What happens when a range of seemingly colliding spiritual beliefs come together in one room? Even God might be impressed.
By EILEEN SCHULTE
Published September 6, 2003
CLEARWATER - In the 1920s, a priest, a minister and a rabbi used to tour the United States promoting religious tolerance, setting an example.
The thought was that if they can get along, so can regular folks.
Leaders of differing faiths and religions are still carrying on the tradition, most recently in Clearwater at Temple B'nai Israel.
But the world has become a far more complicated place than it was 80 years ago. At last week's interfaith roundtable symposium called Unity Within Diversity at the synagogue, there was a priest, a couple of ministers, a rabbi, an imam, a Unitarian Universalist and a member of the Baha'i faith.
Sponsored by the National Conference for Community and Justice and moderated by Dr. Roy Kaplan, executive director of the local group of the national conference, the event drew more than 300 people.
Topics ranged from anti-Semitism to the apparent quiet response by Muslim leaders to terrorism.
"The audience was so moved by seeing all of us, all these religious leaders seated together in a friendly way," said the Rev. Leddy Hammock of Unity Church of Clearwater. "It did more toward working for peace than anything that was said. When there is an opportunity for peace, show up. Be there. Be a part of peace. What if people all over the world just showed up for peace?"
But some members of the audience were skittish about the group's intentions. One woman asked whether they were advocating one world religion.
"We kind of smiled and looked at each other and said by no means are we going to do that," Hammock said. "The point is we really honor and value our diversity. We stand together."
The Rev. Abhi Janamanchi, pastor of Unitarian Universalists of Clearwater, called the symposium a "fantastic" exchange and said there was "quite a lot of delight" in the way questions were handled.
"One of the questions directed more to the Christian panelists was how they feel about the Ten Commandments' being put in front of the courthouse in Alabama," he said. "They basically were opposed. This was a private religious belief and shouldn't be forced on the public."
Through questions like that, he said, panelists "noticed a deep yearning for (a forum) like this to happen so people could know each other better."
"They were asking what can we do to promote peace. My response is the fact they made the time to be there showed they wanted to do something."
But he and the other leaders conceded that just talking about peace is not enough.
Long-term plans may include service projects together.
"We're getting people to see by our modeling that we can get along together," Kaplan said. "We have different belief systems, but we have a core set of values that hold us together: respect, fairness, honesty, understanding and appreciation of diversity. The reality is, we recognize we have more similarities than differences and we're all in this world together."
He went on to say it is much better if religious leaders work cooperatively to create a just society.
"It makes sense, doesn't it?" he said.
After two hours, the symposium ended with the panelists walking away satisfied.
"It was incredibly successful," said Rabbi Arthur Baseman of Temple B'nai Israel. "People loved seeing the diversity of faith traditions get along."
Said Hammock: "We went in as friends and we left as friends."
