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.

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

Video of "An Interfaith Event: Why Must I Suffer?"

Once again I would like to thank Dr. Prasad Mantravadi, Arjia Rinpoche, Robert Rogers,  Amani Elhefni, Dr. L. Michael Spath, and Rabbi Mitchell Kornspan for speaking at "An Interfaith Event: Why Must I Suffer?. Lance Clark of LC Media in Fort Wayne filmed the event. As I watched the event I appreciated the willingness of the speakers to let us enter into their lives as they shared their stories of suffering. Using the topic of suffering we were able to learn about other faiths in our community. I also appreciated the honest manner in which the speakers spoke in explaining their faiths. Hopefully as you watch the event you will more fully understand your own faith and also be willing to learn about  others.

Shalom! 

The event has been posted to Youtube in six sections.  

Introduction:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chs8MKSbVMY 
 

Sharing of life stories:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-6u3vUAOiE

Answering the question, why must I suffer?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYnIiCzLKJ4 

From the viewpoint of your faith, what words of hope can we give to those who are suffering?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9M7LCLgZE28 

Discussion:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIscIO2Tm1Y&feature=related

Conclusion:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7rB7apX3mo

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.

Hidden Picture

Five years ago when I started my first interfaith parent group I was also moving into a new classroom at school because of a remodeling project at Canterbury School. In my classroom I wanted to have a piece of artwork that would represent the faith communities at our school. Canterbury School is an independent school and the school is founded on Christian principles. Even though the school has been founded on Christian principles we have many different faiths at our school. With the help of my interfaith parent group and Maria Kirkland, an artist and art teacher at Canterbury School, a piece of artwork was created. A picture of the artwork is on the right side of this blog. The artwork has 9 squares. Each square represents a different religion at our school. The artwork is to represent that we are different in our theologies but we are united in our community. There is a hidden picture in the artwork to represent our common community. Throughout all nine squares there is a dove and an olive branch.  It is difficult to see the dove and the branch in a reproduction. It is a beautiful work of art that is a statement for who we are at Canterbury School.

Since the artwork has been in my room I start each school year by having the students look at the artwork, explaining we are a school based on Christian principles but we have many students of different faiths at our school, and we are different. We talk about symbols and we identify and name each of the symbols on the work of art. Finally, there is the wonderful discovery of the hidden picture. My students love the artwork. They love to see ‘their’ symbol and they love the hidden picture.

It is in communities that the true lessons of the hidden picture are discovered. There are nine squares because we do have different theologies. In a community that practices hospitality one-with-another we feel safe to honestly acknowledge our differences. We are not compromising our own beliefs by acknowledging our differences. But we can not stop there. The squares are obvious. It is the hidden picture that we must strive for. Even though we have different theologies we do live in a common community, we have a common ethic and we need each other to work for the common good. My hope is that some day that picture won’t be hidden.