“There is not a hint of extremism promoted in our scriptures, rather it promotes extreme levels of love, kindness and mercy and love for all and hatred for none.”
Source/Credit: Cape Breton Post
By David Jala | November 24, 2015
SYDNEY — It’s not every day a reverend, a rabbi and an imam get together in a church basement to discuss the extreme elements within their religions.
But that’s what happened Tuesday when more than 100 people gathered at the United Heritage Church Hall in Sydney for a conference called Scriptures and Extremism.
The two-hour conference was moderated by "CBC Mainstreet" host Wendy Bergfeldt and featured Rev. Rosemary Godin of the United Church of Canada, Rabbi David Ellis of the Atlantic Jewish Council, and Imam Umran Bhatti of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community’s Sydney chapter.
Each of the three local leaders spoke of historical misinterpretations within the scriptures of their religions — Christianity (Bible); Judaism (Torah); and Islam (Qur’an) — and how many words and messages have been twisted and manipulated to justify acts of violence.
“Islam means peace and extremist ideology is not compatible to peace — all the violent actions of ISIS are against the teachings of Islam,” said Bhatti, 28, who was born in Pakistan and educated in Toronto.
“There is not a hint of extremism promoted in our scriptures, rather it promotes extreme levels of love, kindness and mercy and love for all and hatred for none.”
Godin, who is a minister at the unique United Heritage Church, formerly the United Baptist Church that serves three United Church congregations in addition to its original Baptist parishioners, said that when reading the Bible, Christians must guard against interpreting what they read in a literal sense.
"Christian scripture is, and always has been, open to wide interpretation. Unfortunately, if you take the scripture literally you've missed the point and driven right off the road,” said Godin.
Ellis, who serves as the Atlantic Jewish Council's regional chaplain, said Jewish people also struggle with parts of the Torah and have historically imposed conditions on certain messages in their laws and scriptures to make them more compatible.
“I’m glad we getting some education on this — I think it is time in Nova Scotia that the teachings of world religions are taught in our schools,” said Ellis.
Indeed, the message that information leads to knowledge, which in turn leads to better understanding, seemed to be embraced by the audience.
“There are a lot of generalizations that go on that are just not accurate,” said Rev. Robert Coleman, a permanent deacon the Diocese of Antigonish who is attached to St. Marguerite Bourgeoys Parish in Sydney.
“We must begin the process of better understanding each other if we want to live in a world of peace.”
Rev. Hazel Morris of St. Ann’s Bay United Church travelled from Englishtown to take in the forum, which she said was very informative.
“Given everything that is going on in the world now, it’s very important that we learn from each other," she said.
The conference was organized by the local chapter of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, which claims more than 20 million people and has one of the most active missionary programs in the world.
david.jala@cbpost.com
Read original post here: Australia: Sydney conference discusses religious extremism
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