Tuesday 20 March 2007

Mar 20: Abraham's Table on Science and Religion

Speeches were as follows:
Bahai faith: Duncan, Buddhist: Oxana, Christian: Kevin, Muslim: Tariq, Hindu: Sanket

After that we had delicious curry food.

Mar 20: Interfaith society presentation during multifaith conference

You can download the presentation here

Wednesday 7 March 2007

Mar 7: Women's week at student union: faith events

Following are the events related to faith/religion as part of student union international womens week:

Thursday: International Women's Day!!!
MR4 1-3pm: Women in religion's stalls -
MR4 will host tables/walls/general areas where women from different cultures will get to share with pride some of their cultural heritage.

MR4 3-5pm: Faith in Feminism discussion.
With women from various religious (or non-religious) groups. All are invited to hear and discuss what they feel the women's movement has done for them in their particular faiths.

Tuesday 6 March 2007

Mar 6: Discussion on publicity matters

Thanks to Hana and also Kevin, we are almost on our way to becoming a recognised society in students union: Hana and Kevin have already submitted the forms and in tomorrow's meeting theres a good chance we may be recognised already, and then we can have an union email address, pigeonhole, noticeboard, publicity, van hiring for trips to places of worship, use of the rooms etc etc. Once we become formal, think we can do the following for publicity:

a) Invite every member on facebook and on the email list to meet together and get to know each other to work more closely in future
b) Approach the student religious societies directly, ask them to send representatives to attend our meetings and also publicise our activities among their members
c) Hold an AGM and decide on next years organisers (I am probably leaving, Oxana might have to leave, Nicholas will be in Egypt, Kevin and Hana will be around though) and maybe a draft pln, which we could synchronise to the student union events such as LGBT week, international multicultural week, womens week etc etc.
d) And more: if you have ideas please email me.

This week the student union was celebrating Women's week: think we should discuss about the topic of women in religion or religions approach to womens issues in some time. We decided next week to go to a place we have never been before as a society: Mass at the Holy Name church!!! It starts 5:15 pm and should end by 6 pm: after that we will go for having a Falafel together to Rusholme. Please all of you, come join us, especially if you've never been to a Catholic Maass before! However, as you might know, only Catholics are supposed to have holy communion so the rest of us can watch that part.

The week after that is Abraham's table, with free food from 6 till 8 pm. Topic of Abraham's table discussion is "Faith Vs Science" so should be interesting: we are already looking for at least one member (preferably a student studying science based course) from each faith to speak on the topic, and also an athiest. Hana said she might be able to get Student Direct newspaper to cover the event, so it should be great for publicity too! After that week its easter holidays, but after the easter we will be visiting the Mosque in Didsbury, which is really very friendly and welcoming to non muslims to learn about Islam.

Sunday 4 March 2007

Mar 4: Trip to Fo Guang Shan Temple

We had a trip to the Chinese Buddhist temple on 540 Stretford Road M16 9AF (with food).

There was a light offering service followed by free vegetarian lunch. Everyone is welcome, please bring your friends. We met at 10 amand took the bus 250 from Phoenix pub bus stop. The service started at 10:30.

Also, on the 17 of February, Saturday, this temple will host a celebration of Chinese New Year. There will be a service and some sweets served, starting from 9 pm and carrying on until after midnight. Everyone is invited to attend this, as well as New year celebration in China town on the next day, Sunday the 18 of February.