Friday, April 20, 2012

Multi-Faith Event on Youtube

The Multi-faith Event: How Good Must I Be? has been put on youtube. It has been uploaded in six clips.
Introduction
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G6wgWNfPEU



Question 1: What constitutes wrongdoing?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhQAewNabdk

Question 2: What are the consequences of our choices?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhQAewNabdk

Question 3: How good must we be?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aft7ZWxKPDg



Discussion: How do you deal with guilt? Clip 5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoFoGWsXg7c&feature=youtu.be

Discussion on forgiveness and conclusion. Clip 6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0s5FPb_G09c&feature=relmfu



Thank you to Mary and Lance Clark for videotaping the event and to Maria Kirkland for taking pictures.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Interfaith Forum "Love Thy Neighbor"


Tuesday evening I moderated an Interfaith Forum at Taylor University. This was the first interfaith forum held at the university and it was the first time I have moderated an event away from Canterbury School. Taylor University http://www.taylor.edu/ is a Christian university located in Upland, Indiana. I have come to know several of the students from the university because of the multi-faith work I am doing in Fort Wayne. Many Taylor University students desire to learn how to live out their faith in a pluralistic world.

The Interfaith Forum was entitled Love Thy Neighbor. There were four faiths represented on the panel, Evangelical Christianity, Hindu, Islam, and Judaism. From my perspective, the evening was a wonderful success. It was evident the presenters were committed to dialogue. They were honest in portraying their own beliefs and they spoke from the heart. We realized that we do not have a common theology but we do have a common ethic. That common ethic is what makes us a community.

The presenters addressed three questions.
  1. From the perspective of your faith and scriptures, respond to the statement "love thy neighbor."
  2. Give a story from your scriptures that demonstrates love.
  3. How has your faith helped you love someone (even when it was difficult)?
Through the dialogue we discovered that love is transformational, unselfish, goes beyond what is expected, and it is mercy demonstrated. All faiths agreed that it is the fear within that hinders loving thy neighbor. It was a wonderful evening; we learned about other faiths and we were challenged to love our neighbors.

Thank you Taylor University for allowing me to be involved in this important work.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Speakers at "A Multi-Faith Event: How Good Must I Be?"


Speakers
A Multi-Faith Event: How Good Must I Be? The Consequences of My Choices
Kent Eilers, PhD. Assistant Professor of Theology, Huntington University
Mohammed Saad Ghazali, MD, Pediatric Cardiology Associates, P.C.
Ramona Fisher, Canterbury School, Moderator
Rabbi Javier E. Cattapan, Congregation Achduth Vesholom
Preeti Dembla MD, Internal Medicine
William Smits, MD, The Asthma and Allergy Center 

Friday, April 13, 2012

An Evening of Dialouge


The Multi-Faith Event: How Good Must I Be? was an evening of dialogue which illuminated the common ethic among the five religion represented at the event. The five religions were: Bahai, Evangelical Chirstian, Hindu, Islam and Judaism. Below are the opening remarks for the event.

The Multi-Faith Events at Canterbury School were started as a result of the Haven Interfaith Parent (HIP) mission statement. The HIP mission statement can be found in your program and it states, The Haven Interfaith Parents support the mission of Canterbury School and encourage an understanding and appreciation of all beliefs and faiths, with the goal of promoting peace in our community. This event is the fifth event sponsored by HIP.

While at a conference in January of 2011 in New Orleans I told about the interfaith work that I have been doing in Fort Wayne. The suggestion was made to change the way I referred to the work from ‘interfaith’ to ‘multi-faith’. After the conference I began researching the difference in these two words. In my searching I came across an article written by Rick Love of Peace Catalyst International. His thoughts on the difference of these two words resonated with me. And as of this past January I changed the name of these events to multifaith from interfaith to more accurately represent what we are doing at Canterbury School. Rick Love has three key points:
  • Multi-faith dialogue is based on common ethics and the common good rather than common theology. This has been true of the past events. We have discovered a common ethic among all faiths.
  • Multi-faith dialogue expands the conversation to conservatives. In all faiths the conservative people have been reluctant to enter interfaith dialogues fearing they would have to compromise their beliefs. At these events we want each faith to clearly tell us what they believe without having to compromise.
  • It allows for “theological exclusivism” while promoting “social inclusivism. These events encourage us to be peacemakers even though we theologically disagree.
When I started my interfaith work I asked a group of Canterbury School parents to join me in this new endeavor. As a follower of Jesus my faith is incredibly important to me. Those I asked to be in the group were people I knew were deeply devoted to their faith. At the interest meeting I discussed my hope for this ‘interfaith’ group. My hope was that the members would be willing to discover what we had in common; they would be willing to listen to each other; they would discuss our differences in a civil manner; and they would do the hard work of being peacemakers. Truly, this is not an easy task. This group met for three years. Through the ground rules the group wrote we were able to find the common ground but we were also to dialogue about our differences. Over the three years each person’s faith was deepened and strengthened. And we became friends. We were doing multi-faith dialogue

Understanding the meaning of words is important, like the words interfaith and multi-faith. During the dialogue with my friends from other faiths I discovered the importance of knowing the meaning of words so we could truly understand each other. During a dialogue we often would use the same word, but the meaning for that word was quite different. Sometimes I took the time to clarify exactly what was meant by a word, but quite honestly, many times I did not. When I failed to have a word clearly defined I knew true understanding had not occurred. It takes time and effort to ensure words are understood correctly. It takes time and effort to have a dialogue. It takes time and effort to be a peacemaker.

With the mission to promote peace, it is dialogue not debate or discussion that must occur tonight. I recently heard someone say dialogue is listening to someone as if your life depended on it. In order to survive everything must be remembered. That is intense listening. When I have truly listened to others I find that they are more likely to listen to me. This is the basis of all relationships. For us to understand each other we must be in relationships and we must listen to each other. There is a passage in the Bible that tells me how to dialogue. I Peter 3:15 states, “Always be prepared to give an answer for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” It is in dialogue that we can be honest and with gentleness and respect say what we believe. Being in dialogue says we care about the relationship. These Multi-Faith Events are intentionally designed to be a dialogue because I desire for those in our community to be in relationship with each other. This evening I hope you will listen like your life depended on it; that you will leave here with the desire to be in multi-faith dialogue with those in our community and that you will become a peacemaker.

The topic for this event is "How Good Must I Be? The Consequences of My Choices." This topic was chosen as another way for us to learn about each other. After listening to each other we may find that we do not have a common theology but I am convinced that we will find there is a common ethic among all of us.