Interfaith Soc meeting this tursday

Hi, Everyone. Next Tuesday is usual curry meal + film. We will be discussing the Banquet which is happening in three weeks. Oh, and why not discuss about Danish Cartoon controversy? Last weeks' discussion about Sharia comment made by the Archbishop of Canterbury was interesting.

James. Can you finalise the time and the room. Plus could you ask Garry to make the poster.
Mo. Can you bring my memory stick and "Everything is Illuminated"
Kevin. Can you make a contact with Hindu speaker.
Enrique. If you are attending, could you bring two special funding request forms.

Cheers.
Yoji

Last week's email

Hi everyone. There will be a meal followed by a documentary film called "The Great Silence" and is about Cartoussian (a Catholic order) monks in the South of France. .

See you

Yoji

Pancake Day

Hi, Everyone. Next Tuesday happens to be Pancake Day. We will be
visiting Catholic Chaplaincy with everyone from St. Peter's. Please
bring a few pounds of donation as well. Also, the minutes of the last
meeting are out. Click the link below if you want to know what is
going on.

Click on http://groups.google.co.uk/group/manchesterstudentinterfaithsociety/web/minutes-of-meeting-29-01-2008?hl=en

Interfaith Soc Minutes of Meeting 29/01/2008

University of Manchester Interfaith Society
6:00pm, 29/01/2008

St Peter's Chaplaincy's Library

Attending

James, Mo, Simon, Yoji, Enrique, John

Apology

Joy, Kevin,



Next Meeting

05/02/2008

Pancake day

Aria House?


12/02/2008

Dinner, Talk and Movie

-Invite new Muslim Chaplin for a talk


19/02/2008

-Society Meeting prior to the Banquet, plus Film plus food

26/02/2008

- Food and Movie

Invite Sikh Speaker from the last Banquet for a talk

-Yoji will contact the speaker


06/03/2008

- Banquet

11/03/2008

- End of the term meeting


Church/Temple/Synagogue/Mosque Visit
-Chinese New Year (a celebration at Chinese Buddhist temple)
-Purim (Jewish) March 21 - March 22, invitation from Reformed Jewish Synagogue
-Multifaith week
-Standing invitation from Sikh (Saturday 7 am)
-Standing invitation from Hare Krishina (Sunday)

The Banquet
Date 06/03/2008
Location
Provisional - Man Met Students' Union Conference Hall
or St. Peter's
Publicity
-James will ask Gary to make poster and leaflet. It should be ready by 19/02/2008
-Student's Direct and Students' Union Event Diary should be contacted (Joy)
-Facebook - Joy
- Mailing List - Yoji is making a mailing group using googlegroup.
- James will ask Nathan if the Banquet can be included in publicity material for Peace Week 2008

Topic/Theme
- We have decided to focus on "Community Peace" to go along with the theme of Peace Week 2008, with specific focus on the relationship among different religious communities in U.K.
- The specific wording of the title (and subtitle) has not been decided.

Guest & Speaker
One members are assigned to find a speaker for each faith
Christianity - James
Islam - Mo
Judaism - Hana or Enrique
Hindu - ?
Baha'i - Simon
Sikh - Yoji
Buddhism - Not this time

A day or weekend trip after the Easter holiday
Date - The first weekend of May or the last weekend of April
Place - Not too far from Manchester (cheaper and easier)

Simon would ask if we can join an Alpha course retreat

Contact Terry to see if there are any cheap/free accommodation

Next Meeting
- The next formal meeting will be held in 11/03/2008

Minutes of first Interfaith soc meeting of new year

University of Manchester Interfaith Society
6:00pm, 15/01/2008
St Peter's Chaplaincy's Library

Attending

James, Kevin, Mo, Simon, Yoji

Apology

Joy



Approval of the minutes of last meeting held in 11/12/2007
Approved

Events Calender between 21/01/2008 to 14/03/2008

22/01/2008

-Tu B'Shevat (Jewish New Year for Trees)

-Visit Jackson's Row Manchester Reform Synagogue

-Yoji will arrange a visit.

