Young faith

Simply Youth Ministry has a lot for sale, but it also gives away an incredible amount, gleaned from sources like Saddleback Church and Youth Specialties. You'll find videos, games, booklets, tips for mission trips, and good-looking guides for small groups and discipleship lessons.

Topics are earnest and relevant. A sound file discusses "God's Extreme Makeover." Young talking heads reassure us that "Everybody Hurts." A lesson encourages high school girls to resist society's obsession with appearance.

Click the "Forms" icon to find nuts and bolts of youth ministry: event planners and recaps, a thank-you card, a scholarship application, a first-time visitor survey, a student leadership agenda.

Most of the freebies are in .zip files, so you'll need WinZip or an equivalent to open them. Once unzipped, some are in Word format, some in .pdf, some in PowerPoint, some in RealPlayer, so you'll need those applications, too.

Finally, SYM has 36 free videos, on various inspirational or instructional topics. But watch out: The files are huge, some over 100 megabytes. If you’re on a church or other shared computer, try to pick a time when others aren't using the connection.

Messianic messing

Barack Obama as Christ? That's one surprise on Jesus of the Week. This site, published by the Village Voice, seemingly has hundreds of images sent by readers.

As you can imagine, the pictures range from the classic to the classically stupid. Examples:

Slam-dunking a goal in a yellow Los Angeles Lakers uniform.

A reverent painting of Jesus offering bread and wine.

Twin faces of Christ as earrings, his hair studded with diamonds.

A Rasta-locked Lord on a shoulder tattoo.

A cartoon Jesus surfing on a cross.

And assorted Jesus faces on light switches, bandages, sticky notes, black velvet, and of course airbrushed onto vans and motorcycles. And on and on.

You submit the picture -- or someone out there does -- and the Village Voice editors add what they consider witty comments. Like the suggestion that a sitting statue, with hand to the side of his head, looks like he's talking on an iPhone. Tee-hee.

What to make of this site? One lesson: Culture can get pretty silly, even with revered figures. Two: Ridiculing the sacred is funny, at least for some mentalities.

Conclusion three: Ignorance is no handicap online. Whoever wrote the snickering paragraph for a crucifixion painting totally missed that the artist was Salvador Dali.

Thanksgiving on the Web

Thanksgiving holds a peculiar status as a hybrid religious-secular holiday. It combines history, heritage, religious ideals, family values and an opportunity to reach out to people different from yourself.

The day is even more American than July 4, says rabbi-journalist Marc Gellman.

"On Thanksgiving we have it all: football and the Macy's parade, family gatherings combined with an atmosphere of civic virtue that effortlessly morphs into secular thankfulness for the nonreligious and thankfulness to God for the pious among us," his 2007 article in Newsweek says. "Thanksgiving Day embraces us all."

Mary Fairchild of About.com has a fairly crisp report on the purpose and origins of the day, with some interesting trivia thrown in. Example: Seven other nations -- Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Japan, Korea, Liberia, and Switzerland -- have their own Thanksgiving days.

The Pilgrim Hall Museum in modern Plymouth, Mass., has valuable information on the Pilgrims and how their faith affected their Thanksgiving observance. Among the museum's religious treasures is the Bible of Pilgrim leader William Bradford (shown below).

More info is at Plimouth Plantation, a reconstruction of the 17th century Pilgrim settlement. Its Web site has historical background on Thanksgiving, both on the Christian settlers' side and that of the native Wampanoag tribe. But it also questions how religious the 1621 harvest festival was.

Interfaith services are a large and growing Thanksgiving tradition, when people of various religious gather to voice gratitude together.
Here are some suggestions for planning an interfaith Thanksgiving service, from an official of the United Methodist Church.

Some tips: Talk with other faith communities on the meaning of giving thanks; discuss the look of the venue; plan food and drink afterward, so people can mix. The nice thing is that the plans also work for other occasions besides Thanksgiving.

Not that the spiritual facet is unchallenged. Even a year ago, Slate magazine carried a report on a cultural war brewing around Thanksgiving, something like that over religious themes in Christmas. Writer Andrew Santella wrote in somewhat snarky terms about the religious right alarmists who wanted to make everyone thank the same God as they did.

