Cathedral of Hope - Interfaith Pluralism Prayers

" Dallas, Texas – On September 21, Peace Pilot will light up the Texas Night with a large scale video projection across the exterior and interior walls of the Interfaith Peace Chapel in Dallas, Texas, in an open, community-based celebration of International Peace Day."

This press release will continue after my note below;

More pictures will be added 

If you are in Dallas, make the time to visit this beautiful interfaith chapel at 5910 Cedar Springs Road in Dallas, its peaceful in there... years ago, I felt the same at the Baha'i lotus temple in New Delhi.

About the peace chapel on their website, http://interfaithpeacechapel.org/ 

"The Interfaith Peace Chapel is a modern masterpiece designed by award-winning and world-renowned architect Philip Johnson. It is a brilliant, inspirational design of "sculpture as architecture." Seating up to 175 people, the chapel provides ideal space for intimate worship services, commitment ceremonies and memorial services.

This sacred space makes a bold and highly visible statement to the world about our commitment to the vision God has placed upon our hearts. We believe wholeheartedly that God will transform millions of lives through this building!"

A year ago in Dallas Morning News, I wrote about the Peace Chapel
http://theghousediary.blogspot.com/2011/08/texas-faith-religion-and-art.html

My role was to greet and share the pluralism prayers.

1. Essence of greetings

A. Acknowledging the stranger
B. Inviting the other to connect with you
C. Possible friendship

When you say Namaste to someone, you are essentially saying, let the good in you connect with the good in me. When the Abrahamic faiths call Salaam, Shalom and peace to you, they are initiating a relationship with peace. May you be drenched in peace, soaked in peace and together we will talk, think and act peace. It is conditioning each other for creating good acts and talks. (elaborated in the speech)

2. Greetings - Request to remain silent, or repeat after me quietly or in Chorus

American - Aho piva (Cheyenne)
Baha'i - Allah-u-Abha
Buddhist - Buddha Namo
Christian - Peace to you
Hindu - Namaste
Jain - Jai Jinendra
Jewish - Shalom
Muslim - Salaam
Sikh - Satsri Akaal
Wicca - Blessed be
Zoroastrian - Hamazor Hama Asho bed

I hope within the next decade we all will grow up to be comfortable in greeting each other with any one of the greetings as synonyms.

3. Prayer

• Dear creator. Please accept our gratitude in every name we call upon you; Mahio, manito, Yahweh, Elohim, Ishwar, Buddha, Wahe Guru, Ahura Mazda, Mother Earth, Allah and Jesus Christ.
  
• Thank you lord for enriching our nation with your creation represented by different races, nationalities, ethnicities, orientations,  languages, cultures, ideals and religions.
  
• Dear God, together we see you as one, none and many and see you as male, female and genderless, we take you as a being as well as nonbeing, some us have a name for you and for some you are nameless, but together we believe we are one universe, one people and one humanity.
  
• Dear causer of the Universe, in your name we want to create a cohesive and peaceful America with care, kindness and dignity to every one of the 312 million of us as well as 7 billion of us in the world.
  
• Dear God, guide us to talk, act and believe that we are one humanity and one nation under you.
  
• Dear God, as we undertake the mission of building cohesive societies, where no one has to live in apprehension of the other, we are painfully aware of the ignorance, fear, mistrust and ill-will that divides us, help us open our hearts and minds towards receiving each other.
  
• Dear God, guide us to become conflict mitigaters and good will nurturers.
  
• Dear God, Protect our men and women in uniforms committed to our safety and well being.
  
• Dear God, help us think, speak and act peace every moment of the day.
  
• Dear God, guide us to value and practice the principles of liberty and justice for all of your creation, just as you treat us.
  
• Dear God, give us your infinite wisdom and give us the courage to do the right thing, every moment of the day.
  
• Help us learn to respect the otherness of other in each one of us, and accept the god given uniqueness in each one do us.
  
• In your precious name we bow

Press release continued:

For more information about Peace Pilot contact:

www.peacepilot.org

Trayc Claybrook @  trayc@peacepilot.org                     

Peace Pilot Presents International Peace Day 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Dallas, Texas – On September 21, Peace Pilot will light up the Texas Night with a large scale video projection across the exterior and interior walls of the Interfaith Peace Chapel in Dallas, Texas, in an open, community-based celebration of International Peace Day. 

Peace Pilot is a monumental video art installation by Dallas artist Trayc Claybrook, comprised of four high definition videos, which depict a hero’s journey towards peace. The Interfaith Peace Chapel is an architectural gem by renowned architect Phillip Johnson, which for one night will serve as a massive movie screen for the Peace Pilot video projections.

Doors open at 6:00 PM, followed by an introduction to the guest speakers at 7:00 PM, and the official lighting of the video installation at 7:30 PM, as well as a screening of the videos inside the chapel. There will be a Q & A session at 8:00pm for the speakers and filmmaker.

