I followed the question with this statement and invitation:

URI is a living attempt to provide answers to that question. The answers we develop - beginning with us as individuals and expanding to include the entire human community - are an offering to help change this tragic dimension of human history [where difference again and again and again has led to division and destruction.].

As food for our journey together, I urge you to share any answers or insights that you may have found.

As my contribution to what I hope will be an ongoing exploration, over the next many weeks I want to focus on URI's Charter and the answers I believe it offers for how we can live with difference without resorting to violence.

First, a few words about the URI's chartering process for those who may not know its history. In June 1996, 55 people of diverse religions, cultures, vocations and nationalities gathered in San Francisco for a week to chart a course for the creation of a charter for the global United Religions Initiative to be signed on 26 June, 2000. Key understandings from that first global summit included:

-- that the URI would be built from the grassroots up;

-- that it would not be limited to recognized major religions, but would include people of diverse spiritualities as well;

-- that the URI would value the leadership of women as well as men;

-- that the URI would engage people of diverse faiths from around the world in creating the Charter so it would be informed by diverse worldviews and wisdom, and would speak with myriad voices.

Over the next four years, URI convened regional summits and consultations all over the world, set up an internet system for ongoing consultation about the emerging organization, and held annual global summits to consolidate each year's learnings and to launch a new year of deepening exploration and community building. During this time, thousands of people shared their visions of what the purpose of the United Religions Initiative might be, of who would belong and of what they might accomplish together.