From the President’s Desk
Heartbreak, Heartache, Brutality, and Killing – When will it end?
The Interfaith Council wants to extend our deep, heartfelt sorrow and heartbreak at what’s going on in Israel and Gaza.
The brutality of the attack on the Israelis are unprecedented, injuring and killing anyone they came across: women, families, children, and the elderly.
The brutality of the bombings in Gaza with little water, food, and humanitarian aid, affecting women, children, families, and the elderly, is also heartbreaking.
The defense mechanism today is simply to take sides and try to shout down the other side, as we’ve seen on college campuses throughout the U.S. This is the downfall of our society. There are no talking about issues, no discussing history, and no discussions of any kind. If I’m right, you are wrong, black or white, no shades of grey. Where we all know life is more complicated than this.
That is why I love interfaith. The goals of interfaith are simple – to show respect for other religions, to come together in interfaith dialogue, and to see the commonalities that we all share in the practice of our religion.
That is why the Parliament of World Religions, Interfaith Harmony Week, Conference on Dialogue and Deliberation, United Religions International, and so many other organizations and events are so important. They are working for dialogue, for understanding, for unity.
When people say a conflict is unresolvable, I always bring up Northern Ireland and the Troubles. Most people under 30 don’t know about the conflict that spanned decades, countries, and religions, but the people on both sides thought that the conflict is unresolvable. What happened? Conflict resolution, compromises, and concessions that took years to develop and implement, but that brought about PEACE in 1998.
“When a thought of war comes, oppose it by a stronger thought of peace. A thought of hatred must be destroyed by a more powerful thought of love.” Baha’i Faith
Serene Erby
President