Listening Like Your Life Depended On It

The audience's role in creating a successful Multi-Faith Event: How Good Must I Be?   can not be understated. At the event the audience demonstrated a desire to understand and to learn by listening like their life depended on it.

Below are a few notes I have received since the event:

What a magnificent evening of thoughtful exchange you assembled at Canterbury last week. Congratulations on a really significant accomplishment. I wish I could have attended the  Taylor dialogue too.

This is remarkable work; may you continue to provide our community with this most sacred of sacraments: real, honest, meaningful connection.

Another great event. It is comforting & encouraging to see that the similarities of the different faiths far outweigh the differences. Exposed only to news media most would not realize that. Thanks for another outstanding job as moderator.  As a fellow Christian brother you are clearly a shining example of the love of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Blessings to you.

Our Lord Christ is working through you to help bring peace into this world.  There is no greater work than what you are doing.  I just feel blessed to be a part of it, and I watch in amazement at your accomplishment through His Hand.

The use of lay persons provided a good transition to the normal relationship/dialogue among persons not trained specifically in theology. An evolution from top down to horizontal communication. 

You should know just how impressed I have been with your work on this. You put together a very clearly thought-out and executed event. Your comments leading into the evening last night were stellar and your facilitation of the dialogue was superb; you had a “light touch” (hard to accomplish). Well done Ramona! 

Excellent diversity of faiths. Straight forward presentations of each perspective.

Email from someone who watched the event on youtube:

I've been watching this morning, and I'm just captivated. I will be sure to attend the next event. Your events are like the best of college--the stimulating, fascinating discussion--without the test!

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.

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.

Additional Information at Multi-faith Event

At the Multi-faith Event: How Good Must I Be? The Consequences of My Choices there will be tables in the lobby to learn about the religions represented at the event.   The religions represented are: Baha'i, Evangelical Christian, Hindu, Islam, and Judaism. Attendees of the event can browse the information before or after the event. After the event the speakers will be at the tables to answer questions and discuss their religions.

These organizations will have information tables at the event.

The mission of the Indiana Center for Middle East Peace is to promote critical awareness of issues that impact a just peace in the Middle East and to facilitate intercultural and interfaith awareness both locally and globally.  We host monthly lectures and symposia with local, national, and international speakers, as well as sponsor study and solidarity tours to Israel and Palestine where we meet with Jews, Christians, and Muslims who are working for a non-violent, just peace.

http://www.indianacmep.org/

 

Taylor University Office of Global Engagement - The Office of Global Engagement exists to encourage and facilitate global engagement within the student body, to connect and streamline existing campus organizations working on globally-focused initiatives, and to incorporate a global mindset into the Taylor Student Organization.

IPC - The purpose of the Interfaith Peace Cabinet of Taylor Student Organization is to engage the campus community in loving, peaceful relationships with persons of other faiths, especially in the central Indiana region.  This is accomplished through interfaith dialogue, service, partnership and religious education.

www.taylor.edu

Upcoming event hosted by Office of Global Engagement and IPC

Tuesday, April 17, 2012, 7:00 p.m.

An Interfaith Panel: Love Thy Neighbor

Moderator: Ramona Fisher, Canterbury School

Rediger Chapel/Auditorium

Huntington University: With the conviction that all truth is God’s truth, Huntington University exists to carry out the mission of Christ in higher education. Students are educated in the liberal arts and their chosen academic disciplines, always seeking to examine the relationship between the disciplines and God’s revelation in Jesus Christ. We welcome students of all faiths who are willing to be part of our learning community.

