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| Dr. Ghazali intently listening to Dr. Eilers. |
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| Dr. Dembla lighting incense after event. |
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| Program |
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| Meaningful dialogue with HIP member and friends. |
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| Rabbi Cattapan was a kind and warm presenter. |
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| One of the exhibits. |
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| Dr. Smits was an eloquent spokesperson for the Baha'i faith. |
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| Before the event. |
How Good Must I Be? The Consequences of My Choices
Baha'i, Evangelical Christian, Hindu, Islam, Judaism
April 11th, 2012
7-8:30 p.m.
Canterbury Middle School
5601 Covington Road
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Speakers
William Smits, MD, The Asthma and Allergy Center
Kent Eilers, PhD. Assistant Professor of Theology, Huntington University
Preeti Dembla MD, Internal Medicine
Mohammed Saad Ghazali, MD, Pediatric Cardiology Associates, P.C.
Rabbi Javier E. Cattapan, Congregation Achduth Vesholom
Moderator
Ramona Fisher, Canterbury School
Last
week I met with the speakers for the upcoming Multi-faith
Event: How Good Must I Be? The Consequences of My
Choices. The purpose of our meeting was to determine the questions for
the
event. When I meet with the speakers before an event I start the
meeting by discussing Martin Marty’s observation, “People these days who
are civil often lack strong convictions, and people with strong
religious
convictions often are not very civil. What we need is convicted
civility.” My
desire at the Multi-faith Events is that the speakers will honestly and
with
conviction share their beliefs, but with that conviction and honesty is a
tone of civility.
As
we were discussing the question,
How Good Must I Be? we ourselves practiced convicted civility. It
immediately became clear that how a question was asked could possibly
make presuppositions that would be incorrect for the faiths represented
at the event.
As a group we crafted each question in a manner which would allow the
speakers
to honestly portray the beliefs of their faith.
As a group the desire was to move from the theological to a personal
understanding
of the concept.We discussed making
amends, forgiveness, repentance and guilt. Those topics will be
addressed at the event by the speakers after the formal presentations.
It was a wonderful meeting and it
truly represented multi-faith dialogue.
The questions for the event:
According to your faith what constitutes wrong doing?
According to your faith what are the consequences of our choices?
According to your faith how good must I be? How should I live my life?
2 comments:
Actually, Ramona, I would have loved to be in attendance at this prep session ... it sounds as though this good bit of groundwork is a model for future dialogues. I very much look forward to this evening's presentations.
It was a great event. Thank you Ramona for all you do to bring the faith community together.
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