"We want to showcase that the practitioners of different faiths can sit together in the same building, under the same roof, at the same table and have a meaningful peaceful exchange of ideas."
Source/Credit: Grande Prairie Daily Herald-Tribune
By Alexa Huffman | September 11, 2014
Grande Prairie will soon play host to its second World Religions Conference.
The event is scheduled for Saturday at Grande Prairie Regional College (GPRC).
Organized by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at community in Canada, the conference is an interfaith discussion by representatives of Christian, Islam and First Nations spirituality.
“These conferences provide a platform where we exhibit interfaith harmony. We remove fear, we remove stereotypes and we empower people,” said Basheer Islam, the organizer for World Religions Conference in Grande Prairie.
This year’s topic is World Peace and Religion: Is Religion a Source of Conflict or Peace.
Islam says the topic was chosen after a discussion with the moderator, Duff Crerar, a retired history professor who used to teach at GPRC.
Feedback from the audience at the previous conference in Grande Prairie in 2011 and current events were also used to create the topic.
“If you look at the spectrum of world conflict, you will have people fighting in the name of religion, you will have people fighting in the name of independence. There’s a lot of chaos going on,” said Islam.
ISIS in Iraq and Syria and the Ukraine conflict are two examples that Islam says will be discussed at the conference.
“How does religion provide a solution to these conflicts when religion can be the source of conflict itself? A lot of times people will come and present their points of view but in my experience with similar conferences, it’s the misuse of religion that causes problems.” said Islam.
The three speakers on the panel who will be presenting their point of view on the topic based on their respective religions will be Umair Khan, Darlene Cardinal and Alan Jones.
Khan, a Maulana or respected Muslim religious leader is representing Islam. He is a graduate of Jamia Ahmadiyya (Islamic University) in Toronto, has served communities in Sierra Leone and is currently a missionary in Calgary.
First Nations elder Darlene Cardinal, who is representing First Nations spirituality, is a teacher, counsellor, volunteer, consultant and advocate for the Aboriginal Community in Grande Prairie.
Alan Jones will be the representative for Christianity. He is currently senior minister for the Grande Prairie Church of Christ and is a graduate from Emmanuel School of Religion and the Asbury Theological Seminary.
“We want to showcase that the practitioners of different faiths can sit together in the same building, under the same roof, at the same table and have a meaningful peaceful exchange of ideas,” said Islam.
“Somehow they’ll help people understand what’s going on in the world today.”
Islam hopes the event will attract students from GPRC and other educational institutions, scholars and other members of the community as it did during the first conference.
“The first conference was packed. It must have been close to a 100 people. We had to bring in extra chairs. All segments of society, there were people of faith, there were people who have no faith, people believing in God, people not believing in God,” said Islam.
The audience will be allowed to ask the speakers questions during the conference and refreshments will also be available. The program takes place at GPRC in Room C224. Doors open at 12:30 p.m. and the conference goes from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
alexa.huffman@sunmedia.ca
Read original post here: Conference set for weekend
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