By Sheldon Spackman

Coming Together

World Religions Conference promoting interfaith peace and harmony

Oct 9, 2019 | 3:00 PM

Central Albertans are invited to broaden their knowledge and widen their perspectives at the 14th Annual World Religions Conference in Red Deer this month.

Described as an event promoting interfaith peace and harmony, the World Religions Conference will take place Oct. 24 from 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. at the Red Deer College Arts Centre Main Stage.

Event coordinator Basheer Islam hopes the conference initiates dialogue within the community.

“It provides a platform where people of different faiths, philosophies and theologies can come together and discuss a topic of mutual interest,” he explains. “In this age, religion is mostly associated with hatred and chaos, with a lot of the conflicts going on around the world and nobody ever sits together and looks at the overall impact of all of these people of faith have had in establishing lasting peace in society. We see there are a lot of commonalities in various philosophies and those commonalities are shared at these events.”

Islam hopes people see that religion can be a source for peace and mutual respect, instead of conflict and hatred.

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“I personally feel that this event provides a platform where people can come and listen from the scholars from various faiths and they can directly ask them questions, and even ask them some of the tough questions that people have difficulty asking,” says Islam. “I believe this is a platform where scholars or practitioners of faith can come and help remove the misconceptions and stereotypes about their faith, philosophies and ethnicities.”

Islam hopes those who attend will share their experiences.

“I have been approached by students at universities and they come and they share that most of the time, they fear when people of various faiths come together,” admits Islam. “But for them to see that a peaceful exchange of dialogue takes place at these events, it helps them remove misconceptions and stereotypes about religious groups.”

Islam points-out this year’s topic is Universal Compassion: The Core Human Value.

“We know in all theologies and philosophies that the love of Creator, must permeate into the service of his creation,” he explains. “We see this theme dominant in all faiths and philosophies. There’s no religion that does not promote compassion among their followers and we believe that this compassion is probably needed now more than ever.”

Islam says the World Religions Conference is essentially organized to highlight the spirit of humanity and how people of different faiths and philosophy can successfully live in peace while exchanging their vision for a better world in Canada.

“I think this is a conference where the Canadian values are highlighted,” he exclaims. “This is a platform where other countries can learn how humanity can peacefully co-exist and flourish.”

The 14th Annual World Religions Conference in Red Deer is a free event and open to the public. Attendees are encouraged to bring a non-perishable food item to the Student’s Association of RDC Food Bank.