Regionally, Huntington University is a major partner in the Harmony Initiative. The organization is dedicated to implementing the City of Huntington’s mission statement, which recognizes that residents’ “ethnic, economic, and religious diversity provides the strength that holds our community together” and declares Huntington, Indiana to be “a community of civility and inclusion, where diversity is honored and differences are respected.”

www.huntington.edu

Since 1972 Friends of the Third World have been empowering people all over the world to overcome poverty and prime the fair trade markets for the growing demand for economic justice. In addition to job-training for needy people in Fort Wayne, the house of the Friends of the Third World helps sell products made by exceptional enterprising groups in the Third World, including the Bombolulu Workshop for the Handicapped in Mombasa, Kenya, as well as trying to help Nicaraguan Medical Aid. Friends of the Third World continues to work for economic justice through ongoing fair trade development for crafts, coffee, tea and other products made by millions of people escaping the grip of poverty.        

http://friendsofthethirdworld.org/

Questions for Multi-faith Event

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?

The Multi-faith Event: How Good Must I Be? The Consequences of My Choices is Wednesday, April 11^th at 7 p.m. at Canterbury School, 5601 Covington Road, Fort Wayne, IN.

The speakers for the event are:

William Smits, MD, The Asthma and Allergy Center, Baha'i
Kent Eilers, PhD. Assistant Professor of Theology, Huntington University, Evangelical Christian
Preeti Dembla MD, Internal Medicin, Hindu
Mohammed Saad Ghazali, MD, Pediatric Cardiology Associates, P.C, Muslim
Rabbi Javier E. Cattapan, Congregation Achduth Vesholom, Jewish

Hopefully you can attend.

A Multi-faith Event: "How Good Must I Be? The Consequences of My Choices."

The speakers have been finalized for the upcoming Multi-faith Event: "How Good Must I Be? The Consequences of My Choices."  The event will be held at Canterbury Middle School, Fort Wayne, Indiana on Wednesday, April 11th from 7:00-8:30 pm.  The speakers and I will be meeting in the near future to determine the questions which will discussed at the event. Those questions will be posted once they are finalized.

The mission of the Haven Interfaith Parents 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. The speakers at this event will be excellent ambassadors of their faiths and will allow us to learn about other faiths in our community.

The support and encouragement which I have received from Canterbury School and the Fort Wayne community  for the previous events has been amazing and appreciated. This too will be another great event. I hope to see you there.

The speakers are:
William Smits, MD, The Asthma and Allergy Center - Baha'i
Kent Eilers, PhD. Assistant Professor of Theology, Huntington University - Evangelical Christian
Preeti Dembla MD, Internal Medicine - Hindu
Mohammed Saad Ghazali, MD, Pediatric Cardiology Associates, P.C. - Islam
Rabbi Javier E. Cattapan, Congregation Achduth Vesholom - Judaism

Suffering Leads to Understanding

Last night was a powerful experience for me.  Using the topic of suffering as a lens to look at the faiths in our community proved to be a powerful tool of understanding. More so then I could have imagined. We truly did learn much about each other. Each story that we heard was heart breaking but moved us closer to understanding each other.

The purpose of the Interfaith Events is to learn about those in our community who are of different faiths so that we can live at peace together. For truly how can we say we live at peace together if we know very little about each other? In the past I have challenged the speakers and the audience with the words of Martin Marty, a Lutheran theologian, "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 people with convicted civility."  When I met with the speakers several weeks ago we once again discussed convicted civility. I told each speaker to be convicted about what they would be presenting, so that I could learn, so that the audience could learn. But I also asked them to be civil in how they presented their theologies to the audience. The answers the speakers gave to the second question, “Why Must I Suffer?”  highlighted the differences in our theologies. As the speakers spoke we could clearly identify the differences in our faiths. The speakers were civil, kind and convicted in telling us their beliefs.

It was in the answering of the last question, “From the viewpoint of your faith, how should we response to those who are suffering?” that we once again saw the commonalities among our faiths. Each speaker discussed the importance of just being present when someone is suffering. They also talked about the importance of silence.We heard the common things that meet our heartfelt, human need when we are suffering.

