Faith Curriculum Library: Tapestry of Faith: Toolbox of Faith: A Program That Helps Children Discover the Uses of Faith

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The Universality of Love in the World's Religions

Though their teachings differ in many significant ways, Jesus, Confucius, Mohammed, Buddha, and other spiritual teachers each discovered on their own what theologian and author Karen Armstrong calls "a beautiful base note of compassion... the last word, the ultimate religious act... ." In an interview in Parabola magazine (fall, 2006) about her book, The Great Transformation, she continued:

[They] worked as hard at finding a cure fore the spiritual ills of society as we are working to find a cure for cancer. This is the conclusion they came to. Not because it sounded nice but because they found it worked. The Buddha always said, "Test my teaching against your experience." They found that if you did live in this way [compassionately] you experience an enhancement of being. The Chinese Confucians spoke of human heartedness, of becoming more humane.

On the Buddhist Channel website, read an article about the Dalai Lama's visit and message to 10,000 children in Idaho, in September 2005.

Multi-Faith "Golden Rule" Poster

The colorful, 22x28 inch poster, "The Golden Rule," provides sacred writings from many of the world's religious and spiritual traditions equivalent to what is known in the Jewish and Christian traditions as the Golden Rule: "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you." The poster was published by religious educator Paul McKenna and the interfaith office of Scarboro Mission, a Canadian society of Catholic priests and laity. The Unitarian Universalist seventh Principle appears on the poster: "We affirm and promote respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part."

Games for Unitarian Universalist Groups

The Yurt Circle variation on the game, Tug of Friendship, in Activity 2 comes from the online publication, "Deep Fun" from the Unitarian Universalist Association website. "Deep Fun" presents many cooperative games popular with Unitarian Universalist youth groups.