different religions week

Different Religions Week 2005 is Friday, July 15 to Friday, July 22. During the week, please consider attending a religious service of a faith different from your own.

Different Religions Week was founded in 2003 by Nathan Black, an undergraduate at Rice University in Houston, Texas. Troubled by the frequency of religiously motivated violence and the complexity behind the conflicts, Black resolved to make a small, long-term contribution to the search for tolerance and peace.

Black believes that most religiously motivated violence arises from the misunderstanding and demonizing of one side by the other. He is convinced that if people could simply observe the way their supposed enemies connect with their spiritualities and muster the strength for their daily lives, we would all be struck by the similarities of humans and their faiths ?not the alleged differences over which we kill.

Aware that closed minds are difficult to change, Black formulated Different Religions Week as a chance for those already tolerant to stand up and say, I, for one, am going to stop living in a box. It is hoped that if such an expression of open-mindedness is made as loud as possible, some of those on the fence about different religions will then feel compelled to participate. They, in turn, may be able to tickle the curiosity of their peers with even narrower worldviews. In this way, understanding and tolerance of different religions may eventually trickle down to the most adamantly bigoted the fanatics and the terrorists that sadly exist in most every religion, and who lie at the heart of the scourge of religiously motivated violence.

Maybe you should consider trying it out and learn about a different place of worship. And conversely, we should keep in mind that someone might want to visit the masjid (after all, the week goes from Friday to Friday) so we should try to be good hosts.

Via: Left End of the Dial