29/01/2008

-Hare Krishina

-Invite a ISKCON member to give us talk about Hare Krishina diet and if possible ask to prepare us meal.

-We will pay for the cost of food

-Kevin will pay them a visit to their temple this Friday and ask

-Yoji will see if it is possible to claim union funding



05/02/2008

Pancake day

-Join a celebration at Catholic Chaplaincy of University of Manchester
-Kevin will check the exact schedule
-We may also have a small meeting to finalise the topic/theme of Banquet


12/02/2008

-Invite new Muslim Chaplin for a talk
-May be, Hana could make an invitation.
-James will give Yoji the detail so he can pass it to Hana



19/02/2008

-Society Meeting prior to the Banquet, plus Film plus food

26/02/2008

-Invite Sikh Speaker from the last Banquet for a talk

-John will contact the speaker

-James is going to find out where John is at the moment



04/03/2008

-Banquet
-The date may be changed to Wednesday or Thursday
-More details in the next section



11/03/2008

-End of the term meeting


Church/Temple/Synagogue/Mosque Visit
-21/01/2008 World Religion Days at Baha'i Center in Fallowfield.
-Chinese New Year (a celebration at Chinese Buddhist temple)
-Purim (Jewish) March 21 - March 22
-Multifaith week - Kevin will find out the date
-Standing invitation from Sikh (Saturday 7 am)
-Standing invitation from Hare Krishina (Sunday)

The Banquet

Date
-It will be held duringManchester Peace Week (01/03/08-09/02/08) http://www.peaceweek.co.uk/2008/01/
-According to Nathan & Clare, preferred day for the Banquet is Wednesday or Thursday rather than Tuesday due to schedule crush with other event.
-James will esquire about it in the staff meeting held in 16/01/2008

Location
- James suggested that more neutral location is preferred than St. Peter's Chaplaincy
- There is a possibility that the Students' Union of Manchester Metropolitan University may let us use their conference room
- James will make inquiry to a member of Man Met students' union executive.

Publicity
-James will ask Gary to make poster and leaflet. It should be ready by 19/02/2008
-Poster should be posted to Students' Union Building of Man Met and UofM, Barlington Society, International Society, Middle Eastern Department (Various members are responsible for distribution of the posters)
-Leaflet should be distributed during Wednesday soup and Chinese packed lunch (Mo)
-Student's Direct and Students' Union Event Diary should be contacted (Yoji or Kevin)
-Email/letter invitation to all religions societies in Man Met and UofM (James will obtain email lists from ManMet, Yoji from UofM)
-Facebook - Joy
-Mailing List - Yoji is making a mailing group using googlegroup.
-James will ask Nathan if the Banquet can be included in publicity material for Peace Week 2008

Guest & Speaker
- We have decided to postpone this matter until the topic/theme of the event is decided

Topic/Theme
- Many society members could not attend today's meeting due to various circumstances
- We have decided to canvass for the topic/theme for another 2/3 weeks
- The theme/topics must be finalised by 05/02
- The Banquet coincide with Peace week and Multifaith Women's day of prayer
- It was pointed out that we have done many topic related to peace and women so maybe, different topic may be appropriate
- Given that it is held in the peace week, the topic for this particular Banquet should be positive rather than controversial (and possibly divisive)
-Topics suggested so far: Peace, Women's right, Just War, Role of religious communities in fostering peace, Role of religious communities in secular societies, Music

Retreat after the Easter holiday
-It was suggested that we should have multifaith pilgrimage instead.
-For examples, Glasgow has a multifaith museum, largest Tibetan temple in u.k., etc.
-We could visit various religious temple/church/synagogue/mosque in Glasgow over the weekend. -Transport expenses can be covered by the special funding from the union. (Yoji will look into it).
- We need to find an free accomodation to make the visit affordable for everyone.
- Each of us could get sleeping bag, so as long as we get a roof, it is fine.
- James (who used to live there) says he will look into it.

