Interfaith Calendar

What is the origin of this web site’s approach to interfaith information? 

In 1987 a small group of Catholic, Lutheran and United Methodist people began conversation on how to respond to soon-to-be-built Mall of America in Bloomington, MN, USA. The congregations were in the immediate neighborhood of the site. The Mall Area Religious Council (MARC)  was created in order to have a multi faith voice for the community regarding a major commercial enterprise. When the Mall of America was opened in 1992 MARC began to experiment with ways of having spiritual presence in this huge Mall in the neighborhood.

MARC soon was made up of Christian , Baha’i, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and Unitarian religious congregations. It was learned that accurate information about world religions is a necessity. People of this community believe in showing honor to all religious traditions and expecting that people of each religion will be open and direct about their beliefs while being willing to listen to others.

The Interfaith Calendar was first created in 1995 in order to present information about religions in a non-threatening manner. Accuracy and timeliness was and is necessary. Once the calendar was on line along with definitions of terms, it became evident that people might want to know about world religions themselves. Most calendar web sites were  very complex.  Hence, the Families of Religions division is being developed. All religions are treated much the same. Information is, of course, written from a north American perspective since that is the location of the writer. Hopefully the information is presented in as objective and fair way as possible.