Religious Futurists in Action--August '98 "Meet the people today who will advance religion tomorrow" August 10, 1998 The monthly news bulletin of the World Network of Religious Futurists Table of Contents: 1. Futures Research on the Web 2. "Religion on the Internet" Report Released 3. Paul Smoker Peace Fund Established 4. WNRF Associates Program Launched 5. What is the Meaning of the Millennium? 6. A Spirituality of Tomorrow 7. Macrohistory and Macrohistorians 8. Science Fiction--a Space Age Wisdom? 9. Top Ten Religious Futures Classics? 10. WNRF Gathers Religionists at WFS 11. Kirby Call for Y2K Science Officers 12. Jewish Futures--a View from the Desert 13. Subscribe and Unsubscribe 1. Futures Research on the Web The WNRF web has a new "Search and Links" page, which allows you to search the WNRF web site, and link to 100 web sites which define the world of "religious futures." Links are in the areas of futures study, religious study, globalism, ethics, spirituality, millennialism, interfaith groups, science, technology and philanthrophy. When you find a break this week, pour yourself a cup of coffee, flip over to the WNRF "Search and Links" page, and give yourself the grand tour of religious futures scanning. http://www.wnrf.org/search.htm 2. "Religion on the Internet" Report Released To what extent are people actively using the Internet to support or enhance their spiritual lives? As a result of this cyber-connectivity, are we seeing new forms of spiritual activity emerge outside organized religion? In an effort to answer these questions, Dr. Ken Bedell kbedell@dnaco.net, WNRF Associate for Research and Media, has undertaken a 10-month survey of religion on the Internet. More than 600 people filled out questionnaires, 350 web sites were catalogued and 50 providers of net-religion were interviewed by phone. Of the respondents surveyed, almost one-fourth report that they search the web on a daily basis for religious information. Use of the Internet by existing congregrations is also profiled. The results of this survey as of May '98 may be read at: http://www.religion-research.org/report1.htm 3. Paul Smoker Peace Fund Established Dr. Linda Groff ljgroff@dhvx20.csudh.edu, WNRF Associate for Peace and Global Change, recently announced the creation of a "Paul Smoker Memorial Peace Fund" to carry on her late husband and partner's pioneer work in integrative approaches to Peace Studies. An annual award from the Peace Fund will be made to a relevant project in the international peace community, with special regard to students at Antioch College or Lancaster University. Donations in Paul's honor should be made payable to IPRA and sent to: International Peace Research Association, c/o Rachel McCaleb, Accountant IPRA Foundation, 9226 Galway Road, Boulder, Colorado 80304, USA. Paul was well known to WNRF members for his and Linda's writings on inner and outer peace. Until a Paul Smoker Memorial Web Page is established at Global Options http://www.csudh.edu/global_options, WNRF has posted a recap of Paul's legacy, interests, and peace links at: http://www.wnrf.org/memorial/smoker.htm 4. WNRF Associates Program Launched Taping into expertise ranking from civic communications, global education to social innovation, WNRF Chairperson Dr. Richard Kirby recently announced the creation of an ambassadors-at-large program for the religious futures movement. "We have appointed some ten associates, each with an expertise related to civilization building," Kirby reports. Barbara Marx Hubbard will carry the WNRF portfolio for "Social Evolution" and Dr. Richard Landes for "Millennial Studies." These two, along with other Associates, will be available for speaking engagements or consulting work with organizations. Associates have been appointed in areas such as Applied Ethics, Human Intelligence, Peace & Justice, or Science/Technology. For a full list of WNRF Associates, their emails, and links to their work, see: http://www.wnrf.org/associates/ 5. What is the Meaning of the Millennium? What do you plan to do on the first day of the new century, on Saturday 1/1/2000? Nice day of the week for a partywhat could be better? Is there any moral meaning to the millennium? Students at the University of Washington think so. They are planning a