Loading ...... Spiritual leaders and members representing the Zoroastrian, Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh, Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Bahai faiths each will give a short presentation on the theme "True Religion Unites: Drawing a Circle Big Enough for All of Us." ...
Last year’s celebration of World Religion Day in Poway was so successful, event organizers decided to form a Poway Interfaith Council on the spot to bring more interdenominational activities to the community.
“We just stood around afterwards and said we ought to bring more wonderful events like this is to our community,” said the Rev. Abigail Albert of the Family Spiritual Center in Poway, who is one of this year’s organizers. One of those activities was Summer Nights, in which representatives of various faiths discussed their beliefs on Wednesday evenings during the summer.
Another is this year’s World Religion Day, which will be from 2-5 p.m. Jan. 21 at the Poway Community Center, co-sponsored by the Bahais of Poway.
“I have contacted the people who attended the Summer Nights program, and unanimously they said they were happy I contacted them about World Religion Day,” said Diedre Merrill, chairman of the Bahai spiritual assembly in Poway. “They were very enthusiastic about it.”
Spiritual leaders and members representing the Zoroastrian, Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh, Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Bahai faiths each will give a short presentation on the theme “True Religion Unites: Drawing a Circle Big Enough for All of Us.”
“We want to educate people that we are much more alike and have more in common than anything else,” said Albert. “This is the way we will dispel fear, because it is fear that keeps us apart so much of the time.”
At this year’s event, besides the opening ceremony in which children of different faiths present each faith’s holy book, the Interfaith Children’s Choir will sing “We Are the Waves of One Sea,” and Interfaith Youth Performers will perform “One World.”
“We always start with a procession of the religions,” said Merrill. “Children come in carrying their holy books, and little girls spread flowers. It sets the scene of the oneness of mankind and oneness of religion. There is one religion, and it is progressively revealed in each of the world’s holy books. They are all essential chapters in one book, in God’s religion.”
The program, said organizers, is designed to delight and inspire a culturally diverse audience.
“There is a hospitality time afterwards with time to talk and eat. It is just delightful to really feel like you are a community in the world,” said Albert.
Founded in 1950 by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahai Faith in the United States, organizers say the purpose of celebrating World Religion Day is to foster understanding and harmony by emphasizing the common denominators underlying all religions.
“Religion is such a source of disunity these days,” said Merrill. “That is why an event like this is so wonderful.”
Loading ...
