Interfaith Harmony Day celebration

Sunday, January 18, 2009 - St. Paul's Episcopalian Church, Fayetteville, AR

The event was a blast. Over 10 Faiths were represented, and more than 300 people attended. We started at 2pm and went on till 5:45pm. Everyone evidently had a great time. The planning committee, of which I was a part, met for almost a year to plan the event. It was a huge success. Tables were decorated by each Faith and manned by its members. Guests visited the tables throughout the event to learn about the Faiths, receive material, and get some refreshments. Meanwhile, performances ranged from chants to recitals, choir songs, group songs, children performances, and an interfaith panel discussion. Several reporters were also present to cover the event. CNN did a brief report as well. Click here to access it.

Mohja Kahf, a professor of Middle Eastern studies danced in anticipation. She's a Muslim and also represented Islam on the panel.
Chava Schacter, the lady laughing and dancing with Mohja is a member of the Unitarian Church. She coordinated the whole event and headed the planning commitee. She's Jewish too.

The Set-up part: The Muslim table

The native Indian table - Arco Iris

This lady receives a soothing scent
Others...can't remember them all.

The Goddess Worship table. They honor the power and divinity of Women. I was told by the ladies that the 4 cardinal strengths that represent North, South, East, and West are Air, Fire, Water, and Earth. You can see symbols of them on the table.

More...

St. Thomas Catholic Church

More...

The Unitarian Universalist Church

More...

More...

Baha'i table set-up - from left to right: Lani, Anne, Janet, Sherri, and me

Janet stands next to our We Are One Family poster

We had the best food, and only our table had bottled water. That attracted many people to our table. We had a very tasty dish from our Marshallese Baha'is too...I don't think I took a picture of that dish. News spread fast about that one and it was eaten quickly. It was made of pumpkin and cream mostly. Very good!!!:) We also had delicious home-made fruit salad, home-made tuna sandwiches, and home-made cookies of various kinds.

Sound check After a welcome by Chava, the Buddhists started the performances with a haunting Buddhist chant performed by a man dressed in Buddhist robes. That was followed by Buddhist songs. Performance from the Unity Church - Divine Intervention Choir

The Quaker Faith followed.Some of our Marshallese friends pose for a picture.

In the meantime, people went around visiting the tables. So many people came to our table. We gave out a lot of material. Since I was sitted behind our table, I could take pictures of some of these people. Ahhh!! Notice the yellow dish to the right of the table - that's the famous Marshallese dessert.

More visitors, going away with food or material or both. People especially loved the golden rule bookmarks, cards, and posters.

Sherri had made over 100 sandwiches...and boy! were they delicious!!!!

More guests

More

Here's Meroosh, my Indian friend. We play volleyball together too. He is from the St. Thomas Catholic Church, and that was his wife in the earlier picture I took of their table. He came by to visit our table.

Visitors to the Muslim table that was right next to ours.

Lots of attendees. These are Baha'is in the beginning of these two rows.

The children of the St. James Methodist Youth Choir. They sang so well.
The Interaith Choir (Unitarian Universalist and First Christian Church). They were phenomenal. They also did a great rendition of "Siyahamba".

Felicia and her kids Ibrahim and Naomi. She's a friend of the Baha'is.

Then the panel discussion. The panelists were (from L to R): Baha’i, Episcopal, Unitarian, Universalist, Muslim, Jewish, Arco Iris, Society of Friends (Quaker), and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

After the panel discussion, a performance by Harmonia

The Muslims' performance started with a call to prayer: Allah'u'Akbar. And then the guy and Mohja read some verses and did some chants as well.

Then it was our turn - The Baha'is. I started with a quote on the oneness of humanity and religion, and why the NSA of the U.S. had introduced World Religion Day in 1950. Then I told two stories from Abdu'l-Baha. Next the Baha'is sang three songs: We chanted "Blessed is the Spot"; we sang "God is One" (special request by Chava from the Unitarian Universalist). We sang it in English and Marshallese, and we had song sheets for the audience to join us. Then we sang "Teaching Peace" and everyone could join us too. It was fun. The diversity in the Baha'i group was so apparent.

Next was a performance by a choir from the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints.
Finally we closed with a pretty song by the Goddess Worship group.

Chava, Mohja, and I, all members of the planning committee, were pretty happy at the end.