The Temple of Understanding greatly enjoyed connecting with colleagues and friends at this year's  Parliament of the World's Religions . Some highlights:

Our colleague Joyce Dubensky of Tanenbaum has provided reflections on the Parliament of World Religions that include the full text of the plenary speech of Dr. P.L. DeSilva, Director of the Institute for Strategic Studies and Democracy (ISSD). His talk, entitled " Cultivation of Hatred" was offered as part of the Countering War, Hate, Violence Assembly. Dr. DeSilva   writes of "Pope Francis' condemnation of the sowing of hatred", and asks ,  "Aren't those who cultivate hate culpable?" and suggests "the leading armaments countries... be condemned as war profiteers." He concludes that "reconciliation, faith and ethical leadership is what is most URGENTLY needed." Read more >>

The Parliament of the World's Religions has posted short highlights of the Parliament, as well as 13 full live streamed videos of major plenaries on their Facebook page. Watch now >>

Watch for our December e-blast for a full report on TOU's presentations and activities at the Parliament.

The student interns are given passes to enable them to attend open meetings of the United Nations Security Council, the UN General Assembly, and various committees. This program launches their careers as global citizens who care about the humanitarian goals embraced by the UN. Students accepted into this program have the opportunity to meet with different missions and NGOs, pursue independent research, learn about different religions through visiting their houses of worship, and participate in community volunteer work.

Please forward this notice to interested young people!

Use the forwarding link at the bottom of this e-mail.

For a final inspiration, we offer the written and spoken versions of the  poem on peacemaking,  "A Brave and Startling Truth ," which Maya Angelou composed for the 50th anniversary of the United Nations in 1995.

Read and listen to the full poem >>