"But we expect as time passes on and people understand the concept of this World Religions Conference and the purpose of the World Religions Conference, we will have more people coming and listening to speakers"
Source/Credit: Grande Prairie Daily Herald-Tribune
By By Alexa Huffman | September 10, 2015
Third annual event set for Grande Prairie Regional College on Saturday
Grande Prairians will have a chance to examine different faiths at the third-annual World Religions Conference on Saturday.
From 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at at Grande Prairie Regional College (GPRC) in Room C224, a panel representing Islam, First Nation spirituality and Christianity will discuss forgiveness, punishment and justice.
“The point is that Canada is a multicultural society and not only multicultural, I would say it’s a multifaith society,” said Sultan Mahmood, spokesperson for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Calgary and one of the organizers for the World Religions Conference.
“We learn from each other and see what are the commonalities. Once we understand each other, I think we can have a very cohesive and very harmonious society in Canada.”
Hosted by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, this year’s speakers are Salman Khalid who will speak about Islam, Margaret Kappo for First Nation spirituality, and Gord Waldie for Christianity. Duff Crerar, from GPRC, will be the moderator. The conference is also being held in Yellowknife and other communities in Alberta.
“The speakers will have the opportunity to present their point of view about the topic,” said Mahmood. “Then, when all the presenters have given their perspective, the audience will have an opportunity to ask questions related to the topic.”
Mahmood said typically, around 80-100 people will show up to the conference.
“But we expect as time passes on and people understand the concept of this World Religions Conference and the purpose of the World Religions Conference, we will have more people coming and listening to speakers,” said Mahmood.
“This program is not purely religious. We do invite atheists as well and maybe some other faith groups.”
According to Mahmood, forgiveness, punishment and justice was chosen as this year’s theme because of its relation to current events, such as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada report. Released in June, the report examined how to address the effects of Indian residential schools.
“We thought that this might be a good idea to talk about it,” said Mahmood.
“We should see that yes there is some truth and some bad experiences, but at the end of the day, everyone has to move on. Of course, try to undo whatever is possible to undo, but there’s certain things you just can’t undo, they are done.”
The World Religions Conference is free of charge. The doors open at 11 a.m.
alexa.huffman@sunmedia.ca
Twitter: @DHTAlexa
Read original post here: Canada: World Religions Conference returns to Grande Prairie
This content-post is archived for backup and to keep archived records of any news Islam Ahmadiyya. The views expressed by the author and source of this news archive do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of Ahmadiyya Times. Ahmadiyya Times is not an organ of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, nor in any way associated with any of the community's official websites.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for your comments. Any comments irrelevant to the post's subject matter, containing abuses, and/or vulgar language will not be approved.