(Another original from I21 in The Coastal Star.)

How prayer would manifest in a municipal setting was my question when I learned that Delray Beach would host a National Day of Prayer observance in front of City Hall.

The event, celebrated nationwide on the first Thursday each May, was established by Congress to encourage Americans to pray for our nation, its people and its leaders.

Delray’s announcement of two “interdenominational” public prayer events resonated with me.

For the first, citizens gathered at City Hall at noon on a chamber of commerce day as they have for more than a decade.

And that’s the problem, said Geoff Kashdan. I had just finished telling two city commissioners of my appreciation for the city’s support of the event when he strolled up to greet me. The self-described “progressive activist” stressed that he was not speaking on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union, or the Americans United for Separation of Church and State, for which he has advocated in the past.

But he said there’s a concern “when public property such as city hall is used. Especially if it’s used by one religion, which gives the appearance of municipal or governmental sponsorship of that one religion. So I’m just here to watch, learn, listen and monitor.”

I understand that slippery slope, and the influences that want to define America as a Christian nation. It is that, of course. But also, as our praying president has said, a nation of many faiths and home to people of no particular faith.

Two later events I attended better lived up to the interdenominational billing.

I left a joyous musical prayer circle, on Lake Worth’s beach, to head to Delray’s Duncan Conference Center for “Many Paths — One God: Celebrating our Unity in Diversity.”

Smiles and hugs were even more in abundance at that gathering, sponsored by the Delray Beach Interfaith Clergy Association. The warmth was even more encouraging given the diversity: prayers in the Jewish, Christian, Muslim, African-American, Christian Science, Baha’i, Buddhist, Hindu and other traditions. Benedictions in English, Hebrew, Arabic, Creole and Spanish.

Throughout the day, one could imagine scoffing from the haters of religion, and haters in the name of religion. They should talk to Addie Lee Hudson.

“It brings us closer together as a people,” the retired educator told me after she had delivered the “Prayer For Our Schools” at City Hall. “And it reaffirms our belief that there is a God. Not a God for one group of people, but a God for all of us.”

Her focus on unity underscores why those who trust in prayer should trust that we can’t pray enough.

C.B. Hanif, former news ombudsman and editorial columnist for The Palm Beach Post, is a freelance writer, editor, media and interreligious affairs consultant. His blog, InterFaith21.com debuts soon. Look for more insights as he visits or speaks at synagogues, churches and mosques from here to infinity, connecting with folks who are making the Golden Rule real, not just an ideal. C.B. can be reached at cbhanif@gmail.com

It’s like this, Humanity:

We’re not where we want to be.

But we ain’t where we was.

In today’s episode we visit more encouraging evidence.

One definition of interreligious dialogue is cooperation and positive interaction between people of different religious traditions.

Nobody does that better, in my experience, than the members of the Catholic lay movement known as the Focolare.

Consider the relations between Focolare members and their friends of other faith traditions, or even no faith tradition, around the world.

Eyebrows invariably rise when I mention that for decades, Focolare members have participated in constructive dialogue with other traditions, just as our Muslim community has under the leadership of “America’s Imam,” the late W. Deen Mohammed.

Moreover, for years in their cozy facility at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, the movement has hosted international meetings such as with the Muslim friends of the Focolare.

Last year my wife and I were among the American delegation invited to that meeting. (Here’s the Focolare photo slideshow from our sessions). As always is the case with the Focolare, we were treated like royalty. The only honorable response? To reciprocate even better. It’s all a reminder of how our Creator has ordained we should treat all our fellow human beings.

I’m hardly any great interfaith guru. But when the Golden Rule is expressed, whether in action, language, thought or spirit, I want to gravitate toward it, to share it, to keep the Good spreading. Thus, this InterFaith21 blog.

In addition to acknowledging my parents and countless others, I wouldn’t be here — in this spiritual place to which I have been blessed to grow — without the sacrifices of Imam Mohammed. His unique contributions include introducing our community to the late founder of the Focolare, the Blessed Lady Chiara Lubich, and to her community.

Although they both passed last year, we can see President Barack Obama following their lead. More of us should join in. Rather than arguing and disuniting over the relatively few items on which we (all too often strongly) disagree, let’s change the paradigm to focus first on unifying around the areas where we do agree.

It is in the spirit of learning from each other that I have come to know Focolare members on a local, national and now international level. We have joined countless others who are seeking in sincerity the best of our common human inheritance. “That all may be one,” is how Chiara often expressed the sentiment found in the Bible, Quran and other holy books.

I often have described my dear Focolare friends as followers of Jesus who truly live what that great teacher, on whom we pray peace and blessings, talked and walked.

Recently a friend overheard my description, and identified them even more succinctly: “Gen-u-wine Christians.”

One of two interfaith chapels open 24-hours-a-day at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, among the world's busiest.

We begin with G-d’s name, the Merciful Benefactor, the Merciful Redeemer.

This is a meeting place for folks who are making the Golden Rule real, not just an ideal.

What’s your spiritual path? Judaism? Christianity? Islam? Buddhism? Hinduism? No particular ism?

As human beings we must learn to live together, or fall together.

Interfaith21.com promotes the balanced, caring community life that extends from wherever you are reading these words to our one, universal community.

It’s a place for building bridges across religious, ethic and cultural lines based on our shared values.

For Unique, Universal and Your Views on Faith, Unity, Peace.

For promoting cooperation rather than domination.

For subordinating our egos.

For throwing off the assumption that we already know.

For seeking to learn the other, rather than define the other.

For lighting candles rather than cursing the darkness.

For sharing our ideas, programs, events and strategies that are bringing success toward the goal “That all may be one.”

For spirituality informed by media, new media, technological, cultural and political perspectives in the 21st Century.

For those who have chosen to seek in sincerity the best in our common human inheritance.

For those who are convinced that (paraphrasing a hardware chain’s promo): You can do it, and we can help — each other.

For those who are here not to convert each other, but to learn from each other.

For, G-d willing, I hope and pray to learn from you.