*1.2. Worship? Ritual? Prayer?*

In addition to the question of the adjective (interfaith, interreligious, etc.) that identifies the multifaith composition of these gatherings, *what* it is that we are doing is also riven with controversy. "Worship" as a collective ritual event is viewed by many as more of a Christian term. This is not to say that those who are not Christian do not worship. "Worship," can be found in many of the world's religions but it is defined and expressed in different ways. Christians use it in reference to worshiping a triune God (Father/God, Son/Jesus, Holy Spirit). If an interfaith event has *worship* in the title, for non-Christians, the term can imply that the ritual event will have an underlying assumption of a divine being who is worshipped. For some outside Christianity, using the term interfaith *worship* might also imply that the ritual occasion was primarily designed/organized by Christians, which conveys an assumption about the power dynamics present in the planning and outcome of the interfaith event.

The word "ritual" is likewise controversial. For some, it is a comfortable term that refers to spiritual practices (personal and collective) that are life-giving and form the rhythms of our lives—daily, weekly, and yearly. It might be daily prayers and devotions, the weekly times we gather as communities of faith (though not all religions gather weekly), the yearly feasts, festivals, seasons, and holy days that are celebrated. It might be the rituals that we call rites of passage that take place throughout one's lifetime. "Ritual studies" is a term used in anthropology denoting cultural rituals that may or may not have religious foundations, so the term also has secular meanings as well. For some people, the term "ritual" is defined as repetitious—saying the same words in the same order week after week (which has positive connotations for some and negative ones for others). However, the very nature of ritual can also be problematic for events specifically created for a diverse group of people at a particular time and place because ritual "is a set pattern of behavior which people receive rather than create. More than any other structured cultural behavior, rituality is traditional and resists change" (Moyaert 2015).

The term "prayer" is used in a wide variety of religious contexts. The weekly gathering of Jews and Muslims would more likely be called "prayer", rather than "worship". Prayer is a corporate occasion as well as a personal, individual practice. "Prayer" also denotes physical movements and postures for many of the world's religions. "Prayer vigil" may be the term used when persons come together to protest an injustice committed against an individual or group of people, to lament or grieve unnecessary death. Despite this, in the Western world, "prayer" often implies an entity that we are praying to who is usually greater than/beyond ourselves, a deity. Yet not all religions are theist.

"Prayer" is a practice within Buddhism and Jainism but it is not addressed to a divine being since there is no external creator "god" within these religious traditions. Enlightened beings are not considered divine. Prayer is also not about petition or supplication—asking God or enlightened ones for something for ourselves or for others. Instead prayer is about the transformation of our inward self and outward acts that bring us closer to enlightenment as we learn from and model our lives on those who have already attained enlightenment. Meditation is a form of prayer, a process of mental purification, of cleansing the mind from attachments and desires to focus on compassion and loving-kindness. While in the Western world there is often this underlying assumption of theism in connection with the word "prayer," there is also a wide diversity of purposes for these prayers. "There is a difference between praying to a God who sees and hears, recognizes and stands over against you, and intentionally 'oneing' yourself with an infinite being with which you are already identified at your deepest level and into which you wish to be absorbed" (Ryan 2008). Therefore, any generic use of the word "prayer" (as in interfaith *prayer*) for these ritual occasions can be problematic, especially if the planners believe that "we all pray to the same God" as a way to highlight our similarities and create unity. It excludes those from non-theist religious traditions. Still, interreligious and interfaith scholar, Sheryl Kujawa-Holbrook, argues for the use of the term "prayer" rather than "worship" because "'prayer' translates more readily across traditions than the term 'worship' (Kujawa-Holbrook 2019)".

While the term "prayer" is certainly problematic, it is a term more widely used among the world's religions. The commonality of its usage and the multiplicity of its meanings and practices across traditions may make it more acceptable to people from drastically different religions (i.e., theist, monotheist, polytheist, pantheist, non-theist). Many religions have different postures for prayer (i.e., sitting, kneeling, standing, dancing, spinning/twirling, lying prostrate), movements that accompany prayer (i.e., the movements in the Salat prayers of Islam, crossing oneself in some forms of Christianity, bowing one's head, rocking movements in some forms of Judaism as well as in the Tong Sung Kido prayers of Korean Protestant Christians, twirling/spinning in the Sufi whirling dervishes or in some Traditional African religions), objects that focus the mind when praying (i.e., statues of the Hindu gods and goddesses, the prayer beads and prayer wheels in Buddhism, the rosary beads in Catholicism, the materials used for the Kolam prayer designs in Hinduism, the cross found in most Christian churches), ways prayers are expressed (i.e., singing, chanted, spoken, offered in silence), and purposes of prayer (i.e., adoration, thanksgiving, petition, blessing, to seek help/guidance, to transform the self, to meditate on those who are the human holy ones past and present, to offer honor to the divine or enlightened ones, to repent or turn toward the path of holiness or enlightenment). For the purpose of this article, I will use the term "prayer" because of its common usage and multivalent nature. People can bring to and take from the interfaith prayer event something that connects to their understanding(s) of "prayer" rooted in their tradition IF the gathering is designed in a way that is open to this diversity of prayer practices, postures, purposes, movements, expressions, and meanings in order for the people gathered to be able to participate.