Administrative matter

Society registration
- strangely someone registered the society for us, despite us lacking union members for exective.
- Yoji has applied to life membership of SU. Once accepted, he will apply to the position of the treasurer.
- Yoji has created an mailing list account in googlegroup

Next Meeting
- A small meeting is held in 05/02/2008 before or after Pancake day event to decide the topic/theme of the next Banquet
- The next formal meeting will be held in 11/03/2008

Minutes of 11/12/2007 meeting

University of Manchester Interfaith Society

18:00, 11/12/2007, St Peter's Chaplaincy's Library



Attending

Simon, Kevin, John, Yoji, Joy, Mo, James



Apology

Hana



List of suggested events and speakers for 2nd Semester

* University Calendar

Christmas vacation:
15 December 2007 - 13 January 2008

Attendance:
14 January 2008 - 27 January 2008

Second semester

28 January 2008 - 14 March 2008

Easter vacation:
15 March 2008 - 6 April 2008

* Multifaith calendar for 2008

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/tools/calendar/year.shtml?2008



* Hare Krishna

Invite them to give us cooking lesson in vegetarian cuisine

Contact Deen Bandhu

* Mormon

We decided to leave it up to individual members if they wish to pay them a visit

* Jain

Visit their temple in Levenshulme (Joy will make a contact)

* Baha'i

U.N. World Religion Day (Monday 21/01/2008)

* Humanist or Atheist

Invite a humanist or atheist speaker to discuss issue relating to secularism.

Format yet being agreed.

* Sikh

Invite the speaker from the last Banquet
* Jewish
Tu B'Shevat (Jewish New Year for Trees) 22/Jan,

Yoji will email Elliot to ask if we can be invited

* Pancake day (02/Feb) during Multicultural Week (01~06 Feb)

Join other St Peter's affiliate groups

* The Banquet

It must be held before Easter vacation.

In the past, it coincided with Manchester Peace Week (01~09 Mar 2008) and Multifaith Women's World Day of Prayer (07/Mar/08)
We have decided that we will hold a meeting 5 to 6 weeks prior to the event, i.e. before 22/Jan/08.
The publicity material should be ready two weeks prior to the event

* Retreat

Idea for the retreat will be discussed further in the next semester.

The event, if held, will happen after the Easter holiday.

* Visit to the place of worship

Joy will organise visit during the term on ad hoc basis

Standing invitation from Sikh (Saturday 7 am)

Standing invitation from Hare Krishna (Sunday)



Society Administration

Yoji is going to apply for a Life membership of Students' Union
He will fill the position of society secretary (or treasurer)
James has created yahoo mailing group. Future email will be conducted through this mailing list.



Next Meeting

To be held on the second week after we return from Christmas holiday (i.e. 22/01/08)

More formal society event calendar will be printed soon afterward.

27 November Interfaith Soc planning meeting

At the interfaith society meeting the topic was the forthcoming Abraham's Table (renamed "The Banquet") on tuesday 4 December from 5 pm onwards. John, Yoji, Kevin, James and others discussed availability of speakers from various faiths (on topic of sexual identity and faith). Oxana has already agreed on Buddhist speaker Enrique, most other faith societies have also been represented. We still dont have a pagan speaker, Kevin's trying to organise one. The Xenophobia quiz has been prepared too. Publicity efforts for the event were also discussed.

Slavery, activism and hermitude

The topic of today's scripture study and discussion was approaches to slavery from different religions, and also about the emphasis on being a hermit Vs activism in different religions. Yoji, myself, John, James, Claire (who led the session), Mo, Kevin, and Shimon were present. In slavery we discussed transatlantic slavery, untouchability, catholic and protestant missions, Bahai scriptures on slavery etc. As for the issue of activism Vs seclusion, the consensus was that it is sometimes necessary for spiritual growth, but the emphasis varies between different religions.

Oct 30: Interfaith Planning meeting

Interfaith Student Society meeting held on October 30, 2007.

