By Brooke Ward
The Northern View
Sep 05 2007
This Saturday, September 8 the Lester Centre of the Arts will play host to an interfaith dialogue focused on family values, featuring renowned speakers from a variety of faiths including several local community leaders.
The event is sponsored by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, a community whose objective is to educate the world about Islam and it’s prophet Mohammed, and promote understanding between people of different religions, to “bring harmoney among the people of the world by bringing them closer to God.”
“We affirm the value of interfaith interaction, education ourselves regarding our faiths and philosophical traditions,” reads a statement on their website.
“The interfaith concept is a unifying vehicle, which can aid us in bringing the reformation of the world nearer to reality.”
Mayor Dave MacDonald of Port Edward will be presiding chair and moderator of the four hour session which begins at three p.m. with an opportunity for socializing and light refreshments. Each of the dignitaries will offer their perspective on the issue of family values and this will be followed by a question session with the speakers.
Several of the speakers come from right within Prince Rupert with such well-respected leaders as elder Leonard Alexcee, offering the Aboriginal perspective and Balbir Singh (Bill Parmar) of the Prince Rupert Sikh Missionary and Society. The Christian perspective will also be provided by local Lutheran pastor Jim Whaley. Out of town guests include Mr. Michael Barkusky of Vancouver with the Jewish perspective, Mr. John R. DeGrace, director of the Buddhist Society of Northern British Columbia, located in Prince George, and Mr. Naseem Mahdi, a past recipient of the Governor General’s award for community service with the Islamic perspective.
A similar conference on the topic of human rights and religion will be held in Terrace on Sunday at the R.E.M. Lee Theatre between three and seven p.m. and a discussion around the war against religion will be taking place in Prince George next week. Admission on all occasions is free.