Evangelical Aid Group Opens Hiring To Married Gay Christians

ABC NEWS
By Rachael Zoll, Associated Press

WASHINGTON--- The prominent Christian relief agency World Vision said Monday it will hire Christians who are in same-sex marriages, a dramatic policy change on one of the most divisive social issues facing religious groups. Richard Stearns, president of the international humanitarian relief group, announced the hiring change for the United States in a letter to staff. Stearns said the World Vision board had prayed for years about how to handle the issue as Christian denominations took different stands on recognizing same-sex relationships. "The board and I wanted to prevent this divisive issue from tearing World Vision apart and potentially crippling our ability to accomplish our vital kingdom mission of living and serving the poorest of the poor in the name of Christ," Stearns wrote in the letter. Based in Washington state and started by evangelicals, World Vision now has an international operating budget of nearly $1 billion and conducts economic development and emergency relief projects around the world. [link]

Interfaith Icons Tell Story of a Religion That Embraces All Religions

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Samuel Freedman

WASHINGTON---Steven Greenebaum rolled his Prius into a middle school parking lot one Sunday morning last month. He donned vestments adorned with the symbols of nearly a dozen religions. He unfolded a portable bookshelf and set the Koran beside the Hebrew Bible, with both of them nearby two volumes of the “Humanist Manifesto” and the Sioux wisdom of “Black Elk Speaks.” Candles, stones, bells and flowers adorned the improvised altar. They had come together with about 20 other members to celebrate the end of their third year as the congregation of the Living Interfaith Church, the holy mash-up that Rev. Greenebaum had created. [link]

White Nationalist Charles Krafft's Views Holocaust As New Religion

THE STRANGER
By Jen Craves

"Hitler Idaho" was purchased by a Jewish collector,
now dead, who later gave it to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

WASHINGTON---The question is hard to get your head around: If Charles Krafft is a Holocaust denier, what does that say about his revered artwork? How should collectors and curators—or anyone who sees his work— reassess his art in light of what he's been saying lately? Krafft, an elder of Seattle art, is a provocateur. He makes ceramics out of human cremains, perfume bottles with swastika stoppers, wedding cakes frosted with Third Reich insignias. In 2003, Krafft made a ceramic teapot in the shape of a bust of Hitler, with eerie holes for eyes. A Jewish collector named Sandy Besser, now dead, bought the Hitler teapot and added it to his overtly politically themed collection, which he later donated to FAMSF, where it was exhibited in 2007. What does it mean that when Krafft made this portrait of a demonized Hitler, he was actually beginning to spread the word that the demonization of Hitler has been greatly exaggerated? Another question: Will the museum get rid of the Krafft? [link]

Nancy Current's Theories of Jewish Art in Glass, Paper and Paint

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Gregory A. Disney

"L'Dor Vador 12: In Seeking Wisdom, the Second Step Is Listening"

CALIFORNIA---Seattle, Washington based-artist Nancy Current has a passion for Jewish Art theory, and that comes through in her new artshow opening Monday, January 14 at the Slutzky Gallery, JCC of Merage County, in Irvine. The show is entitled "L'Dor Vador: from Generation to Generation" and is a series of figurative paintings on glass and paper in which fragments of ancient scrolls and genizah writings are metaphors for Jewish religion and culture which have been passed down for thousands of years. The show ends on February 22nd. For more information on Nancy Current, visit her blog at http://nancycurrent.blogspot.com or email her at nancy(at)ncurrent.com

On Gay Marriage, Voters Got it Right Even if Extremists Get it Wrong

THE WASHINGTON POST
By C.s. Pearce

Last week, citizens in Maine, Maryland and Washington state made history with their votes to legalize same-sex marriage. Minnesotans, too, rejected a constitutional amendment that would have banned gay marriage. Since 1998, 32 states have had marriage equality measures on their ballots, and voters have rejected every one of them. The six states that have legalized gay marriage did it through legislation or by court order. The voters who passed these history-making resolutions on Election Day did so despite significant opposition from Christian churches and institutions that believe their faith requires them to oppose marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples. Even though an exceptionally strong biblical case can be made in favor of gay civil rights, these groups generally dismiss such arguments because of tradition. [link]

Art at Carkeek: Buddhist Teachings? Or Teenage Hangout?