Presence: Oxana, Joy, Kevin, Mo, Yoji, Hana, John, James Grant, Justin (Young Greens)

Shohel

Apology: Clare Dowding

The following decisions were made for Abraham’s Table (the name being currently brainstormed for renaming)

Date: 4th December 2007

Time: 5.00pm

Venue: no discussion took place, yet to be decided. (Traditional venue has been St. Peter’s House, this may change)

Theme: ‘Sexual identity and faith’

Publicity and design: The poster would be designed by Mo.John would print and prepare it. James, Hana, Sohel and Kevin would distribute them. John would also help in this. Faith Reference Group, Interfaith Society and the Young Greens will be mentioned on the poster.

Content and format of the event:

The evening will start with the historic signing up event by the Chaplains and faith advisers of all the faiths @ the university of a common ground statement.

Discussion will follow by the speakers from the faith groups listed below and the person responsible for contacting them is noted next to it. (If there are 2 schools of thought with in the same faith group on the issue, it is encouraged that both thoughts be represented at the discussion. It was also discussed that it would be great if the speakers are students but this is not compulsory in case of difficulty in finding a student speaker). The length of each talk should be kept to 3 minutes

Hana will draft the letter to the Faith Societies or representatives outlining the possible scope of topics to be covered in the talks. Each speaker is to choose one aspect to cover, they do not have to talk about everything:

* Sexual and loving relationships
* Sexual identities such as homosexual, transsexual, bisexual
* Sensuality and spirituality
* Sexual identity as part of coming of age and rites of passage



Hindu – John will contact them

Muslim- Hannah Agil

Buddhist –Oxana

Christianity- James Grant

Jewish –Hana Agil

Bahai –Mo

Sikh –John

Pagans and Humanists (if possible) –Kevin Gilbride

The discussion would be moderated by Hana Agil.

Following the discussions, the participants will be asked to form small groups during the sharing of food. The Young Greens will lead a quiz on Xenophobia during this time. The quiz will be coordinated by Justin. Participants will be given a chance to have their food first, then form groups. The quiz will then be carried out in a manner of a pub quiz. The teams will pick their names and the questions will be shouted out.

Justin will draft the letter to the Faith Societies or representatives asking them to provide 5 questions about their faith. Some questions would be easy and open-ended, for others, more difficult, Societies would provide multi-choice answers. This letter will be attached to the letter that Hana will have drafted.

You can see the pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/joyboseroy/InterfaithSociety

After the meeting we took photos and watched a film organised by Yoji titled "Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran (Mr Ibrahim and the Flowr of Koran").
Here is a synopsis of the film

"In a street called Blue in a very poor neighborhood in Paris, Monsieur Ibrahim (Omar Shariff) is an old Muslin Turkish owner of a small market. He becomes friend of the teenager Jewish Moises, tenderly nicknamed Momo (Pierre Boulanger), who lives with his father in a small apartment on the other side of the street. Monsieur Ibrahim gives paternal love and teaches the knowledge of the Koran to the boy, receiving in return love and respect."

Discussion about values and secularisation

This week in IFS we had a discussion about a number of topics, including the increasing secularisation of values in Western and other societies, and discussed some surveys in this regard, such as http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/64873/#more
We also discussed about theology as a viable subject of study, about the interfaith society itself and the people who attend it etc.

May 22: Discussion on religions and women

We discussed for a while about what to discuss during this meeting. I had some material with me about eco-islam as a leaflet (you can download the leaflet and mor info from http://www.ifees.org.uk/ ) and hare krishna's ecologically self-sustaining community in Hungary
( http://krisnavolgy.hu/english/day/index.html ) so I thought maybe we could discuss about religions and the environment. Robert brought with him a funny film called Victor/Victoria ( http://imdb.com/title/tt0084865/ ) but many of us had to leave early and it was unrelated to religion, so we didnt watch it. He also suggested a channel 4 movie called beautiful thing ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115640/ ). Anyway after a while we ended up discussing religions' approach to women (ironic for 6 guys to discuss, but no less ironic than the womens week at university few months back when there were 6 athiest or cynical women discussing women in religion, and 3 religious men).

