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Newsweek Magazine and The Washington Post created a new online interfaith dialogue "On Faith" featuring opinions from some of the nation's top evangelical leaders and other religious heads.
Launched earlier this month, "On Faith" features conversations on religion with more than 60 panelists, including Dr. Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission; Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church; Madeleine Albright, the first woman Secretary of State; evangelist Luis Palau, head of the Luis Palau Association; and Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.
The new dialogue comes out of a continued fascination on religion that is most pervasive yet least understood, as the makers of "On Faith" stated.
"When I began talking about religion to people in Washington, normally a very cynical town, I was surprised at how interested they were and how much they wanted to talk about it," said Sally Quinn, a reporter with The Washington Post. "It was that continued fascination with the subject that led me and Jon to this conversation online."
Quinn and Jon Meacham, editor of Newsweek Magazine, opened a new way to talk about religion – shedding light rather than generating heat – from a wide spectrum of viewpoints. Questions are posted at least once a week which then generate response from the panel of distinguished figures as well as readers.
The forum's latest and second question posted earlier this week asked "Is Thanksgiving a religious holiday? If so, who does one thank and for what? Should non-believers celebrate Thanksgiving?"
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R. Albert Mohler, Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, responded, "Let's be clear – Thanksgiving implies a Giver. Americans are headed home for the holidays again, and Thanksgiving travel loads now exceed those of Christmas. A central question is this: Who is to be thanked?"
He added, "Americans are a creative people. Those who disbelieve in God may substitute some "attitude of gratitude" for thanksgiving, but it does look like a pale and artificial substitute. At the very least Christians must be clear that our Thanksgiving is directed to God."
Some comments from the American public expressed agreement while others found Mohler's post demeaning.
The Rev. William McD. Tully, rector of St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in New York City, presented a more open stance that readers felt was more "inviting."
"If you’re religious, Thanksgiving is religious. If you’re not, it’s not. And it ill behooves someone like me to tell non-believers what to celebrate," he wrote in the dialogue. "This day should be one of mutual respect among the various communities of faith and those who are outside them."
"On Faith" (http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/) offers the public "constructive" and "respectful" conversation to understanding religion's influence around the world.