SEATTLE TIMES
By Michael Upchurch

"Four Noble Truths" by Alan Fulle

WASHINGTON---"Rootbound: Heaven & Earth IV," the fourth annual outdoor-sculpture show in Carkeek Park curated by the Center on Contemporary Art, is uneven in the extreme. But it does feature one piece that clearly works, although perhaps not exactly as intended. It's Alan Fulle's "Four Noble Truths," a fancifully built wooden "skyscraper" that supposedly reflects "the primary teachings of Buddhist wisdom" (from the artist's statement). On a sunny day last week, it was functioning as the perfect teenage hangout. Whether the kids inside it were pondering Buddhism is difficult to say. But they looked as if there were nowhere else they'd rather be. [link]

INSPIRE ME! Artist, Andrew Kosorok

"The power of reason and the
gifts of inspiration complement each other."
~ ANDREW KOSOROK

"4 Crowned Martyrs" by Andrew Kosorok

By Ernest Disney-Britton

I am thrilled to introduce you to Andrew Kosorok, the INSPIRE ME! artist for June 2012. Seldom have I found a Religious Artist who so openly embraces the exploration of differing faiths both theologically and in their art practice as much as this Christian who also explores Islam. His work epitomizes what we attempt to do here at A&O which is to mine our own truths through understanding of "the other" through art. Perhaps it's his engineering trained mind but he obviously likes to know how things work, and that includes his gift of spirituality. I hope you will love his work as much, or more than I have come to love it too.

Art & Religious leaders unite to begin conversation about sexuality

THE NEWS TRIBUNE
By The Rev. Christopher Morton

WASHINGTON - On Saturday, Associated Ministries will partner with the Tacoma Art Museum to host a community dialogue – “SEEKing Common Ground: A Dialogue About Art, Faith and Sexuality." Five South Sound religious leaders will engage one another directly in a dialogue. [link]

Washington state's Museum of Glass transports visitors with Hindu inspired exhibition

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Tahlib

Image of installation courtesy of museum website

WASHINGTON - Venetian artists, and siblings Laura de Santillana and Alessandro Diaz de Santillana have joined forces to create Scapes, a dynamic and entirely new body of glass work at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington. "Scapes: Laura de Santillana and Alessandro Diaz de Santillana" is all the more fascinating because it represents not only their first combined museum exhibition, but also their conjoined interpretations of an aspect of Hindu cosmology. The exhibition comprises four rooms based on the Hindu belief that the universe is divided into separate spheres of existence: Earth, Space, Sun, and Moon and Constellations. All of the work for Scapes was produced entirely at the Museum of Glass.

YouTube star wants to make Jesus famous

TIME MAGAZINE
By Kayla Webley/Tacoma

WASHINGTON - [Jeff] Bethke is not a pastor, a teaher or even a divinity student. He's a YouTube senation whose spoken-word poem "Why I hate Religion, but Love Jesus" has been viewed more than 19 million times since Jan. 10. Bethke admits his theology, as he puts it, may not be "airtight," but his delivery--with his shaved head and sloganeering--offers lessons for churches looking to get young people into their pews. He attends a Seattle megachurch called Mars Hill and strives to practice what it preaches. [link]

Christian Message: Jeff Bethke "Why I Hate Religion, but Love Jesus" (YouTube)

Atheist Response: The Amazing Atheist "Why I Hate Religion, and Jesus Too"(YouTube)

Muslim Response:  lebo2196 "Why I Hate Religion, but Love Jesus" (YouTube)

Bainbridge Island, WA's Jewish Congregation Honors History with Art

KITSAP SUN
By Chris Henry

Dorothy Bach, who runs the Judaica gift shop at Congregation Kol Shalom,
sits beside a display of Hanukkah candles and a contemporary menorah. Chris Henry/Kitsap Sun

WASHINGTON -  When Dorothy Bach [of Bainbridge Island] was in Israel three years ago looking down on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, she started crying. Such is the importance of history in Judaism, a history kept alive through symbols in art. Bach, in her own way, promotes Jewish culture on Bainbridge Island by importing fine handicrafts and jewelry, mostly from Israel, and selling it at the Judaica Gift Shop of Congregation Kol Shalom. Whenever possible, Bach buys from Israeli artisans. The gift shop is open periodically and by appointment. For information, email giftshop@kolshalom.net. [link]

New Buddhist Stupa to Be Blessed at Earth Sanctuary in Washington State

AOA NEWS

WASHINGTON - A blessing ceremony for a newly completed holy Buddhist stupa monument and Tibetan prayer wheels will be held on Saturday, October 8 at Earth Sanctuary, a nature preserve and retreat center on south Whidbey Island off the state of Washington. The ceremony will be held outside and the general public is invited to attend, and encouraged to bring a cushion to sit on. According to the press release, a "stupa is the most important Buddhist monument and is a sacred structure designed to bring peace and harmony to a community and the world."

