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| File Photo: World Religions Conference - 2010 |
Source/Credit: Airdrie City View
By Stacie Snow | Apr 13, 2011
About 100 people attended the fifth annual World Religions Conference Airdrie at the Town and Country Centre, April 7.
The conference, designed to promote tolerance and education among religions, was presented by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Calgary and included representatives from Islam, Mormonism, Christianity and Judaism and was hosted by Mayor Peter Brown.
“We want to create peace and harmony among religions,” said Nasir Mahmood Butt, representative from the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.
“We are promoting love and affection between members of the community. When we speak on a common topic, we realize how many things we have in common and this event reflects that.”
Mayor Peter Brown was pleased to be a part of the experience.
“We are here to share our faiths in a peaceful and friendly atmosphere,” said Brown.
The members of the panel spoke on the topic, “What does an authentic spiritual community look like?”
Harvey Matchullis, director of new Canadian initiatives for the Alliance churches of Calgary, said community is a fundamental human need.
“The need to belong is something all of us in humanity share no matter what religion, culture or race we are,” he said. “God created us equal and we ought to all value each other as equal. We must live in harmony and peace with each other no matter what we each believe.”
Rabbi Shaul Osadchey, the senior rabbi of Beth Tzedec Congregation in Calgary, said all the religions represented have the same basic belief that “God is one but they have different beliefs on how to get there.”
“There are many different ways to love God, you must be authentic to one’s self,” he said. “If everyone is just and moral and peaceful, we will all end up in the same place.”
A. Robert Anderson, bishop of the Airdrie 3rd Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, said many religions have similar views and they should band together to uphold their beliefs.
“We are all against secularism and it is important that we work together to maintain our shared community values of family, virtue, strong criminal laws and moral and social justice,” he said.
Members of the panel also fielded questions from the audience. The questions included: If there is only one God, why are there so many religions? What did the community look like in the time of Jesus, Moses and Mohamed? If the only pathway to heaven is Jesus Christ, do people that don’t believe in Jesus go to hell? Is God a human being? What is sin and what is the remedy? What is the best way to deal with religious intolerance?
“Religious leaders should show tolerance and acceptance and their believers should follow,” said Butt in response to the last question.
Anderson said one of the fundamental aspects of Christianity is to respect the right to choose.
“If we ‘love thy neighbour’ and respects other’s rights, there would be no intolerance,” he said.
Osadchey said events like the religious conference, which increase education, are the way to decrease intolerance.
“Increased education and communication between religions such as interfaith networks allow us to get to know each other as human beings and that leads to respect and understanding,” he said.
Matchullis agreed.
“We must treat each other first as human beings and second as people with labels such as religions,” he said.
Read original post here: Religious conference in Airdrie promotes tolerance, education
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