Divinity Atlas - A Referenced Encyclopedia of the World’s Religions
I’ll start with a basic assumption: we are all here as members of this email audience because we are engaged in ministry, or because we have a deep interest in or affinity for Christian ministry. And, of course, our ministry spaces exist within the multi-faith, interfaith, and increasingly secular landscapes we encounter here in Canada.
This summer, Ministry Forum shared a new resource called Divinity Atlas, which draws connections between articles sourced from across the web and highlights some of the innate connections we find across spirituality and religious traditions.
I spent a little time playing around with the resource, including some admittedly targeted searches to see what I would find. Unfortunately, the site was not always reliably active and could be a bit sluggish, but I did find some interesting connections.
For those of us working in psychospiritual care, this kind of resource can be interesting as we seek to understand the people we meet and attend to both spiritual resources and spiritual struggles.
A major part of our training is learning to engage thoughtfully with what we believe. From there, we are invited to grow in our awareness of how our beliefs and assumptions shape the way we understand ourselves, the people we serve, and the spaces we create for others.
This becomes particularly important as we encounter people whose beliefs, practices, or spiritual frameworks may be very different from our own. Developing this awareness is part of creating safer spaces grounded in cultural humility, curiosity, and respect.
As we continue to wrestle with these questions, I’ll leave you with a few more resources to explore and ponder:
Canadian Multifaith Federation – advocacy for spiritual care and religious rights in Canada
Student Life – Multi-Faith Resource Centre at the University of Toronto – including a fantastic series of Mindful Moments videos and other resources
Canadian Interfaith Conversation – advocating for religion in a pluralistic society and Canadian public life
Perhaps these resources will offer a few new connections of your own.
Please share with us the multifaith resources that are meaningful for you!
-Sara Traficante - Field Contributor of Ministry Forum