Author Archives: Matilda Cantwell

Our Inescapable Network of Mutuality

Amidst the cacophony of all that I am reading, hearing, and taking in response to the verdict in the Ferguson Grand Jury deliberation,—which I am, like many of us, just barely beginning to sort through—I have little, if anything, different or new … Continue reading

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Interfaith Awareness Week: What Do We Serve?

We are what we pay attention to. Sadly, most of the time we are not attending to the world or ourselves. Psychologists estimate we have sixty thousand to seventy thousand thoughts a day, 99 percent of which are more or … Continue reading

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SWANS: Beyond Atheism, Agnosticism, and Religion to Spiritual Intersectionality

The first week in February was the United Nation’s “Interfaith Harmony Week”. While Smith will be commemorating this week later on in the semester, this is a good time to begin to talk about the what and why of “Interfaith Harmony.” Three … Continue reading

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Newtown School Shooting: What I Know is True

The faith tradition(s) that I follow allows me a certain acceptance of uncertainty and “living the questions,” as the famous poem by Rilke puts it. Grappling, wondering, ruminating, and questioning are all part of the journey for me—as is the … Continue reading

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“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”

– Mahatma Gandhi

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Is God “One?”

Earlier this fall I read this story about a group of Muslims in Peshawar Pakistan who made a human chain outside a church where Mass was taking place, standing in solidarity with the worshipers when a nearby church was recently destroyed … Continue reading

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Fight or Freeze: Can We Move Beyond the Binary?

When I was in college, we used to talk a lot about “the binary.” I don’t know if it is still in use in the common lexicon—but think it is still associated with things we talk about a lot with … Continue reading

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Smith Explores Model of Interfaith Cooperation

In the first year of my interfaith fellowship at Smith, I have used the idea of Interfaith Cooperation as a guiding principle, operating within the belief that college students both long for contexts to explore and develop themselves spiritually; but … Continue reading

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“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

– Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Response to Boston Marathon Bombings

Regardless of where or how we are situated with respect to Boston, Watertown the Boston marathon, geographically and emotionally, almost all of us, what can I do? It strikes me that in fact, there is so much we can do, … Continue reading

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