The Challenge of Respect: Celebrating Interfaith Commonality, Exploring Religious Differences

What constructive role can religious and spiritual communities play in the world to promote a more peaceful, just, and sustainable future?  That is but one of the many challenging questions that will be tackled at a major all-day interfaith event on Saturday, April 28th, at the Omar Ibn Al Khattab Foundation, Abu Dawoud Hall in Los Angeles.

Structured as a day of community-building, fellowship, prayer, art and interfaith celebration, the intention of the conference is to explore ways of promoting interfaith tolerance, respect and commonality. Sponsored by the Southern California Chapter of the Council for the Parliament of the World’s Religions, and offering more than 20 workshops and seminars, this mega event is designed to link local interfaith groups and to encourage and inspire broader interfaith work in Southern California and throughout the world.

The April 28 program features a keynote panel of local interfaith luminaries:  The Rev. Dr. Gwynne Guibord, of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles; Rabbi Steve Jacobs, Special Advisor to LA Sheriff Lee Baca; Dr. Ananda Guruge, former Sri Lankan Ambassador to UNESCO, and founding director of the University of the West; and Dr. Hassan Hathout, an internationally renowned scholar of Islam and Ethics. Over 20 breakout sessions are planned, including such far-ranging topics as The Challenge of Respect and the First Amendment, Science and Spirituality, Naming the Ultimate, and Islam and the West. They will be led by scholars and activists like Dr. Jack Miles, Professor Don Miller, Salam Al-Marayati, Stephen Rohde, Father Alexei Smith and Bishop Edward Turner.

“Southern California is an area of great religious and spiritual diversity,” commented Dr. Joseph Prabhu, Chair of the Host Committee and Professor of Philosophy and Religion at Cal State LA, “and we have witnessed a huge growth curve in the number of interfaith groups established in the past ten years.”  Though the work of these groups has been primarily local in focus, Dr. Prabhu pointed out, “ this event will create a unique opportunity to link the existing interfaith groups in Southern California to the global reach of the Parliament.”  The Parliament’s last major conference in Barcelona in 2004, Dr. Prabhu noted, drew over 9,000 participants from 75 countries.

Registration begins at 9 AM, the program starts at 10 AM and ends at 9 PM.  Cost is $30 before April 10, $36 after April 10 and at the door, and $10 for students, which includes both lunch and dinner. The Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions is a non-profit 501(c)(3) Organization. 

For more information contact: 
Waliya Perkins, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), (310) 575-1972
or Rev. Jeff Utter, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  (626) 437-3184.