Education

Peace be with you

What exactly does it mean to be faithful in 2006? This year’s annual ‘Interfaith Conference’ aims to find out. The theme of this year’s Interfaith Conference is ‘Faith: Social Responsibility and Peace’.

Joining the dialogue will be people of various religious beliefs, including Ibrahim Khalil, Alper Alasag, Augustin Ayaga, Romeo Wolaly, Ben Engelbertink, Avin Kunnekkadan, Emmanuel Abeliwine and Sandy Wirawan.

Defining faith as social responsibility has its appeal, and conference committee member Father Ben Engelbertink hopes to “call people together in order to share with each other the social responsibilities we have towards our environment and our neighbors, especially with regard to justice and peace. Rather than confronting each other, we’ll embrace each other as brothers and sisters of different faiths that all aspire to peace.”

The committee doesn’t want to encourage discussion about the negative ramifications of violent fundamentalist attitudes, but instead focus on the universal search for peace that connects people regardless of their religious beliefs. The conference’s morning session begins at 10:30, followed by short presentations by speakers representing the Islamic, Buddhist and Christian perspectives. The group will then break into smaller units for conversation and debate.

The number of students who consider themselves religious has declined sharply in recent years. Some people attribute this to a desire to disassociate themselves from the fundamentalist attitudes that seem to dominate the current socio-political climate.

When asked about this, Father Ben replied: “In previous years we named this conference ‘the inter-religious dialogue conference’. But the word ‘inter-religious’ is very much connected with religious institutions and organizations, so we decided to use the word ‘interfaith’ instead, to clearly indicate that we’re talking from our hearts, from our deep faith.

Father Ben says that many people might turn away from the institutions, because they feel these institutions are merely engaged in power struggles and aren’t totally committed to deep faith, justice and peace. “Although many people say they have no religion,” he adds, “they are committed to the well-being of their neighbors and do have faith in something, in the afterlife.”

When asked if the conference was also designed to confront Christians and Muslims with their seemingly lack of mutual respect for each other’s religions, Father Ben replied to the contrary: “The conference is actually meant for members of all religions and philosophies of life, including therefore Buddhists and Humanists.”

After all, how often do we get the opportunity to actually learn something about what others believe in? Too often we’re reduced to tossing our newspapers aside disgustedly, because what we read only encourages prejudice. Maybe the chance to find out what wearing a niqab (face veil) really represents in Islamic culture is more constructive than blindly agreeing with politicians’ calls for all Muslim women to remove their veils, or with assertions like the one made by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown in last month’s Time magazine, who wrote that “overtly religious symbols are divisive.”

So where does this leave us? Should Christians remove the gold crosses they wear around their necks? And doesn’t a lack of outer symbols manifest itself as a decision to remove religious debate from the social arena? Should religion simply become invisible? Or is it indeed possible for all of us to finally attain what John Lennon called a “brotherhood of man”? Attend this year’s Interfaith Conference and decide for yourself.

The Interfaith Conference will be held on November 18 at the Student Chaplaincy, 60 Voorstraat, Delft, starting at 10:00.

The theme of this year’s Interfaith Conference is ‘Faith: Social Responsibility and Peace’. Joining the dialogue will be people of various religious beliefs, including Ibrahim Khalil, Alper Alasag, Augustin Ayaga, Romeo Wolaly, Ben Engelbertink, Avin Kunnekkadan, Emmanuel Abeliwine and Sandy Wirawan.

Defining faith as social responsibility has its appeal, and conference committee member Father Ben Engelbertink hopes to “call people together in order to share with each other the social responsibilities we have towards our environment and our neighbors, especially with regard to justice and peace. Rather than confronting each other, we’ll embrace each other as brothers and sisters of different faiths that all aspire to peace.”

The committee doesn’t want to encourage discussion about the negative ramifications of violent fundamentalist attitudes, but instead focus on the universal search for peace that connects people regardless of their religious beliefs. The conference’s morning session begins at 10:30, followed by short presentations by speakers representing the Islamic, Buddhist and Christian perspectives. The group will then break into smaller units for conversation and debate.

The number of students who consider themselves religious has declined sharply in recent years. Some people attribute this to a desire to disassociate themselves from the fundamentalist attitudes that seem to dominate the current socio-political climate.

When asked about this, Father Ben replied: “In previous years we named this conference ‘the inter-religious dialogue conference’. But the word ‘inter-religious’ is very much connected with religious institutions and organizations, so we decided to use the word ‘interfaith’ instead, to clearly indicate that we’re talking from our hearts, from our deep faith.

Father Ben says that many people might turn away from the institutions, because they feel these institutions are merely engaged in power struggles and aren’t totally committed to deep faith, justice and peace. “Although many people say they have no religion,” he adds, “they are committed to the well-being of their neighbors and do have faith in something, in the afterlife.”

When asked if the conference was also designed to confront Christians and Muslims with their seemingly lack of mutual respect for each other’s religions, Father Ben replied to the contrary: “The conference is actually meant for members of all religions and philosophies of life, including therefore Buddhists and Humanists.”

After all, how often do we get the opportunity to actually learn something about what others believe in? Too often we’re reduced to tossing our newspapers aside disgustedly, because what we read only encourages prejudice. Maybe the chance to find out what wearing a niqab (face veil) really represents in Islamic culture is more constructive than blindly agreeing with politicians’ calls for all Muslim women to remove their veils, or with assertions like the one made by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown in last month’s Time magazine, who wrote that “overtly religious symbols are divisive.”

So where does this leave us? Should Christians remove the gold crosses they wear around their necks? And doesn’t a lack of outer symbols manifest itself as a decision to remove religious debate from the social arena? Should religion simply become invisible? Or is it indeed possible for all of us to finally attain what John Lennon called a “brotherhood of man”? Attend this year’s Interfaith Conference and decide for yourself.

The Interfaith Conference will be held on November 18 at the Student Chaplaincy, 60 Voorstraat, Delft, starting at 10:00.

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