Whatever term is chosen ("worship," or "ritual," or "prayer," or some other term to convey the purpose of an interfaith event), it is important to consider how the term chosen is reflective of those religious traditions represented in the organizers, invited participants/guests, and the intent of the gathering/event. The term may be different from one occasion to another as the planners, participants, and purposes change.

#### *1.3. Service? Event? Celebration? Vigil? Ceremony? Occasion? Gathering?*

Some who organize these interfaith observances also use an additional term to denote what will take place. The word "service" has many different uses in the English language and while it is used by most Protestant Christians (i.e., "worship service," or even simply "the service"), it is confusing to non-native-English-speaking Christians as well as those from other religious traditions. These are often events, celebrations, sometimes vigils (as in "keeping watch"—to keep in the forefront so injustices do not happen again). "Ceremony" implies something more formal which may be very appropriate. The term "occasion" implies that the event is not repeated on a regular basis but happens occasionally. The term "gathering" denotes that people are coming from diverse places, even perspectives, to join together as a community. I believe that gathering is at the heart of interfaith prayer.

#### **2. Interfaith Prayer Gatherings**

#### *2.1. Introduction: Interreligious Comfort Zones*

There are a variety of expressions of interfaith prayer gatherings. Some preserve the boundaries of religious beliefs, sacred texts, and practices while others intentionally blur those boundaries. Some adherents to various religions are deeply attracted to interfaith prayer gatherings and others are absolutely appalled by the fact that they exist. Where one places oneself on the interfaith prayer comfort zone spectrum often depends on one's beliefs about other religions. While Christianity and Islam are considered to be more exclusive in nature (their religion is the *only* way) compared to the dharmic traditions (Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism) which are more inclusive of other religions, there exists within most of the world's religions those who are more open and those who are more orthodox in their beliefs. Today, there are also persons who have multiple religious belongings. Additionally, among the grassroots population in parts of Asia, some people participate in religious rituals of different religious traditions depending on whether the ritual brings about the desired result, not based on the religion's belief system (Farwell 2015), so one's choice to participate includes many factors.

Paul Knitter, in his book *Introducing Theologies of Religions* poses four models of ways people view religions other than their own: "replacement," "fulfillment," "mutuality," and "acceptance" (Kittner 2002). Though written from a Christian (Roman Catholic) perspective, these models are helpful for understanding people's comfort zones in participating in interfaith prayer gatherings. For those adherents of a more exclusive religious tradition, the "replacement" model affirms that their religion is the only true religion, which will eventually supplant the "lesser" religions of the world. The "fulfillment" model recognizes the possibility of grace, even truth, in other religions though not on par with one's own religion. These first two models "so stress the particularity of one religion that the validity of all the others is jeopardized" (Kittner 2002, p. 173). The "mutuality" model values the worth and truth that lies within all religious traditions and does not try to rank them as more or less inferior to one's own. This model can so "stress the universal validity of all in a way that fogs over the real particular differences" (ibid.). The "acceptance" model accepts "the real diversity of all faiths. The religious traditions of the world are really different, and we have to *accept* those differences . . . " (ibid.).

What one believes along this spectrum impacts one's willingness to participate in interfaith prayer. While more attention needs to be given to familial interfaith prayer occasions given the increase in interfaith marriages, for the purpose of this article, I will focus on the models for corporate/communal events (which are often adapted for familial occasions). There are three basic models of corporate interfaith prayer gatherings that are most common today: (1) guest/host; (2) serial interfaith occasions, multireligious/multireligious prayer; and (3) inter-riting, united interreligious prayer, interreligious prayer, integrative religious prayer. While these will be discussed in their "pure" form, there is always the possibility that more than one form may be present in any gathering. The Lantern Floating Hawaii event is used as an example because it contains all three of these models.