Anyway, we discussed the bahai faith approach to women, especially the positive aspect that bahais are supposed to educate their daughters in preference if they have limited means, so that they can grow up to be good mothers. We discussed the buddhist problems about nuns having less rights than monks and the controversial part about women cant get enlightened. We went on to Christianity and discussed how perhaps (controversially for some) Jesus could be interpreted as a radical feminist in his time, since in the gospel are accounts where he touched women to heal them (perhaps not appropriate as per traditional jewish laws of the time), was anointed by a woman, had a woman wash his feet with tears before he washed the disciples' feet, was served water by a samaritan woman etc. we discussed the hindu concept of mother goddess, about God being depicted as androgynous ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ardhanareshvara ) in certain places etc, yet the fact that some women are yet oppressed. I had to leave a bit early, so missed the rest of the discussion. Perhaps Kevin or Robert could fill us in on that.

Thats all for now, think we shall meet again next week if people are willing to come along.

May 15: Discussion on meaning of life

We were thinking of showing the film "the Message" based on the founding of Islam by Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) and its early days (at least i brought my laptop and the DVD). However, it was a bit long and some of us had already seen it, so we shelved the plan. I have a DVD that was kindly given by the Islamic society (or it could be didsbury mosque) so if any of you want to borrow it, it can be arranged. For more information see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Message_%28film%29
For those interested in many religious films, you can see the list at http://www.adherents.com/movies/

We started with Oxana sharing some Buddhist jokes from http://www.serve.com/cmtan/buddhism/Lighter/index.html (some of the jokes might need a bit of knowledge about buddhist world to appreciate)

After that we started with a discussion on the meaning of life, sharing our own views. There were various views from different perspectives discussed as to what is the meaning of life, including to get rid of suffering, to live in the fullness of life, to get close to God, to obey God's laws and his messengers, to live and not try to live, to simply exist, etc. We also spoke on how it would be to exist for a child in darfur for example. We also spoke about maths and physics and reality (inductive and abductive arguments, that there is no such thing as a perfect circle) and skepticism (that everything that is spoken is within some axioms out of which no communication is possible) and bayesians and meditation and drugs and a popular catholic priest called Brian D'arcy.

After the discussion, some of us went to falafel for some food. We decided that we would keep these meetings going for next few weeks, as long as people are happy to come along.

May 8: Discussion and scripture study

We had a scripture study this time, and discussed the attitudes of different religions to those who are non-believers (or apostates, or covenant breakers, or infidels, or heretics) in those respective religions. We discussed quotes from the Bible, Quran, Buddhist scriptures, Bhagavad Gita and Kitab-e-Aqdas to compare on this topic. we also discussed about some of the New religious movements (NRMs) that evmerged from some of the older religions.

Apr 17: Discussion on burial rituals

We had a discussion on a variety of topics including:
Burial and cremation: costs and ceremonies in different countries and different religions
Kevin's tour of Greece
Anti semitism and anti-gypsies in different european countries
10% taxes given to the Catholic or Lutheran church in Germany
Jack Van Impe, the walking Bible, who has memorised large protions of the Bible
Apocamon, a Bible revelations comic in Manga style at e-sheep.com

Next week (25 April) we will be seeing a funny film (provided by John) about a person in search of God, who gets beaten by Buddhists in Japan, asks to join KKK in America although he is jewish, confesses something nasty in a Catholic confession, etc. We will hopefully be arranging a tour to the Mosque in Didsbury the following week.

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.

Feb 27: Discussion and LGBT Week in Student Union

So, no one is prepared to carry out a workshop on the meeting of 27th of February. I have another spare one from the Buddhist tradition (but that is only in case no one else wants to share anything from their faith).

As for the Scripture study, I propose to look at the topics that Kevin was thinking about for Abraham's Table. They are:

Love, sexuality, loving relationships

Peace - a moral government - how can religion teach us to improve society?

