Conversation about religion is frowned upon in some social settings for fear it will touch off heated debate. But that was not the case at the recent All Believers Network (Belnet) annual conference.
"There was no disagreement" on universal concepts of God among the 100 participants who represented 15 different faiths in a daylong workshop titled "Exploring Converging Paths of Religions," said Saleem Ahmed, a retired East-West Center botanist who founded the interfaith organization in 2003.
Participants in the Labor Day event held at the University of Hawaii at Manoa included faith members of Baha’i, Buddhism, Christianity, Hawaiian Spirituality, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Seicho-No-Ie, Sikhism, Sufism, Sukyo Mahikari, Taoism, Unification Church and Unity.
"I look upon this workshop output as a new and exciting beginning," Ahmed said. "This unanimous acknowledgment by followers of 15 faiths that all religions seem to revere the same reality, is, I am sure, possibly the first such statement in the world."
A prelude to recommendations issued by workshop participants acknowledges that the group’s take on faith-based harmony runs contrary to scenes of violence tied to religious beliefs.
Among the recommendations is a call to spread the conversation about the "one reality" concept statewide through activities and initiatives. Other suggestions include planning an international interfaith conference in 2016 with public- and private-sector funding, and encouraging interfaith understanding in schools and other institutions through prose, poetry, dancing and other performing arts.
In addition, participants favored the idea of celebrating "Aloha Months," with each month promoting a different aspect of aloha, ranging from love and cooperation to forgiveness and tolerance.
Also confirming the workshop’s findings, Ahmed said, is a Belnet survey, which got underway in 2008 and aims to pinpoint what the world’s religions have in common. In the survey, some 400 people of 20 faiths have described their God — called by various names and revered through diverse rituals — as being eternal, omniscient and all-knowing, Ahmed said.
To take the survey, visit www.allbelievers.net.
THE REV. NEAL MACPHERSON
The Rev. Neal MacPherson, former pastor of the Church of the Crossroads, was one of the speakers asked to relate his faith to the findings of the "one reality" concept.
Bordering the altar in the Crossroads sanctuary, where he served for 20 years, are four wooden carvings that honor Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Judaism. Their presence denotes that "all religious traditions have truths to offer and that there is one divine reality in the universe," to which there are many religious paths.
"We know that religion can kill. It is important for us to acknowledge and confess the abuses of our own religious paths that have caused great harm in the world. Christianity has many sins to confess," MacPherson said.
Personally, MacPherson said he is not so much interested in the absolutes and universals of what God was (all-powerful, all-knowing, etc.) as "I am wedded to the particulars. … It is the particular manifestations of the divine; the actions of human beings, the wonders of creation and the sheer variety of religious paths that interests me. It is Jesus who interests me. He is the compassionate one I choose to follow."
ROGER EPSTEIN
Roger Epstein, an attorney and facilitator of the Hawai‘i Forgiveness Project, spoke on behalf of Judaism, which recognizes the "fundamental universality of God."
Referring to an oft-sung prayer, he said, "Israel translates literally as ‘one who wrestles with God’ … God is one, and we are all one — that’s a fundamental principle in Judaism."
"Interestingly enough, the people they’ve (Jews) fought with the most are those that have been spinoffs, to a certain extent, of their religion" — Christians and Muslims, Epstein said.
