editorial

Interfaith Unity has undergone considerable change in the over six and a half years we have been publishing. We began as an e-mail listing up coming events in the Toronto Area. This also included listings of regular events.

Later we began to insert some news. Then book reviews, and resources. Our content began to grow exponentially.

Our conversion from plain text e-mails to HTML layouts complete with colour pictures marked another leap forward. But we took caution in the words of our publisher, "Form is nice but content is what is important!" So with effort and increased networking our content increased as well - both in quantity and in quality.

However, what did not change, was the element that made Interfaith Unity's newsletter so unique and popular. Every three weeks we have presented Invitations to: Come out, take part, get active, join in, be with... UNITY!

We now enjoy an ever increasing subscriber list (over 1200 and growing!); equally expanding numbers of contributors; and an ever widening area of topics and categories.

Our success has made for larger newsletters. And the size is beginning to create problems. Those with slow download capacity find the size difficult.

Our desire to present more and more news - especially local news - is impossible in our current publication form.

So we looked to tried and true medium of expression: the traditional Community Newspaper. The kind where everyone had a chance to get involved: letters to the editor; pictures and stories of people you knew; correspondents who wrote for the love not for the money; everyone with a camera is one of the photographers!

Our community is just a bit bigger than the traditional ones. Geographically it is primarily the Greater Toronto Area. But in the areas of Interfaith and Inter-spiritual activities it extends across our continent.

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That is why we are now proud members of NAIN (North American Interfaith Network). Our editor attended the NAINconnect in San Francisco this summer. There he found we were connected to a myriad of Interfaith and Inter-spiritual organizations and individuals across North America.

And so the community is much larger than the small ones of old when community newspapers came into being. But the job is the same, report on activities; profile individuals of note; publish ideas and challenges in the form of columnists; and above all, open up a two way communication between the paper and its readers.

There were two basic rules in the community newspapers of the 1950s and 60s: Publish everyone in towns picture at least once a year. and, Never touch anything that is too controversial.

We wont be able to keep the first rule exactly, but we will endeavour to cover an event from every organization in town at least once a year! (The catch here is they have to report to us - through their own Interfaith Unity Correspondent.)

The second rule is not a healthy one for any publication. Our Interfaith Inter-spiritual community is full of healthy confrontation. It is out of such interactions that new thoughts are born, new perspectives are gained, and beliefs which hinder growth and inhibit loving connection are challenged and finally gently laid aside.

So now our invitation is not to just attend the events we promote; you are now invited to get back to us and report on the event! In short the invitation now is: Get active, join in, be a part of INTERFAITH UNITY!

Read more about our plans in the next two editorial pages:

GO TO PAGE 2

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