But Santella ultimately lands on the side of thankfulness: "Do we really have to choose between the extremes of calling Thanksgiving a religious holiday or a civic celebration? Can't we assume that the holiday has evolved as some more subtle mix of the secular and the spiritual, one that each of us can adjust according to our own values?"

Quite a lot to digest with our turkey and pumpkin pie.

The U.S. election: The U.K. view

Did the presidential election help or hurt U.S. religion? Five columnists weigh in at The Guardian -- and draw more than 130 reader opinions.

The exchange is part of a large religion page produced by the venerable, century-old newspaper in London. The many columns there reveal some fresh, Brit-style thinking.

An atheist art columnist acknowledges the power and beauty of religious images, though he rejects their theology. A religious affairs correspondent files a video from her recent pilgrimage to Mecca. Another writer says sermons are a good idea -- just not in stodgy church services.

The choice of items reveals what has The Guardian's attention. Anglicans, Catholics, Muslims and atheists get lots of content. Jews, Hindus and Buddhists get less. But Christianity in general, including evangelicals and mainline Protestants, gets a whole separate page.

There's also a bit of weighting. In a special report on Christmas, the Guardian cites several views of Jesus: as Son of God, as a prophet, or just a man who was close to God. No such diversity touches the reports on the Hajj and Ramadan.

Not all the thinking at The Guardian is equally sharp, of course. A liberal rabbi predicts the demise of faith in a supernatural God within 30 years. That funeral has been said for more than a century -- and there are more believers, and more religions, than ever.

Just the facts on religion

Why do Hindus use a swastika? Why is the Cross of St. Peter upside down? And why do Scientologists weave an "S" through two triangles?

Those and more answers are on Religion Facts, which fittingly has the slogan, "Religion is interesting; knowledge is good." The anonymous religion student behind this site has kept his promise: straight facts, no manipulation.

And the 37 featured groups go beyond the usual world religions. It's also Aladura of west Nigeria and Cao Dai from Vietnam. It's the Druze of the Middle East and Zoroastrianism, which has one of its fire temples in Yazd, Iran (pictured here).

Each section has a short intro, then bulleted Fast Facts. Then comes a history of the religion, then beliefs and practices. Footnotes are plentiful and often lead to offline articles.

Better yet are the comparisons. A "Big Religion Chart" gives a quick rundown on each group. Other charts parse out differences among various types of Christians, Muslims and Buddhists.

Although the information is generally objective, the very choices inevitably raise questions. Is Deepak Chopra's center a distinct religion? Are ancient Greek Stoicism and Epicureanism religious? And should you put atheists, who attack the very idea of faith, on a list of faiths?

The author does urge us to continue our own studies. For those, he provides glossaries and book lists, some of them linking to eBay or Amazon.

Media well-done

Are theme parks part of the media? They are at Understanding Evangelical Media. Not only obvious ones like Walt Disney World, but also Creation Museum, Holy Land Experience, even Silver Dollar City.

Other Christian media? Comics, videogames, drama, robotic dinosaurs, even advertising and retail sales. They're all explored -- along with the usual TV, books and radio -- in this sweeping study co-edited by Quentin Schultze of Calvin College, a longtime sharp eye on religious media, along with Robert H. Woods Jr. of Spring Arbor College.

The site and book (IVP, 347 pp., $22) muster 40-plus specialists to examine 19 forms of media, with text, video clips and music samples. The site also posts much outside commentary on how well the Christian communicators are communicating -- or not.

As elaborate as it is, the site has a few flaws. Worship is listed as a type of media, but the fine arts are not, despite groups like Christians in Visual Arts. Three links are supposed to list chapters, topics and sources, but they all lead to the same Web page. Each topic also lacks a summary or introductory paragraph, although a few have sound-file commentaries.

But the links are so plentiful, the site is great for anyone who wants to explore this big topic of a burgeoning religious movement. For friends, enemies, or just the curious, Understanding Evangelical Media is well worth a bookmark.

The faith-based vote

Faith and religion permeated this U.S. presidential election perhaps more than any other -- and was probably scrutinized more systematically than ever, too. Here were three of the best studies.

The exceedingly sharp Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life went beyond blogging to actual numbers. Its poll on How the faithful voted looked at seven faith groups. Among the surprises: Most Catholics voted for Barack Obama, although they favored George W. Bush in 2004.

