Source/Credit: The Hamilton Spectator | The Spec
By Jon Wells | October 30, 2011
A Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Hindu, Native, Buddhist, and an atheist walk into a room.
The punch line? There was none — and no punching, for that matter, or arguing, at least in the first half of the event, but rather a peaceful discussion of God and different approaches to religion.
As speakers from each religion rose to offer prayers in their own faith — and language — an audience numbering perhaps 200 listened quietly.
“The silence speaks for itself,” said the moderator, Reverend Sheldon Clark. “No tension, just a convergence of the common spirit.”
It was the fifth year the World Religions Conference has been held in Hamilton, although it has been held many times across Canada. Waterloo hosted its 31st conference recently. This year’s event was held at Bishop Ryan Secondary School.
An Islamic organization called Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at organizes the conferences, in this instance with assistance from local volunteer Nadeem Ahmed, who is an accountant living in Stoney Creek.
The organization’s regional president, Muhammad Amir Sheikh, said the idea of the conference is to allow representatives from different faiths to speak openly about their beliefs, in a civilized atmosphere so that everyone attending might discover common ground.
“We’ve learned if you look at the teachings from each faith, 90 to 95 per cent are moral teachings. Five per cent are dogmas. Too often people focus on the dogmas.”
He told the audience his organization “categorically rejects terrorism in any form and supports separation of mosque and state.”
The conference strives to be so open that they even included a panellist from the atheist camp — “secular humanist” Justin Trottier from Toronto.
“I represent a non-faith,” Trottier told the audience, adding that his belief system “transcends parochial loyalties.”
A man named Dan Pope gave the conference a shot but did not last long. He listened to a few speakers and left after about an hour and a half. He felt that the event was designed to promote Islam, or at least blur the differences between Islam and Christianity. It’s not a good idea, he said.
“There is a danger in combining the two, and it won’t work if you believe in the God of the Bible.”
Kirenjit Jaura, a Sikh who lives in Cambridge, was attending her second conference. She said societies need to separate culture from religion, because culture can teach people to hate, and preach inequality of men and women. But religions of the world have common ground.
“The universal message is that we all have one Creator. Events like this allow us to try and move upwards in spirituality as a community.”
Read original post here: Six faiths, many Gods — one peaceful gathering
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