After the event someone made the comment to me that even though we have our own beliefs, an event like this reminds us that we are all people. "And just like me," she said, "we all suffer."  Thank you to the speakers who were convicted in their theologies but who were civil in their presentations. They helped us find our similarities and they helped us identify our differences. Thank you to the audience for being humble listeners. You truly demonstrated the desire to learn and to strengthen our community. Thank you for a great evening!
Photographer for Interfaith Event: Why Must I Suffer? Maria Kirkland, Fort Wayne, IN. She may be reached at mkirkland@canterburyschool.org.

Speakers:

Buddhist: Arjia Rinpoche, Protestant: Dr. L. Michael Spath, Islam: Amani Elhefni

Ramona Fisher - Moderator

Judaism: Rabbi Mitchel Kornspan, Hindu: Dr. Prasad Mantravadi, Catholic: Robert Rogers

Why Suffering?

People often ask me how I pick my topics for the Interfaith Events. There is no one set way that I determine the topics. The topic of suffering has been brewing in me for awhile. Over a year ago a friend of mine lost her recent husband to cancer. My friend and her young child were left behind to carry on this life. A life which she was hoping to build with the love of her life. I did not reconnect with my friend until several months after the death of her husband. When we spent time together she had determined that she did not believe in a God who would allow this sort of suffering. She also could not come to terms with how Christians had prayed during her husband's suffering. I am a follower of Jesus so my friend's words challenged me in my own views of suffering and how people of faith communicate their beliefs about suffering. Then over the past year our school community has had unexpected deaths, accidents and illnesses. A community often experiences sadness but what we were experiencing was heartbreaking. The topic of Why We Must Suffer? comes out of my own experience in my own community.

Once I had chosen the topic I knew who spoke at the Interfaith Event was crucial. In my experience, I am not interested in listening  to someone talk about 'suffering' if he/she has not experienced suffering. This is one of those topics where life experience gives a person the right to be heard. Each of the speakers for this Interfaith Event: Why Must I Suffer? have walked through their own fires. For some of them it has been heartbreaking personal tragedy and for others they see suffering daily in their professional life. It is their depth of understanding of suffering that will make this event especially an enlightening evening. Each speaker will be addressing how their suffering has been formed by their faith.

At the end of the evening hopefully we will have learned about the faith communities in Fort Wayne through the lens of suffering.  As the topic of suffering is discussed, hopefully we will also see more deeply that there is hope even in our suffering.

Questions for Interfaith Event: Why Must I Suffer?

Five of the six speakers for the Interfaith Event: Why Must I Suffer? were able to attend a meeting yesterday to discuss the event. The speakers for the event are:

Arjia Rinpoche, Tibetan Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center, Director

Robert Rogers, Mighty in the Land Ministry, Founder

Dr. Prasad Mantravadi, Radiation Oncology Associates, Physician

Amani Elhefni, Universal Education Foundation Islamic School, Principal

Rabbi Mitchell Kornspan, B'nai Jacob Congregation

L. Michael Spath, D.Min., Ph.D.Religious Studies - Department of Philosophy; Peace and Conflict Studies Indiana University Purdue University Fort Wayne; Indiana Center for Middle East Peace

We started the meeting by sharing our own stories, including where suffering has occurred in our lives. This time of sharing about suffering immediately built a bond among the speakers. Suffering crosses all religious lines, for it is a human experience. After we discussed my vision and purpose of the Interfaith Events we determined the questions to be addressed and the time limits for each question.

Question 1) Share with us how you have known or experienced suffering; being either a personal experience or a professional experience.

Question 2) From the viewpoint of your faith, why do bad things happen to good people? Why must we suffer?

Question 3) From the viewpoint of your faith, how should we respond to those who are suffering? What are words of comfort that we can give to those who are suffering?

Questions for the discussion time:What part of your faith helped you during your suffering? How do I get through my suffering?  In religions there is often self-imposed suffering (example: fasting). From the perspective of your religion tell us why this is important for a person's spiritual life? Is it seen as suffering?

We had a wonderful time together. Each person was warm, caring, and has a desire to help others who are suffering. I'm anticipating a great event.