Interfaith Cooperation: An Invitation for All Beliefs | Elizabeth Sink | TEDxCSU

This interfaith movement is helping to dissolve the ever-rising tide of religious extremism present in society today, particularly on college campuses. Interfaith education, cooperation, and service are on the uptick at Colorado State University and in the Northern Colorado area, with the help of the long-standing Fort Collins area Interfaith Council. Let’s make this community a model for spiritual diversity.
Elizabeth Sink hails from the Midwest, where she graduated in 1999 with a Bachelors degree in Interdisciplinary Communication Studies from Aquinas College, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She completed her Masters Degree in Communication Studies here at Colorado State University in 2006 and has been teaching here ever since.
Her current scholarship, teaching, program and curriculum development considers our current cultural/socio/political landscape and advances progressive means of communication between differing religious/non-religious people. She is interested in the ways civically-based higher education affects students’ motivation for involvement in their communities, perceptions regarding their own biased and/or polarized views, understanding self-efficacy, and critical thinking processes.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at ted.com/tedx

[@johnmclawrence4676]

Their can be no unity between light an darkness between christ an satan/how can their be unity when some Christians follow Sola scripture an others follow man made tradition an dogma,s.

[@rebuildchronicales]

Good luck mam for your bridge building to let peace 👍

[@SodiumWage]

Fantastic talk! I like that you shared your own personal, vulnerable experiences as a way to lead other people to possibly reevaluate their own beliefs.

[@Gramatan3000]

Thought provoking and perceptive. We have traveled similar roads. I see Church or a Interfaith organization as a means for kind people coming together to help others. As an Interfaith Minister this discussion hits home. No us vs them.. we are all in this together. Keep up your good works as a bridge builder.

[@asmaeelyoussfy8213]

It is all about how we, individuals, perceive religion

[@NGOPublications]

King James Bible Matthew 10:34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.(his word) Matthew 10:35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. Revelation 2:16 16 Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. Jesus said it himself, why then seek other ways to bring peace in his name repent.

[@xanatax1844]

Matthew 5: 17 “Think not that I am come to destroy the Law, or the Prophets*: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.” * “The Law” refers to The Torah, specifcally. and “The Prophets” meaning the other books like Isaiah.

[@johnnybgood1]

She likes to speak on behalf of Christians even though she herself is not one? I'm not American, but I am Christian and where I live we have freedom of religion. Don't get me wrong, I'm surrounded atheists and pagans who like to dictate how I'm suppose to be a "good" Christian. I don't think they're able to see the irony of this themselves?

[@JakeDaMistake]

That’s my NV communications professor!!

[@MrRaynerlantern]

Amazing presentation! I'm so glad that I know you!

[@chantal3804]

Great presentation. Thank you

[@alika207]

Proud to be a religious humanist. Thank you so much for this presentation!

[@austino15fffan]

This is so cool having a teacher give a tedtalk! Congratulations!:)

[@aprilu6452]

It's 8th grade Visiting Faiths for college students!!

[@layedout778]

Help me understand. The HOLY BIBLE says: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." said Jesus. John 14:6 "salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4 :12 Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: “I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god." Isaiah 44:6 "And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life." 1st John 5:11 Can you guys explain what it is your doing here? Explain to me what this is if not idolotry?! The Egyptians thought this way in EXODUS as they combined many images of gods, ideals, and human traditions. Please explain to me how " what your doing here is different, please. because this is what it looks like to me." Also, there is a clear WARNING in Revelations chapter 13 of a BEAST driven one-world-religous-system in the last days!

[@rogermetzger7335]

