Londoner taps Hawaiian
precepts to ease
religious strife

Using Hawaiian cultural traditions to solve problems relating to religion in England might seem like a stretch, but a former Hawaii resident says she is confident it will work.

The London-based Lokahi Foundation is just getting off the ground, recruiting people and raising money. But founder and director Gwen Griffith-Dickson said the organization already has its first project and that the initial response has been favorable.

The foundation is a research institute that brings together philosophy and theology, she said, but with more outreach than most think tanks. It is a place for dealing with the problems of religion and society, religion and politics, religion and law, and religion and finance.

"We look at issues that many religions are trying to deal with," she said. "We're willing to take on issues that others want to avoid."

The independent not-for-profit foundation uses the Hawaiian concepts of lokahi, meaning unity or coming together, and hooponopono, or talking out problems to reach a just solution.

"We want people to discuss their differences rather than fight it out on TV," said Griffith-Dickson, who was born and raised in Hawaii. "It's a unity of faiths, cultures and the players, and bringing them together."

A lot of faith communities are open to exchange of ideas but do not have a place a talk about their differences, she said.

There was nothing casual in selecting the foundation name, she said, and it carries no "baggage" as might a Jewish or Muslim name.

"We want to bring the Hawaiian influence and have an impact," she said.

The idea is not to "homogenize" various cultures and religions, but to work with the diversity, which she said is "intrinsically desirable."

Griffith-Dickson notes the historic and cultural ties between Britain and Hawaii. A British sea captain, James Cook, was the first Western explorer to reach the Hawaiian islands, and Hawaiian royalty was always well received in Britain, she said.

Hawaiians and Britons have a similar sense of humor, she said.

"Hawaiians have a capacity for irony; they tell a story to get their point across and don't hit people on the head with it," she said. "That works well in Britain."

And like Hawaii, Britain is very multicultural, said Griffith-Dickson, who has lived in England since the early 1980s. She has family in Hawaii and keeps in touch with the native culture.

She hopes the foundation will grow and partner with organizations in Europe and the United States. "I believe Britain can be a beacon for other parts of Europe," she said.

Even though the foundation has not formally opened its doors, it already has had an assignment: a request from the British government to look at the relationship between the FBI and the Muslim community in California, comparing British and American styles, Griffith-Dickson said.