Mealennium Miracle™a citywide distributed dinner on behalf of Seattle's poor on New Year's Day 2000. Read about their efforts in this month's issue of Let's Talk 2000 bulletin: http://www.talk2000.org Three months ago Dr. Richard Kirby, International Chairperson of WNRF, issued a challenge to this group, asking how people of good will could do something substantial on New Millennium's Day for the people often overlooked. Read and consider what you might do on the first day of 2000besides nursing your sick computer over the millennium bug. http://www.wnrf.org/articles/moralm.htm 6. A Spirituality of Tomorrow Earl Award winner Rev. Carol Parrish lccc@sanctasophia.org claims the human journey through the new millennium will increasingly be characterized by the "journey from religion to spirituality"and that without the use of genetics or drugs. According to Parrish, "Theology represents the rational science factor," while spirituality represents "the art of religion," states Parrish, the Dean of Sancta Sophia, a seminary in the 'Ageless Wisdom' tradition. "Spirituality distrusts doctrine, runs free to rework understanding in hard-to-define ways. Spirituality dances with insights and delivers glimpses to be contemplated before application. Spirituality cannot be taught; it is caught." Parrish concluded, "On the new frontier, 21st century mystics will contribute to every field of human endeavor. The new impact of the holy will revitalize human life to bring about a dynamic new era for all of humanity. To read Parrish's full address upon receiving the Earl Award, see: http://www.wnrf.org/articles/spiritua.htm 7. Macrohistory and Macrohistorians Are you interested in how people build universal paradigms or models of change? Johan Galtung and Sohail Inayatullah offer a comparative book on this subject, Macrohistory and Macrohistorians: Perspectives on individual, social, and civilizational change, 1997, 274 pp, hardback, ISBN 0-275-95755-1, $65.00, Praeger Publishers, (203) 226-3571. The authors feel the real use of history is not only to find meaning in the past, but to create new possibilities for the futures which reduce suffering and change the human condition. An overview of twenty of the most fascinating and penetrating thinkers or "macrohistorians" is provided, including those from Western, Indic, Islamic, Sinic civilizations, as well as feminist and Gaian viewpoints. They argue that a complete macrohistory is one that has linear, cyclical and transcendental dimensions. The pictorial diagrams of these twenty theories in the appendix is worth the purchase price alone. For a complete book review, see Danny Yee's site: http://www.anatomy.su.oz.au/danny/book-reviews/h/Macrohistory.html 8. Science Fiction--a Space Age Wisdom? "Like Zen Buddhism, modern science fiction can be a path to wisdoma way of the spirit in a hi-tech era of hyper-scientific culture." So states Dr. Richard Kirby, WNRF International Chairperson, who is teaching a whistle-stop tour of a hundred years of science fiction history this month in Seattle. Kirby feels viewing, reading or writing science fiction allows one to enter a "profound school of the imagination." As a space age wisdom tradition, Kirby claims science fiction "expands consciousness into inner and outer space, stretches possibilities, educates the heart to cosmic values, nourishes the thinking soul, and helps foster a balanced perception of science, technology from the best humanist traditions. To schedule Dr. Kirby for a two-day seminar in your area on this subject, call Richard Kirby Enterprises at (206) 545-0547. http://www.newgenius.com/scifi.htm 9. Top Ten Religious Futures Classics? Recently WNRF Associates, Drs. Parker Rossman and Richard Kirby nominated the top "religious futures" books of the 20th century. This "Top Ten" list emerged, ordered chronologically. Note that 50% of the entries (*) are science fiction classics! 1. Anticipations*, & The Shape of Things to Come*, H.G.Wells, 1902, 1933 2. Varieties of Religious Experience, William James, 1902. 3. Five Stages of Greek Religion, Gilbert Murray, 1925. 4. Religion in the Making, A.N.Whitehead, 1926. 5. Last & First Men*, & Star Maker*, Olaf Stapledon, 1931. 6. Childhood's End*, and The City and the Stars*, A.C.Clarke, 1953, 1956. 