Sacred Matters: 2011

Sacred Matters? For some time I have thought there is a serious absence in the public square of informed and reasoned debate and discussion about religion. My intent with this blog is to provide a venue through which conversation can occur about any and all things sacred. This blog, I hope, will be a forum for raising questions, concerns, and doubts as well as a place for commenting about the role of religion in people’s lives, sharing stories of religious experience – There’s a question: What constitutes religious experience?, -- and giving recommendations about books, films, or cultural events that explore the sacred.

There is certainly no dearth of rhetoric using “religion” as a framework for legitimizing bigotries, ideologies, and prejudices. That, in my mind, is a distortion. Religion is not a platform from which I am to justify me and to judge you. Rather, it is the foundation upon which my life is built and through which I discover meaning and purpose. It is the set of lenses through which, when I am at my best, I see and relate to others.

Mark Dawson holds a Master of Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York now formally affiliated with Columbia University, a Master of Arts degree from the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, and a Bachelor of General Studies degree from Wartburg College.

He has taught religious studies as an adjunct professor at Iona College in New Rochelle, New York; served on the Vestry of St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Hollywood, where he led the stewardship campaign; and been an active member of St. John’s, the Episcopal Cathedral in downtown Los Angeles.

Mark has traveled extensively to such places as Cairo, Jeddah, Damascus, Ramallah, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Tokyo, Kyoto, Seoul, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Delhi, Jaipur, and Agra.

Friday, December 16, 2011

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