More tools are available on ReligionLink, a resource site for reporters but free for anyone. Its article Barack Obama and the future of religion and politics glitters with various facets of the election. One is the fascinating CNN exit poll, which teases out religious motives as well as others.

The ReligionLink article also looks religious-moral issues: poverty, the economy, gay marriage, the environment, the war in Iraq and the future Supreme Court. One segment even assesses Sarah Palin's chances for president in 2012.

Jay Toalson of U.S. News & World Report sounds like a prophet in his indepth study of religion and the election, way back in June. He accurately said that religious blocs were too complex to land snugly in either candidate's back pocket. And he said foreign policy statements wouldn't win religious votes any more than non-religious ones.

Ethicist David Gushee may raise your eyebrows with his opinion that not enough religion came up in the campaign. He wanted to hear more on "how a candidate's personal faith informs their moral values and, in turn, their policy choices." What he heard was "guilt by association" -- Obama's former attendance at Jeremiah Wright's church, Palin for having once been a Pentecostal.

Monkish advice

Welcome to the second night of our look at Buddhist Web sites. Fold yourself into your best lotus blossom position and prepare to . . .

Ask a Monk

What puzzles you about Buddhism? The Cloudwater Zendo community in Cleveland, Ohio, wants to answer it.

Practicing both the Ch'an (Zen) and Pure Land varieties, Cloudwater posts some breezy-sounding answers to common issues. The questions cover things like "Buddhism is just an offshoot of Hinduism, isn't it?" and the chuckle-inducing "Buddhism is the tradition that worships the jolly-looking fellow with the big belly, right?"

Even better: You can write your own question in an online form -- and specify how soon you need the answer. The site also has longer discussions based on reader feedback.

Those chains of questions bring out more nuanced teachings, like whether believers should worship Buddha, or whether human relationships help or hurt the road to enlightenment. Also explained are the differences between Pure Land Buddhism, and its Buddha Amitabha, from Jesus and heaven.

The Cloudwater folks explain concepts like Buddha-fields, transferring merit, and the relationship of a Buddha to a bodhisattva. A chart compares and contrasts Ch'an and Pure Land, but it has so many in-house terms, only a disciple would grasp it fully.

One glitch: Ask a Monk says Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity and other religions basically teach the same things. Those who read my last column know my opinions on that. When a faith claims special insights, it necessarily creates differences. Choose any religion you want, but choose you must.

Lotus pray

Whoops, a bit late on the promised weeklong series on Buddhist sites. Without further delay, let's look at:

BuddhaNet

Here's a perfect example of what be accomplished with the Internet and one determined person -- in this case, Venerable Pannyavaro of Sydney, Australia. The Theravada monk started in 1993 with an old-school Bulletin Board Service. Now, BuddhaNet is a world-class publisher of text and music.

The site includes chants, hymns, mantras -- even whole albums of Buddhist pop music, both for adults and for children. It has scriptures of several traditions, including Pali, Chinese and Tibetan. A map-linked directory locates Buddhist centers almost anywhere, from Bolivia to Bahrain to Botswana.

A multi-level course deals with the life of the Buddha, as well as karma, reincarnation and meditation. Some content takes pdf, ebook or RealAudio form.

One refreshing article names 27 distinctiveness of Buddhism; for instance, that it acknowledges no supreme being. So many leaders these days pretend that all religions are basically the same.

And don't miss the site's BuddhaZine. It's full of mind-tickling content: computer art, crossword puzzles, cartoons, articles on psychotherapy and Buddhist architecture, photos from Bhutan, and those hand gestures known as mudras. It also has more traditional art, like the thangka of Buddha Shakyamuni above.

This otherwise lavish site does have a hole: an apparent lack of a FAQ file for western readers (yeah, like me). Such a file might deal, for example, with the clash between the western ideal of self-fulfillment and the Buddhist ideal of self-annihilation.

Some sites do address such issues. We'll look at one tomorrow night.

Happy Hindu New Year

The Hindu Festival of Lights, starting this year on Oct. 28, is like Christmas and New Year combined. And it's celebrated not only in India, but wherever Indians have settled: the U.S., the U.K., Africa and South America.

Learning about Divali online, though, can be a problem. Most Web sites for the holiday are either 1) laden with Sanskrit terms, assuming you already know the stories being taught, or 2) glitzy online catalogs for holiday sweets, jewelry, artifacts, incense and the like.