Pilgrimage - important to most faiths
-travel, life is a spiritual journey, etc

Meditation - value of spiritual exercises

As for me, I would love to talk about meditation (obviously). If people agree on one particular topic before the meeting and can prepare some reading from their Scripture, that would be grnad. If not, we will just talk about one of them on the day.

As some of you might have noticed, there is an Amnesty International exhbition about Sudan set up in the Chaplaincy. There is an opportunity to sign letters as well. Please, do so. Letters and envelopes are provided.

On the 4th of March, Sunday, everyone is invited to Fo Guan Shan Chinese Buddhist Temple in Stretford Road. We are meeting at the steps to the Chaplaincy at 10:30 am. At the Temple, we are looking around, watching the light offering ceremony, enjoying a free lunch, and then games and activties in the afternoon.

We discussed about getting the multifaith/interfaith society recognised by Student Union formally, and Kevin got a list of signatures that Hana and Natalie collected earlier, many thanks to both of them for doing this. So hopefully we should become formal in few weeks time, then we can have access to more publicity hopefully. We have also since collected a few more signatures thanks to our friends at the Bahai soc and the student christian movement, and thanks to Nicholas and Kevin for organising this part.

We then discussed about the interfaith conference (along with Abraham's table) being organised by the chaplaincy, Oxana kindly agreed to MC for the conference, there will be a few student helpers etc. The Abraham's table will be on topic of "Science Vs religion" and we will have people from different religions (preferably people studying a core science degree such as Physics or Chemistry or Biology etc etc) and also an athiest who will give their prespective on the issue.

Finally in view of the LGBT week in the union we discussed about the religions approach to issues concerning homosexuality, a rather controversial topic that one! Many participants stressed on kindness towards all people without discrimination (although some religions are opposed to the practice of homosexuality in itself). Kevin stressed that the gay lifestyle which is considered promiscuous was one reason why gay people had a bad image especially among religious people. Oxana invited us to the religion debate during the LGBT week that was the following day from 1:30-2:30 and myself, Kevin and Oxana attended as part of interfaith society, there too we listened to a very interesting discussion on perspectives on religion and sexuality from many different viewpoints.

Feb 13: Meditation and Discussion on sin and repentance

Before I forget, please find attached a file with details of a tree planting event this Sunday, the 18th, at the Fallowfield Loop. If we get it over with early enough, we then can go to China Town to enjoy the Chinese New Year celebrations.

We practised Buddhist loving-kindness meditation and enjoyed it a lot.

Afterwards, we had a discussion about such matters as sin, repentance, forgiveness, death penalty, jury trial and relationship between secular and divine laws.

Then we decided that the topic the topic for next Abraham's Table on the 20th of March will be 'Marriage of Science and religion'. Different faiths have different stance on how religion and science relate to each other and how believers should relate to science, and whether society should be run based on science or religion.

As usual, we will have short (5 minute) presentations from a representative of each faith, and discussion and delicious food afterwards.

For a start, though, we decided to ask two science students - one a believer and one not - to share their personal views and feelings on science. If you can think of anyone who could carry out these roles, please reply to this posting or write to Interfaith Society mailing list.

6 Feb: Discussion on Altruism

The topic of discussion was altruism. Natalie conducted a workshop on Jewish practice of developing your character, and also gave us a moral problem related to altruism to ponder about.

Perspectives on altruism from different religions followed.

John joined us and asked for help with organizing the next Abraham's Table, which is scheduled for 20 of March. We have to come up with a suitable topic to discuss at the Table.

For 13 Feb, I still have a spare interactive presentation to do, in case no one else prepares anything. For the topic, I propose discussing the next Abraham's Table and then if we still have got any time, we could discuss balance between spiritual and secular life in our faiths.