7. A Case of Conscience*, James Blish, 1958. 8. Foolishness to the Greeks, Lesslie Newbigin, 1986. 9. The Religion of Science Fiction*, Frederick Kreuziger, 1986. 10. Temples of Tomorrow, Kirby & Brewer, 1993. A list of 200 books from the bibliography of Temples of Tomorrow is posted at the WNRF web for further reference. http://www.wnrf.org/books/bibliog.htm 10. WNRF Gathers Religionists at WFS Some 35 futurists gathered for WNRF's Business Meeting on July 20th, at the World Future Society annual conference in Chicago. Participants shared their backgrounds and considered WNRF forthcoming activities. During the WFS conference, several sessions featured religious or spiritual themes and were well attended, including "Religion and Governance" with Dr. Harlan Cleveland, Marc Luyckx and Walter Truett Anderson; and "The Theologies of Tomorrow" with Jay Gary and Richard Kirby. These sessions can be ordered on cassette tape from Chesapeake Audio, 1-410-796-0040. The next annual meeting of the WNRF will be held in conjunction with the General Assembly of the World Future Society, July 29 - August 1, 1999 in Washington, D.C. Mark your calendar now and plan to attend http://www.wfs.org/wfs 11. Kirby Calls for Y2K Science Officers At the recent World Future Society, Dr. Richard Kirby, WNRF's International Chairperson, issued a formal statement on the Y2K computer crisis. In contrast to various apocalyptic groups, Kirby offered profound alternatives to fleeing to the hills: "We are not helpless facing the Millennium Bug. I call on Religionists today to deploy a half a million morally luminous, idealist, youthful minds. Each congregation, temple or mosque in the USA should nominate one youth leader to be a science-emergency liaison. We are ready, in cooperation with disaster management teams of local, state, federal government to mobilize popular energy and intelligence to address this problem." Those interested in serving as a Y2K state or city coordinator to enlist young computer enthusiastics to tackle this problem are invited to contact Mr. Ivo Graf, science coordinator of the Youth Futures Academy, igraf@u.washington.edu 12. Jewish Futuresa View from the Desert Rabbi Dr. Moshe Dror mdror@bet-yatziv.ac.il grew up in the big cities of New York, Chicago, Geneva, but now lives in the Negev of Israel, fascinated with the magic, majesty and mystery of the desert. Since 1994, Moshe has headed up the Jewish Futures Node of the WNRF. On the WNRF Web, he shares how his interest in futures studies matured during his PhD studies and what questions he now asks of Jewry, Judaism and Israel as it stands on the edge of a new century. Full story... http://www.wnrf.org/networks/jewish.htm 13. Subscribe and Unsubscribe The "Religious Futurists in Action" bulletin is published monthly for the members of the World Network of Religious Futurists. If you would like to receive this bulletin regularly, join the WNRF today. To automatically receive a new members packet via email, send a message to: membership@wnrf.org Back issues of this bulletin are posted at the WNRF web site. http://www.wnrf.org/bulletin/archives.htm Religious Futurists in Action is a publication of the: World Network of Religious Futurists 4427 Thackeray Place NE Seattle, WA 98105-6124 USA Phone: (206) 545-0547 Fax: (206) 633-3561 Email: feedback@wnrf.org Electronic forum: wnrf-thinktank@xc.org Web site: http://www.wnrf.org WNRF Officers: Chairperson, Rev. Dr. Richard Kirby DrRSKirby@wnrf.org Secretary, Jay Gary jgary@wnrf.org, 1-800-636-MAGI Publication keywords: news, future, religion, research, creativity, social innovation, change, forecasting, spirituality, creativity, peace, civilization, millennialism, theology, science, technology, culture, scholars, bulletin Disclaimer: the views expressed by groups or authors cited in this bulletin do not necessarily reflect the position of the World Network of Religious Futurists. Copyright 1998 by WNRF, Inc. All rights reserved. Religious Futurist™ is a trademark of WNRF, Inc. Go to RFA monthly Archives BACK TO WNRF HOME PAGE This page is updated by the WNRF webmaster. Your comments are welcome:  feedback@wnrf.org Copyright © 1998 by WNRF. All rights reserved. URL: http://www.wnrf.org/bulletin/rfa0898.htm Revised: August 10, 1998