But there are exceptions.

Start with this bare-bones site, from the University of Kansas Medical School. Part of a list of holidays, it has a nice, simple description -- no Flash, no pictures -- of each of the five days of the Divali observance. It also links to a Hindu site that explains why Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and fortune shown above, is honored on Divali.

Now you may be ready for the holiday site by Rangoli. VGreets has a concise explanaton of these seasonal designs sometimes called visual prayers. You can also find Rangoli galleries here, here and here.

Want more depth? India Travelogue provides a lengthy, 1,900-word essay on the festival, how it varies around India, and the three stories associated with the time.

United we sing, and maybe dance

Sure, the world is awash in ignorance and prejudice, but what can one person do?

Ask Jack Bloomfield. In 2004 he founded One Planet United, an organization that brings together people as varied as Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists and Pentecostal Christians -- all in the simmering melting pot of South Florida.

What does he get them to do? Talk out differences. Cool down tensions. Understand people different from themselves. And sing and dance together -- with choirs and soloists joining in annual concerts called Faith in Music.
Even better, you can do it, too -- with model plans, called "templates," on this Web site.

Like "Unity in our Community," a program using music, dance and drama in community celebrations. Like "Looking Glass Theater," a series of eight sketches with morals of acceptance. "Like OPU Clubs," where middle and high school students can promote dialogue and mediate intergroup problems.

The free documents, 150k to 300k long, don't take any expertise. Each project is broken down into committees, time requirements, press releases, program outlines. There are even suggested theme songs, like Where is the Love? by the Black-Eyed Peas.

A list of OPU-endorsed speakers is a bit heavy on the New Age, with the likes of Gary Zukav, Deepak Chopra and Neale Donald Walsch. But it also has a few conventional folks like Della Reese and Harold Kushner.

But that's the beauty of the templates. Whether you share all of Bloomfield's beliefs or not, the plans will still work for you. Imagine: trusting his tools with people he's never seen. That goes even beyond interfaith work.

Grace: Amazing, and unfair

Fog rolls in on a coastline, toward a lone figure on a rock. Philip Yancey's bearded, gray-haired face silently invites us to sit awhile and consider who God is to us -- and, perhaps, who we are to God.

Over three decades, Yancey has made an enduring impact in evangelical circles, with 12 books selling more than 14 million copies. This site hints at his insights and gift for words.

In an interview: "I can't think of any argument against God that isn't already included in the Bible."

In his travel notes: "I cannot claim that grace is fair. By definition, it's unfair: We get the opposite of what we deserve."

Sadly, Yancey has stopped adding to his notes. The last was in January 2005. At least we can still browse the site for photos, interviews, a biography and a book list.

The standout is the subsite for his book What's So Amazing About Grace? It opens with a synth treatment of the hymn Amazing Grace, with a photo montage of ... well, so many people. Bill and Hillary. Bill Gates. Mother Teresa. Timothy McVeigh. Mao Zedong.

Then the window moves to anecdotes from readers who have experienced grace in their own lives -- set to a soundtrack of howling wind and flapping shutters. The clear message: In a cold, uncaring world, we need a God who cares about us.

Many of the book thumbnails are broken; geez, where is that Webmaster? Use this link instead. It'll list all the books, in all their versions -- hardcover, softcover, audio, DVD, and several kinds of ebook.

Faith made sight

Evangelicals are not known for artistry. Or so I thought. Then I came across Christians in the Visual Arts -- founded way back in 1979.

CIVA is Christian at heart, housed as it is at Gordon College. It also encourages refined artworks: sensitive, intelligent, skillfully rendered.

Appropriately, its Web site does little talking and much showing, with several online galleries. Media include photography, acrylic, collage, metal sculpture, even a mixed-media work of music with sound and light sensors.

Some of the pictures are religiously explicit, like an oil painting of the Annunciation to Mary. Some are enigmatic, like a wall hanging of woven teabags. Some explore general human themes -- like Mystical Marriage by Tanja Butler, shown here. One gallery experiments with the medieval triptych motif.

A minor gripe: The galleries could be easier to navigate. They're numbered but have no thumbnails, and there's no "Next" button on each picture. So you'll have to remember which number picture you're on.

CIVA acknowledges the hazard of visual art: People may see a variety of messages, and not necessarily what the artist meant. They're willing to take that risk, says Sandra Bowden of the group, to "lead the audience to a place of introspection."