A greater understanding of each other’s values and beliefs really IS something of which the world needs more. Kosher gluten-free meal with vegan options - Yes, the world needs more of that too. On the other hand, Elizabeth Sink makes a number of common but unwarranted assumptions. 1: She has rejected the caricature of God that she was taught and she assumes that what she has rejected is “God”. 2: She assumes that joining a religious organization or becoming an “adherent” of a religious organization is “conversion”. 3: She assumes that Christians in general or adherents of the Roman Church in particular are “genuinely invested in making the world a better place”. 4: She assumes that ethics and morality are synonymous. 5: She SEEMS to assume that humanists are “moral” in one or more ways that “atheists” are not or that humanists are more moral than atheists. 6: She assumes that religion encapsulates humanities best and worst potentialities. 7: She assumes that interfaith cooperation is based on “pluralism”. 8: She assumes that working for “the common good” is a desirable ideal. 1: There are several doctrines that are taught to or by the majority of people who call themselves Christians and that, if I thought they were accurate depictions of God, would cause me to reject both God and Christianity. I recommend that people read the good Book for themselves and draw their own conclusions about who God is and how he deals with the problem of selfishness. 2: Another definition of “conversion” is the miracle whereby a person’s trust is transferred from what he thought he could do to save himself from selfishness and its consequences to what the God of Moses does to save us. 3: I submit that a miracle will be required to make the world a better place and I encourage people to consider the evidence that such a miracle will occur. Does that mean we shouldn’t try to slow the rate at which certain trends seem to be developing? No, it doesn’t mean that at all. 4: Every dictionary and thesaurus I have seen equates ethics and morality. On the other hand, the people I have asked about this have agreed that, in actual usage (at least here in the United States) people tend to use the word “ethics” when referring to ideals about which a majority in a culture or subculture agree (medical ethics is one example) while people tend to use the word “morality” when referring to ideals that are considered to have been “handed down” by a higher power. 5: How is this assumption different from people from one theistic organization thinking they are better than the members of another theistic organization? 6: Elizabeth Sink softens the blow by saying that religion encapsulates humanities best potentialities. But she assumes that religion also encapsulates humanities worst potentialities. If she means that institutional religion does that to the extent that it is hierarchical, creedal and dogmatic, I would tend to agree. Not all religion is institutional however. One of the things most needed in our society is that acknowledgment that religion is the sum of those beliefs, practices and prohibitions that pertain to a person’s concept of the highest powers of the universe. Personal religion is no less real than institutional religion. And not all personal religion encapsulates or even promotes humanities worst potentialities. 7: It is true that interfaith cooperation cannot occur without an acknowledgement that society is religiously pluralistic. It isn’t necessary, however, to think of pluralism as ideal or even inevitable. What IS helpful is that we move past describing the ideal as “perfect toleration” to describing it as equal standing in the government and under the government for everyone, regardless of religious beliefs or religious affiliation. Yes, everyone should be free to teach beliefs that are not held by the majority. But we are back where we started, namely, that an alternative to laying aside our differences to work or worship together is to learn from each other - learn what ideals other people consider themselves called to promote - even if we think our own ideals are more important. 8: What is, “the common good”? Some people think of Robin Hood as working for the common good. Other people think “the common good” is equality of opportunity and freedom to promote our deeply-held religious (or/and political) beliefs. Those concepts of the common good are - and will continue to be - antithetical. Maybe we should be talking about how to make decisions jointly without impugning the motives of people with whom we disagree about what “the common good” is. Elizabeth Sink also seems to assume that everyone has good hearing. Maybe she should teach her students how to do public speaking without so much variation in the volume of their speech that their message is blurred by the amount of effort some people need to expend just to understand the speaker’s words.

[@fathom6788]

Well, I'm sure we all (me included) have our own share of assumptions.

[@xanatax1844]

well, I read that. 👍 actually, really glad you posted all that. “she’s not wrong,” but your commentary improved on her points! 💜 1 - kinda an awesome opener. thanks. 5 - sure, the “Humanist Foundation” type groups are kinda like a religion, but without any worship. 🤷‍♀️ counterpoint: ancient people seemed to equate “athiest” with “illiterate” and maybe this is her way of articulating the difference?

[@rogermetzger7335]

@@xanatax1844 It isn't often that someone replies to something I wrote two years earlier but thanks for the compliment.

[@lincolnwilliamstatler8740]

Thank you fellow UU. Your skills are impeccable. Hope to meet you some day!

[@poonamdinshaw5873]

Absolutely awesome to hear you share thro your own stories ...just so resonates with my own thought process...already being put into action...very encouraging - thank you ever so much...🙏🪔🌻❤️

[@mattieboy01]

very nice presentation, enjoyed it start to finish.

[@thethanks3621]

I like this

[@thethanks3621]

I like this tops

[@AndrewSmith-jm1cd]

Tremendous presentation skills, you have mastered the trade. Unfortunately the content is in err. The interfaith movement is a modern day "Pantheon". Pantheon literally means "all gods". The Pantheon allowed people from all walks of life to offer worship to their favorite deity without anyone insisting that their's was the one true god and one true religion. The pantheon was conquered with the blood of martyrs and turned into the Church of Santa Maria ad Martyres. Christ's church has always had martyrs filled with a supernatural and loving fortitude. Martyrs that allowed violence to be done to themselves as they witness to the true faith so as to plant the cross of Christ's love in men's hearts. As our present day society moves ever more quickly back towards paganism; I am certain it is only a matter of time before Christ calls the faithful to be blessed with the gift of martyrdom once again. Viva Cristo Rey!

[@kaisersozay99]

no the reason why the Chritian Matryrs, and *many* martyrs in fact of any faith were persecuted and killed was the intolerance and aggression of the State they resided in. The beliefs early christians, muslims, buddhists and pretty much all faiths were simply an antipathy to the established order, and therefore a perceived threat. Present day society is not moving towards paganism, but is steeped in hedonistic materialism.