early on for our community, the search for common threads between the disparate Jewish groups that came in droves to America two (and more) generations ago forced us to reexamine and hone our religious beliefs. What actually bound us together?

Answering that question compelled leaders of the American Jewish movements to articulate key Jewish values for the contemporary world -- notably equality, education and the support of Jewish communities worldwide. Yet most compelling for many American Jews was, and remains, the active engagement of social justice issues.

We emerged from disempowered (and worse) circumstances in Europe as a community that lived out its faith through action in America. From the labor movement to the feminist movement to the civil rights movement to the environmental movement, American Jews found themselves disproportionately represented and often in leadership roles. Jewish belief (whether theological, ethical, or both) guided action, and action inspired belief.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joshua-stanton/social-justice-as-a-unify_b_1443888.html?ref=religion

Keep reading. He gets to Dharma in a couple paragraphs.