(Header Image: "New Pioneers" from Mark Hensen) At a time when religiously motivated violence seems to be more horrific and terrifying than ever, what would it take to transition our world to one of interfaith harmony and peace? It may seem pollyanna to wonder and idealistic to even ask if such a thing is possible. In a world permeated with intolerance and acts of hatred in the name of religion, how could we come to be in peace and harmony with one another? What would that take? A 21st century...
An Interfaith Pep Talk to Overcome the Impossible
A Rallying Call for World Interfaith Harmony It’s well-known that for untold eons, human beings have fought each other in the name of their God or gods. But there is more to this story… As historian and TED Prize Winner Karen Armstrong points out, wars are and have always been political and economic in nature, used to gain land, resources, and power. Why, then, do people tend to blame religion for wars? Armstrong writes that religious ideologies were often reshaped by political and economic...
3.7 Million March: An Urgent Call to Rally for Unity & Peace
Dear Friends and Allies of Compassion, The world is stirring. Every now and then an event occurs that shocks us, and with it appears an opening for something new to emerge. Right now, we are at such a moment. The 3.7 million people who marched in the streets of France - who locked arms with our world’s leaders - are what French officials are saying was the largest street demonstration in the country's history. And they weren't protesting the attacks... they were rallying for unity. "I'm fed up...
Kites for Peace
November 18th -December 7th Fly a kite today for Peace! Kites for Peace was inspired by the 13,000 kites that children of Gaza flew in 2011 to break a Guiness World Record of simultaneous kite flying. What started out as a creative response to the death of children in Gaza and Israel during the Israel-Hamas war last July 2014 has blossomed into an emerging global action creating spaces for children’s voices to be heard through simple child-inclusive compassion circles in schools and...
Compassion Games to Protect and Restore the Sacredness of Mother Earth
by Hereditary Chief Phil Lane Jr., Chairperson, Compassion Games International, Jon Ramer Founder Compassion Games International, Joey Crotty, Writer and Editor At the root of all social, economic, political, psychological and spiritual ills - both historically and presently - are the false beliefs that human beings are separate from one another, and that we are separate from our Mother Earth. Dispelling such false beliefs, current scientific research upholds the sacred truth of our...
Silicon Valley Interreligious Council and Carry the Vision Bring the Compassion Games to Silicon Valley
We shall be a mighty kindness. - Rumi (and the Carry the Vision conference brochure) I was invited to introduce and help launch the Compassion Games: Survival of the Kindest at the Carry the Vision 9th Community in Compassion Conference that took place in Silicon Valley on October 19th 2014. It was amazing! Carry the Vision Executive Director, Shelly Swan and her team took great care of me and all the participants who gathered that Sunday to “awaken the heart of compassion” the theme for the...
Rev. Peggy Price, “The Compassion Games brought me back to joy”
Reverend Dr. Peggy Price knows a lot about Compassion. Not just because she is a Reverend Emeritus of the Southern California Seal Beach Center for Spiritual Living, or because she’s deeply involved in her city of Huntington Beach, so much in fact that she has a reserved spot in the interfaith float in the annual 4th of July Parade. And not because she serves on the Wisdom Council of S.A.R.A.H., a women’s interfaith community building organization in Orange County, CA. Peggy helped to dream...
Compassion in Prison Year Two: Let Them Eat Cake!
The following article was written by Compassion Games Head Coach Sande Hart -- Energies and attitudes are high at the California Institute of Women’s (CIW) 2nd Annual Compassion Games. Last year, Rev. Shayna Lester, a volunteer chaplain, first heard about the Compassion Games at a SARAH meeting (a women’s interfaith group that I co-founded) and knew this belonged at the women’s prison where she leads a Jewish learning group. After getting the approval from the warden, she quickly convened a...
A Compassionate Response to Ebola
Ebola is certainly in the news and everyone is having to respond to this terrifying threat. The 2014 Compassion Games team known as “Fearless” are living up to their name. After hearing about a fundraising effort on The Shift Network’s Summer of Peace program, they decided to raise funds to support education and outreach in response to the recent Ebola breakout in West Africa. The "Alliance for the Earth" initiative is a part of the Liberia Peacebuilding Project, an organization helping the...
2014 Leaderboard Results!
Ta Da!! We have updated the 2014 Leaderboard with the numbers for this years games. We've gone through every report that was submitted for every day of the Games. Although the whole spirit of the Compassion Games is playful and fun, we take your efforts to report on your acts of compassion seriously. Of course, whoever played in the games and did or didn't report was a winner, and with that said let's get into the numbers. When accountants deliver "the numbers" they usually also prepare a...