The church I belong to recently hosted an interfaith gathering. The subject of the presentations was water, its importance to man and the environment, and how the government takes care of its conservation. The program was arranged by an organization called “Mosaic”. The presentations which lasted for about two and a half hours were in two parts.
The first part was made up of the talk of a keynote speaker and the power point presentation on water conservation. The speech of the keynote speaker set the tone of the day’s discussion. He started by comparing the Canadian mosaic wherein different cultures are encouraged to retain their traditions, to the melting pot of the United States wherein every resident is expected to become American in the way of life.
He then talked of the water and its connection to spirituality. He men-tioned some beautiful literary works exhorting water as source of peace, serenity in life and its being the mainstay of life itself. We can live without food for several weeks but not without water.
The lady who spoke on water conservations gave the audience an idea on how important the task is. Keeping the water safe means keeping the health of the population safe. She mentioned how lucky Canadians are for the abundance of water around it, its numerous lakes, rivers, and waterfalls. She reminded the listeners of the role of every man and woman in keeping water safe and conserva-tion in its use.
The second part of the presentation was made up of a panel of speakers representing Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism and Zoro-astrianism.
Now, this was the part I was waiting for.. I was wondering when I heard that this was to be an Interfaith gathering, if there might be some discords in the beliefs of the different religions just as we have witnessed in the horrific events in the first decade of the 21st century-the 9/11 attack in the United States, similar acts of terrorism in Great Britain and Spain, the continuous devastations in the Middle East between the Palestinians and Israelites, the conflicts in Afghanistan – all in the name of religious beliefs.
Not very far from where I sit is a school where religious conflicts exist. A principal allowed a group of Islamic students to hold prayer meetings in the cafe-teria of the school after lunch hours. This would keep these youths from traveling some distance to a mosque which means keeping them safe, especially in winter. The practice is being questioned by some religious groups who maintain that re-ligion should be kept out of schools. I have not heard if the conflict has been re-solved.
We are all aware how these apparent religious conflicts have created para-noia and have resulted in establishing security measures all around us especially in airports and other places where people congregate. These expensive steps have caused a great burden in world economy and are one of the causes of imminent recession.
Is there really a great discord among religion? Would such discords be ap-parent in this gathering? I looked around the audience if there were evidences of differences. Not very much except that there were a few turbans and hijabs. Members of different religions and sects sat together.
The speakers were introduced. They were leaders in their respective relig-ions. They all hold positions of authority and are responsible for propagating their faiths., they sat together in a row of chairs speaking with one another, shaking hands. There was no sign of turmoil here.
Each representative started to speak on the significance of water in his faith. The gentleman who talked on Judaism mentioned portions of the Torah wherein water is a part and its significance in Judaic rituals.
In Buddhism, the speaker mentioned that water represents the beautiful traits of charity, generosity and peace. The speaker also mentioned how water cleanses the ugly traits of greed and dishonesty. The lady who spoke on Catholi-cism and water reminded the listeners of the holy water that members dip their fingers in when they enter a church, to remind them of its cleaning power. She talked of how one becomes a member of the Catholic faith through baptism of water. She recalled that part of the Bible wherein Jesus Christ talked with a woman by a water well and the significance of water in that parable.
She mentioned how water had an important part in the first miracle in the wedding at Cana, how water was turned into wine. She relived the last hours of Jesus on the cross, when his side was thrust by a sword and water and blood flowed to wash away the sin of mankind.
The speaker on Hinduism said that water is the source of life. That is why the Hindus consider the Indus River sacred to them. The Sikh speaker said that water is not just the source of life, it is life itself. The Islamic speaker underscored the significance of water to those who belong to Islam faith, the source of good things in life. The Zoroastrian spoke in the same vane; how significant water is in life. Someone (I cannot remember who it was) also mentioned that water has immense power to destroy as in Tsunamis, flood, hurricanes and typhoons.
All speakers pointed out the significance of water to life – human life, ani-mal life and plant life. There was no disagreement on this account among the various faiths. Water is a basic need; so are fire and air. They were created by the Lord that each faith worships, whomever we call that Lord. We drink the same water; we clean by the same water; that water comes from the same sources. It is the same water that gives life to all living things.
Each speaker was given the same amount of time to make his presentation. I remembered more of what the Catholic speaker said because I belong to that faith and I grew up in the traditions of that faith. Members of the other faiths in that audience must have remembered more of what the speaker in their respec-tive beliefs had said.. They could probably have delivered their own presentations on the subject. But what is important is that the essence of what each speaker said is the same: water is a basic need of all living things.
The presentations were ended by a closing thanksgiving of all speakers done over an offering of a huge loaf of bread, which they apportioned among themselves after the ritual. As they prayed together with the audience they all called on the One Mighty Creator asking for his blessing., Here under one house of prayer are different faiths seeking the assistance of the Almighty for the same blessings that all human beings need in life.
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