Environmental spirituality

Church groups were once scorned by environmentalists as part of the problem; now they're valued as allies. Born way back in 1992, Earth Ministry is a veteran in creation care.

Unlike some environmental groups, Earth Ministry doesn't just rant about pollution and energy. It also looks at humans and the need to make a living. The group also helps people appreciate nature -- via stream cleanups, hiking and kayaking trips, and a music festival called the Celebration of St. Francis. And its think pieces come from real thinkers, like Bill Moyers, Calvin DeWitt and Frederick Buechner.

Earth Ministry still seems centered on Washington State, its birthplace. But it has a lot of resources that anyone can use. There's a handbook for "greening" a congregation. There's a book on agriculture, called Food and Faith. There are teaching materials for kids, from Catholic, Presbyterian and Christian Reform groups.

Take a long, careful look at the "Pattern Map": a sprawling organizational chart that interlinks the social, natural and economic realms into an ideal whole. It bristles with big ideas, like "ecosystem services" and "bioregional economies." But each is explained and may even sound workable. See what you think.

Also click the online pdf of the quarterly Earth Letter. It's nice-looking, but the posted sample is from winter 2006-7. (A cynic might suggest that it was chosen for its article from Barack Obama.) A subscription comes with a $35 membership fee.

Clicking a prayer?

Web-enhanced serenity may sound oxymoronic: Can one withdraw from the world by "plugging into it"? But the Irish Jesuits of Sacred Space claim that anyone can learn to pray -- even in front of a computer -- by following a few steps.

Those steps include the presence of God, freedom, consciousness, scripture, conversation and a conclusion. Click on each step and read each section -- a prayer or reflection or a biblical passage -- then click "Next" when you're ready. You can also backtrack and repeat steps.

The whole presentation is meant to impart peace and calm: simple language, mild mottled backgrounds, a pastoral picture on the homepage. Even the steps of prayer fade in and out as you click them, rather than switching abruptly.

Nor are you just a passive consumer. In a section called the Chapel of Intentions, you can post prayers of your own, for yourself or others. The list is sent to prayer communities, and some prayers are posted online.

If you don't know what to pray for, the Jesuits suggest sharing Pope Benedict XVI's current prayer concerns, or saying a novena (nine-day prayer series) for peace. The sample prayers come not only from Pope John XXIII, but also from Buddhist, Jewish, Jain, Hindu, Sikh, Muslim and Bahai sources.

Good stuff, with a caveat

As a superdirectory, the Christian Web Site is well worth a bookmark. Starting in 1995 as Best of the Christian Web, the site now lists more than 81,000 sites, one of the largest such directories.

But you'll have to take some of it with a grain of salt. More on that shortly.

The lively, well-organized homepage starts with founder Jeff White's recommendations, including software reviews, blogging tips and a free e-mail service. But the heart of the site is the directory of links in 24 categories -- from Apologetics to Chat Rooms to News to Software.

You can look up churches nationwide. You can learn Christian answers to questions from atheists, Muslims and others. You can see who is into paintings or films, dance or drama. It's a mountain of information, but the directory helps in several ways.

Each site is rated by users on a 10-point scale, and there-s a separate list of the top-rated ones. There's also a list of "Cool Links," the top 1 percent. Finally, you can use a search window.

Some of the sites, in fact, are better than White’s own essays. A recent article notes, disapprovingly, Coca-Cola’s plan to include the crescent and star on products for sale in Muslim countries during Ramadan. Then White rants that Coke is "targeting the terrorist market." Not a great show of Christian love or discernment, Jeff.

Another question mark: "Holy Land oil lamps" for sale. White says these old-looking lamps date from 200 B.C. to 100 A.D. He doesn’t say how he knows that, or why he would sell such artifacts for $69 each.

Christian Web site also has a large forum of message boards, with themes like movies, music, sports and politics. You have to register to write comments, but it's free.

Reel spirituality

Yes, they can be embarrassingly sappy. Yes, the music can sound terribly trite.

But c'mon, admit it. Those many videos interviewing God or dreaming of footprints in sand -- now and then, one of them gets to you.

Good. You've faced up to it. Now you can freely sample InspiringThots.

