Karen Hernandez is an interfaith activist in San Francisco serving as an Ambassador of the Parliament.
As an Ambassador for CPWR living in San Francisco, it seemed like a good idea to write about and share what’s occurring in the interfaith scene here. The good news is that there’s a lot happening.
Here presents a simple introduction of organizations doing interfaith work in the San Francisco Bay Area, and in the coming months, more profiling will be shared on each.
What is notable about the interfaith organizations that are located in San Francisco itself, is that they are all grassroots organizations, working locally, and internationally.
- There’s the San Francisco Interfaith Council that was founded out of the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989.
- There’s also the Interfaith Center at the Presidio. San Francisco has an Interfaith Winter Shelter, housing homeless men during the cold winter months.
- There’s an Interfaith Family Network,
- as well as an Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights.
- Internationally, San Francisco boasts the home of United Religions Initiative – also a grassroots organization that works in over eighty countries worldwide.
San Francisco has many houses of worship working in the interfaith realm. Around the corner from my house, stands a former church that is now a Buddhist Temple. Russian and Greek Orthodox, Jewish, Islamic, and Unitarian Universalist establishments abound, and, places such as Glide, where not only can one go to a religious service, but, if you are homeless, hungry, need employment, or involved in an abusive relationship, you can find the help you need at Glide.
Theologian Howard Thurman also founded his house of worship here in San Francisco – The Church for the Fellowship of All People – an interfaith, interracial, intercultural community.
I am thoroughly excited to introduce these organizations and the people who help to make a difference in the interfaith movement here in the Bay Area in the coming months. Look for my next installment next month. In the meantime, if you are part of an organization here in the Bay Area and would like to be featured, please email me at karenlesliehernandez@gmail.com.
Wishing you many blessings for 2014, Karen Leslie Hernandez, Theologian, and Ambassador for CPWR