When we all get together: Toward an authentic interfaith organizing model

When I was 8 years old, my grandfather, Elder James Thomas, whispered in my ears the words whispered in his ear by his father. "You are of a royal priesthood. You are the heir of a rich tradition, born in the heat of slave, breed in the backwoods, go and preach the word given to your fathers and make your people free!" I have whispered these words in the ears of my five children with the hope that they will continue the prophetic preaching tradition.

While I am a third-generation ordained Pentecostal clergyperson, my work has been both ecumenical and interfaith with progressive orientation. I hold credentials in the National Baptist Convention (licensed minister) the Church of God in Christ (Ordained Elder), and in-care with a local United Church of Christ, where I serve as Senior Community Minister. I was privileged to serve as the founding National Coordinator of Clergy and Laity Concerned about Iraq. I spend so much time in one Mosque that the "brothers" there call me the Imam's Pastor. That Imam, my dear friend and brother, El Hajj Talib Abdur-Rashid, once commented publicly, "I do not know if a Rev. Sekou is a preacher posing an Imam or an Imam posing a preacher."

Equally, I have spent a lot of time at the Hebrew College's Rabbinical School. In dialog with Associate Dean Rabbi Or Rose and his students, I have come to more fully appreciate the contribution of Judaism to Christianity and its gift of the prophetic tradition to the Abrahamic faith. At the same time, I am part of a generation who has opted out and at times been put out of and put off by the Abrahamic faiths' religious guardians for various reasons. It seems that most members of "Generation X" and beyond see themselves as "spiritual but not religious."

So what does it mean to organize in a truly authentic way an interfaith movement for peace and justice?

While I was raised in the Christian church and have worked in its ministry for nearly two decades, I am ecumenical in my orientation and interfaith in observation. I make no claims about "the Christian way" as the only way. The question that I pose to all religions and secular ideologies is "Where are the least of these in your project?"

If they, "the least of these" are primary, then religious and non-religious creatures can engage in a critical partnership to end human misery. With "the least of these" litmus test, I "test the spirits" of all religions and ideologies. This trans-religious criterion hold space for the religious and non-religious alike. There is even room for that great atheist Albert Camus who claims, "The artist must never side with those who are the makers of history but rather the victims of it." This statement bears a striking resemblance to Jesus' proclamation concerning "the least of these."

As Jim Wallis has noted in The Great Awakening, there are two great hungers in our nation: one for spirituality and the other is for social justice. As FOR's resident "JuBu" (born Jewish, practicing Buddhism) reminds me often, the language of prayer and theology do not ring true for her or the members of her "fellowship." But the quests for spiritual nurture and social justice are central to her way of life. Hence, "the least of these" model that considers both the spiritual life of a community in its quest for social justice opens out a new space of interfaith organizing. This mode of being as interfaith organizers may serve to tamp down the inherent interfaith feuding and bring a new generation of faith folks grounded in their traditions into a tent of hope, peace, and justice.