Site creator Kwek Sing Cher of Singapore has compiled more than 200 of these Flash-powered movies -- complete with Hallmark-style verse, rambling music, acres of flowers and miles of mountains, waterfalls and sunsets.

Want to cheer a friend? Try Touch My Heart. Encouragement? There's I Prayed For You Today. Need to get your man to hear you? Please Listen may say what you want.

And yes, some jewels stand out. What a Pretty Planet has stunning photos of Earth from space, and a gentle appeal to protect it for our children. Kwek even contributes his own bits of wisdom, as in the Born Resilient movie.

There are some historical classics here, too. Advice like the Desiderata and Mother Teresa's The Final Analysis. Also the prayer of St. Francis, and Reinhold Niebuhr's Serenity Prayer.

Kwek helpfully sorts the movies by category as well as title, plus which are most popular or most recent. But the videos are grouped into only seven topics. We need more.

But feel free to wander through the piles of Love to Live and God's Fragrant Rose and It is True, I'm So Blessed. No worries. It's our little secret.

Gods and monsters

Dragons, deities, fabled lands: Encyclopedia Mythica has 7,000 articles about 'em -- enough to hook you for hours.

And the pantheon goes far beyond the usual Jupiter and Odin. A little browsing will take you to Huwe of the African Bushmen, the Spider Woman of the Navaho, and the Chinese Yellow Emperor -- said to have formed spontaneously at the dawn of time.

Then there are the beasts: the giant, condor-like Roc from the Arab world, the chimeric Yali of India, Behemoth and Leviathan from the Bible, the Kraken from Norway, even Sasquatch from North America.

A long article on dragons duly notes differences between European and Asian breeds. Another points out that Indra, a Persian demon, is different from the Vedic god of the same name.

As in other encyclopedias, context can be spotty. The article on Excalibur cites five ponds as the possible resting place of Arthur's famed sword. But the piece about Atlantis gives only one of the 20 or so candidates for the legendary kingdom.

Also spotty are the 276 images in the picture gallery. Most are Greek or Roman. Hindus, Aztecs, Norse and Mayas each have less than a dozen. And most of the pictures are disappointingly small.

But the encyclopedia has handy tools. One lets you grow or shrink the text. And once you're deep in the site, a separate frame shows the subdirectory you came from. So you can do keyword searches, then return without hitting the back arrow a lot.

Free is good

Is your church short on cash? (What church isn't?) Consider
Free Pews, an online clearinghouse for church furniture and other equipment.

Each month, churches in several states give away stuff to anyone who can cart it away. And not just pews: It may also be chairs, pulpits, altars, light fixtures, communion tables, even pianos.

The Virginia-based Gabriel Ministries and Church Services lets donors post free ads with contact information. Interested people then call or write the churches to arrange pickup.

Another valuable service: scam warnings, and suggestions on how to recognize a scam. There's also a tipsheet on how to verify that a church is legitimate.

If your church is a little better off, Gabriel runs another site called Used Church Furniture. The company provides the ad space, but you deal directly with the seller. It's another free service, although Gabriel does ask for a donation to cover its costs. The Web site also has ads.

Gabriel's apparent motive for all this, aside from altruism, is to present a good image. Smart move. After all, if you want to buy new, you may think of them first.

Jesus' hometown: A new vision

The storied hamlet of Jesus' youth comes alive at Nazareth Village, an archaeological reconstruction a mere 500 meters from the present-day city in northern Israel. Based on the research of more than a dozen scholars, the exhibit provides a setting for Jesus' life and teachings.

Four rooms take a visitor back in time, through the Ottoman period into the Roman epoch. That gives way to a "Parable Walk," with a small farm, a winepress, a loom, quarries and other first century trades.

The online photos are interesting, showing skills like weaving and olive harvesting. Also check out the construction shots -- with details like the channeling of rainwater from roofs into cisterns.

There's also a thought-provoking essay on the symbolism of bread in its 253 biblical references. Looks like it's from an abandoned e-zine, though; the article is from 2006.

The Web site server isn't very fast; if a page has a lot of pictures, you'll have to wait several seconds for it to load. More annoying: When you hit a back button, you don't return to the previous page -- you go back to the one before that.

Clear goal of the village is peace through understanding. It's a message embedded in the emblem: an oil lamp over "Nazareth Village" in English, Hebrew and Arabic.