Asia Dominates New Season of Art Shows

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Holland Cotter

A room from a private home in Damascus, 18th century.
Collection of Metropolitan Museum of Art.

NEW YORK - THE big institutional news in New York City this fall is the reopening, after eight years of renovation and rethinking, of the Metropolitan Museum’s Islamic collection, in what are now being called the Galleries for the Art of the Arab Lands, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia and Later South Asia. The wrap-around suite of 15 spaces, which opens on Nov. 1, will hold some 1,200 works (out of a collection of 12,000) from dozens of cultures that have, during 13 centuries, shared Islam as a religious faith.  Elsewhere, in shows of modern and contemporary art, names are right out front: ).[link]

Islamic Art Feature: Pick of the Month

MUSLIM MATTERSWelcome to the another edition of MuslimMatters.org’s regular Islamic Art feature. If you want to see your work on MM, then either email us your images to art@muslimmatter.org or submit them to our Flickr group. "Prayer"(above), by bzbuddy. My followers can pray wherever they like when the time of prayer is due - Muhammad (sallalahu alayhi wa salam). Photo taken in Waterfront Park on Alaskan way, Seattle, WA.

Sanne Beavin's Expressionistic Art for Good Friday

NEWS TRIBUNE
By Rosemary Ponnekanti

"The Cross-Way" by Sanne Beavin

WASHINGTON - Gig Harbor, Washington artist Sanne Beavin has created eight painting-tableaux for Lent and Holy Week at her church, Harbor Covenant, as a spiritual meditation for parishioners and visitors. Asked by pastor Michael White, Beavin painted one work of “The Cross-Way” for each week of Lent, with two more for this week (Holy Week). The paintings, highly-colored expressionist works detailing each of eight Stations of the Cross (scriptural points on Jesus’ journey to crucifixion) are surrounded by a tableau of symbolic props and a second panel, some wrapped in barbed wire, some pounded with nails, and accompanied by a scriptural verse and meditative words. All will be on view this week through Good Friday at the church, including an Evening with the Artist on Thursday. The paintings have been highly popular at Harbor Covenant, where Beavin has been asked to reproduce them for sale. [link]

Spokane, WA Exhibit Explores Eichenberg's Mastery of Social Commentary

CATHOLIC SENTINEL

"The Story of Jonah" by Fritz Eichenberg

WASHINGTON - A selection of Fritz Eichenberg's work is on display in the Arcade Gallery at the Jundt Art Museum at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash., through July 30. The exhibit showcases 25 images from the museum's collection of 750 prints and other works donated by longtime benefactors Norman and Esther Bolker, who now reside in Corvalis, Ore. The display includes "Ten Wood Engravings for the Old Testament" and include pieces such as the well-known "The Peaceable Kingdom," "And David Played the Harp" and "The Story of Jonah." Father James Daprile said Eichenberg's images can be just as meaningful today in a complex world fraught with violence. "Many people called his work illustration. He preferred to say his work was illumination, bringing information to light. He felt every cut in the wood was an act of Genesis, bringing light to the world," he said. [link]

Sacred Space Exhibit for Muslim Americans in Seattle

WASHINGTON - Mosques have been a reason for intense debates both within the Muslim community and outside of it. Maryam Eskandari, an architect at the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard and MIT, currently has a traveling exhibit on American Mosques. She brings a new angle to the debate discussing the role of architecture as an identity issue. Her exhibit, Sacred Space: (Re)Constructing the Place of Gender in the Space of Religion is touring the nation. We sat down with the architect and artist for an interview. [Source: Elan]

Draw Mohammed & Hide

Seattle cartoonist Molly Norris, the artist who declared May 20, 2010, "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" went into hiding under the advice of the FBI. Seattle media reports say she has changed her name, left her employer and basically gone into a "witness protection" program where her whole identity is wiped away. It's all because of a fatwa (decree to execute) issued against her this summer by Islamic extremist Anwar al-Awlaki, a Yemeni-American cleric. On behalf of the religious arts community, our prayers are with Molly.