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Community Corner

Interfaith Forum Highlights Similarities Amongst Religions

Interfaith Partnership of St. Charles County hosts forum designed to raise awareness and understanding.

As a young boy, he bit his sisters’ toe during a vacation when she repeatedly stuck her foot in his face. 

Today, the Rev. Michael Mason, professor of religion at , teaches his mother’s words, “Why can’t we all just get along?”

Mason moderated a forum with five people who represented five of the largest world's religions including: Jane Beasley, Bahá'í Faith; Rabbi Dale Schreiber, Judaism; Mir Asif, Islam; Russell Dawn, Christianity; and Thalanayar Santhanam, Hindu.

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The forum was sponsored by the Interfaith Partnership of St. Charles County and , and was held at the church’s St. Charles chapel. More than 50 people attended the event. The theme for the evening was, “The Global Faith Community of Humankind.” 

Most of the speakers emphasized that we are more alike than different, and should focus on those similarities. Jane Beasley said the purpose of the Bahá'í Faith was to unite all people into one faith.

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The Hindu faith, according to Santhanam, teaches that there is only one Brahman (the Almighty) who resides in each one of His creations.

“If we hurt others we are hurting ourselves. If we help others we will be helping ourselves” he said.

Mir Asif explained that Islam is often misunderstood, and that it is a religion of peace and respecting the choice of other people’s faiths. 

Schreiber said, “If you want respect, give respect. We are all one people.”

Dawn, representing Christianity, asked the insightful question, “How can we hate whom God loves?” 

Ann Miller, chair of the Interfaith Partnership said, “Each speaker shared their own viewpoint, but you came away with a sense of something larger. People should take the time to learn about other faiths.”   

The Interfaith Partnership, she said, is about promoting peace through respect and understanding of other faiths. “You have to take the time to learn about them,” she said. 

Learning about other faiths was the very purpose of the evening’s forum, which drew an impressive cross-section of people from many faiths and cultures from around the world. 

Approximately 68 percent of the world’s religious followers were represented at the forum.

So as to the question, “Why can’t we all just get along?” – maybe we can, by learning how to build  respect and appreciation for people as human beings – one interfaith event at a time.

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