In the Fine Arts Auditorium on Oct. 2, the 13th Annual Interfaith Conference was held in dedication to Mahatma Gandhi on what would be his 141st birthday. The topic of the afternoon was titled “The Concept of God in the World.”
With around 200 in attendance, the presentation was opened with a reading of an introductory poem to set the context of the discussion as Professor John Stark, the master of ceremonies for the event, said. The poem, “The Flame of Freedom,” by Vimala Thakar, was read aloud by an audience member.
A pamphlet given at the beginning of the conference said the poem is a “universal prayer” for all religions.
There were five speakers, representing different religions and spoke about what their religions represent as followed: Prof. Vimal Chaitanya from the University of New Mexico, representing Hinduism, Father Perry Kavookjian, Christianity, Bakersfield College math Prof. Rafael Espericueta, Buddhism, Jan Casteel Fleury, Islam, and Jon Bergstrom, science.
“We have a concept of trinity in Hinduism, [we have one god with three powers,] the power of creation, power of sustaining, and the power of destruction. The power of destruction is not a bad thing because you need to destroy in order to create [anew]” as Chaitanya stated about Hinduism in relation to Christianity’s Trinity.
Father Kavookjian mentioned the Christian’s beliefs are based that “[Jesus] lived life as a Jew and prayed as a Jew. but Jesus also taught that you can have a personal relationship with [his] God, and that the basis of this relationship is mutual love.”
Espericueta said that Buddhism “has no fundamental separation between the mundane world and spiritual realm. There is no god out there somewhere who is also the very core and essence of our own being.
“The same can also be said with regard to all sentient beings that may appear to be out there because all [beings are] deeply rooted in ones own heart at the level of power we are all deeply connected. It is as if we all have different bodies and minds, but one heart. To a Buddhist, god could be the one that peers out through all eyes and hears through all ears.
“Islam means the submission to the will of God. I am a Muslim, which means one who submits to the will of God. God promises he will listen to the prayers of [everyone] who calls upon Him. Muslims regard Islam as the completed and universal religion that was the original religion revealed many times and places before God created Adam. God knew the prophets Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and Jesus. But God’s final message to man, a reconfirmation of the eternal message was revealed through the Prophet Mohammed” said Fleury on the beginning of the Islamic religion.
Bergstrom said during the ending question and answer segment of the conference on a question of “what is the concept of God according to science?” Which he replied, “If I stated a scientific perspective [on God], science would always try to insure that there is no certainty.
“Scientists would always assume there is more information to be gained and rather than in certain that there were [an opportunity] for a variety of views and for more information so I would say the scientific perspective would not rely on faith to believe in God but rather would be to be open to the God of all religions.”
The Interfaith Conference was Co-sponsored by the Gandhi Alliance for Interfaith Harmony and the Behavioral Sciences Department at BC.