“A harmonious world begins at heart” interfaith forum draws to a successful close
NEW YORK, Oct. 12, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — On October 9, “A Harmonious World Begins at Heart” Interfaith Forum, co-organized by ICN CAV and Interfaith Center of New York (ICNY), kicked off in the Interchurch Center (475 Riverside Dr #540, New York, NY 10115). Religious representatives, scholars, media specialists and officials from relevant UN bodies attended the forum, and shared different views and suggestions with each other.
Richard Hsueh, head of ICN CAV, made an address with the topics of “a harmonious world begins with harmonious religions”, “harmony between religions are maintained through dialogue and cooperation”, and “promotion of dialogue and cooperation to realize interfaith harmony”.
Ms. Chloe Breyer (executive director of ICNY), Ms. Jeanette Zaragoza (representative of Christianity), Ms. Manbo Dòwòti Désir (representative of Voodooism), Mr. Bruce Knotts (Director of the Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office) and Mr. Rick Alan Ross (executive director of the Cult Education Institute) made keynote speeches respectively. Participants exchanged their views on various topics, such as development and belief of individual religion, believers’ social responsibilities, and how to promote righteous religious values.
Such kind of dialogue would be held more frequently in order to further mutual understanding and communication among religions, mentioned Ms. Chloe Breyer. Mr. Rick Alan Ross introduced cults’ harm to people, pointed out the origin of heresy and prevention methods, and analyzed some recent cases of cults from Falungong and sex cult.
This was a productive forum as not only different believes and values were further understood, but through dialogues, the religious representatives also unanimously agreed that integration and development interfaith cultures and communication among religions could achieve better understanding, reduce disputes and realize harmonious co-existence.
SOURCE ICN CAV