Peace Pilot is currently raising funds to support the September 21 event, through the crowd-sourcing website Indiegogo (indiegogo.com/peace-pilot), and welcomes tax-deductible donations.

Peace Pilot began as Trayc Claybrook’s response to a call by Jeremy Gilley of the international organization Peace One Day, who urged people across the globe to create events in recognition of International Peace Day 2012. Claybrook visited the Interfaith Peace Chapel, and was struck by the beauty and grace of the structure.  She sparked the idea of projecting her recently finished videos about peace on the exterior and interior walls of the building.

We would be very honored for you to attend and participate in this meditation with us. We’re also asking for your help to promote the event through social media. Information about the film maker and project along with a clip of the film can be found at www.peacepilot.org. 

Peace Pilot” Premier

Friday, September 21 - International Day of Peace

Interfaith Peace Chapel

5910 Cedar Springs Dallas, Texas 75235

TIMELINE:
6:00 p.m. Gathering/Refreshments
7:00 p.m. Program
8:15 p.m. Reception
9:00 p.m. Event Conclusion

This is a free event, open to everyone

Registration Link: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/4210156692/efblike

Thank you for being light in the world and for your love and support of this exciting project. Do not hesitate to call on me if you have questions or if you need clarification on anything. We look forward to seeing you there!

Sincerely,

  

Mike Ghouse is committed to building a Cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. He is a professional speaker, thinker and a writer on pluralism, politics, civic affairs, Islam, India, Israel, peace and justice. Mike is a frequent guest onSean Hannity show on Fox TV, and a commentator on national radio networks, he contributes weekly to the Texas Faith Column at Dallas Morning News and regularly atHuffington post, and several other periodicals across the world. The blogwww.TheGhousediary.com is updated daily.

Texas Faith - Religion and Art

Where would you take a visitor today to see a modern connection between religion and art? If you have an idea in mind, please explain why you would take a visitor there. If nothing jumps to mind, what do you think that says about the modern relationship between religion and art?

Dallas Morning News - 12 expressions including mine at: http://religionblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/08/texas-faith-modern-connections.html

Click on the pictures to see the enlarged version

# #

MIKE GHOUSE, President, Foundation for Pluralism, Dallas

Universal integration pillar, Guntur, India
A door for each religion

The Interfaith Peace Chapel on Cedar Springs in Dallas jumps to my mind. There was a dire need for a new religious space that reflects the new values of interfaith and pluralism. The artist has encapsulated the values of modern art and architecture to give a complete new dimension to a place of worship, a trend setter for the future interfaith buildings with a non-religious architecture and religious art pieces.

The Peace Chapel's website describes this beautifully as "a modern masterpiece designed by award-winning and world-renowned architect Philip Johnson. It is a brilliant, inspirational design of 'sculpture as architecture.' Seating up to 175 people, the chapel provides ideal space for intimate worship services, commitment ceremonies and memorial services."

Intefaith Peace Chapel, Dallas

The website further adds that "This sacred space makes a bold and highly visible statement to the world about our commitment to the vision God has placed upon our hearts. We believe wholeheartedly that God will transform millions of lives through this building!"

When the first Synagogue, Church and Baha'i temple was built in Jerusalem, the builders and artists of the time had a huge responsibility to create the space and add artistic value to attract the followers, as well as make them a model for future places of worship.



Dome on the Rock - Bait-el-Muqaddas,
My trip to Jerusalem August 2010

The same goes with the Bait-el-Muqaddas (Dome on the rock), where Muslims developed a completely new form of expression in art: calligraphy. Since Islam encourages one to believe that God is not an entity or a form but energy, the early Muslims could not collapse God into an image or a figurine and out came the transformative creativity - where the beauty was expressed in abstract forms of writing the verses of Quraan in a variety of ways.

Taj Mahal, India - My visit in 2002

Perhaps this is the major form of art in Islam and it is expressed in beautiful themes. The profession is still alive and mosques and tombs like the Taj Mahal are adorned with calligraphy. The Taj is 222 feet tall and the script is written proportionately from the bottom to the top of the arch. The bare eye sees the entire script in the same size, whether from five feet high or from 222 feet on top of the building.

Ismaili Muslims place of worship, plano
been there for its opening by Gov. Perry

New mosques are on the drawing boards that will blend in with American architecture. The Ismaili Muslim place of worship in Plano incorporates the modern architecture with traditional space values.

The modern art will influence all religious buildings; indeed there is a new 37-acre campus under construction in North Dakota where a synagogue, mosque and a church are under construction. Each will have their own space in addition to the shared spaces on the campus.

Mike Ghouse is speaker committed to build a cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day – much of his work is indexed at www.MikeGhouse.net