Hope to see you all 13 feb, Tuesday, at 5 pm, at St.Peter's Chaplaincy.
Also, you could consider joining Interfaith Society on www.facebook.com

Jan 31: Buddhist meditation and discussion on clothing

I got to share with the friends some basic concepts of Buddhist meditation, such as staying in the moment, with help of an exotic instrument called 'Jaw's harp' and some walking meditation practice.

Afterwards, we shared our thoughts about how these practices felt and then moved on to discussing Clothing and headwear in different religions (thank to Natalie, who suggested the topic).

Moving on to the next meeting. Yoji kindly suggested discussing Altruism as understood in you faith. Please, feel free to bring a reading from your scriptures that talks about altruism and then if you could perhaps explain what this means to you as a believer. Thank you.

Jan 23: call for future ideas

At the meeting on the 23rd of January we decided to have a person responsible for each meeting. This person prepares a 10 minute interactive presentation/ workshop on some topic that interests him/her related to his/her or a different religion. This we decided will be followed by discussing some topic based on our understanding of our religions' scriptures.

In addition, we decided to continue visiting places of worship and to run some sort of an environmental project.

Please find attach two files, which all of you are more than welcome to edit. Please add ideas on what to discuss, where to go and what to do and please appoint yourself to chair meetings.

Interfaith Society Meetings

Date Chair 10 minute Interactive Presentation/Workshop Scripture Study Topic
30 January Oxana Staying in the present moment (aspects of Buddhist meditation) ?
6 February
13 February
20 February

Please note that the date of a tree planting that we can participate in is quite soon - the 31 of January. If anyone is interested, please let me know and I will contact the organisers.

http://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/getinvolved/index.htm
Oldham - Tree Planting Event - Limeside Park

Start: 31/01/2007

The event will comprise of tree planting over 3 days at Limeside Park in Oldham. All day session or two sessions 10-12 & 2-4pm local schools, groundworks, Contour staff, Friends of park and residents will get involved in planting new trees, plants and bulbs.

Parking is available at the tenents hall on Limeside Park.
Buses stop on Elm Road and Hollins Road within walking distance to Limeside Park.
If you require any further information please contact the event organiser directly using the contact details below:

Shanine Meadowcroft Telephone: 0161 682 4019 e-mail
shanine.meadowcroft@contourhousing.co.uk
http://www.do-it.org.uk/oppdetails.do?id=994479

Dec 12: Last meeting of year

Today's interfaith society meeting was the last meeting of the year. The next meeting will be on Tuesday 23 January 2007, after the XMas holidays.

We had a few new muslim friends today, including Abdul Hannan, Issa and others, and a no-religion friend Yoji. First we discussed about the future of the society. It was decided to continue with our programme of visits to places of worship. So far this year we have been to a Jewish reform synagogue (in city centre), Bahai centre (in fallowfield), Hindu temple (in chorlton), and Sikh Gurudwara (near Salford). Abdul suggested we could visit a Mosque either ithe Didsbury Mosque or in Cheetam Hill. Other candidates for a visit are a Catholic Church, Anglican Cathedral, Buddhist temple, Jain community centre in Longsight etc.

We also reviewed the multifaith week in the student union that was last week, and the very interesting interfaith dialogues on Religion and Gender (Thursday), Religion and Conflict (Monday), Faith and Environment (during Abraham's table on Thursday), Religion and science (on Friday) etc. We can also continue to discuss such important issues from different religious persepctives in a friendly atmosphere in the interfaith society meetings as well. After all, most religions have similar perspectives to many such issues and it will be worth stressing on our commonalities and where we agree.

Abdul also played a very interesting recorded speech by Tony Blair and a piece from a US radio show (although it was a hoax) about discrimination against muslims. We had a long and friendly discussion about the issue from various perspectives both faith and non faith. Abdul also spoke his views about the meaning of tolerance and how followers of different religions should get together to fight discrimination.

Finally, John informed us that the next Abraham's table will be sometime in March 2007 (also jointly organised by interfaith society and the multifaith reference group, and including delicious food like last week!) and Tariq Ramadan, who is a very famous writer, will be invited as a speaker.