The 11th annual World Religions Conference is returning to Yellowknife in a few weeks.
Last year’s theme was interfaith harmony, and this year’s theme is ‘Fundamentals of establishing lasting peace.’
Kalim Ahmed, is a member of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at and is helping organize this year’s event. He says the theme of peace is relevant to current events in the world.
“This is in context with the world situation scenario where we have lots of conflicts going on, and there have been threats of nuclear war, you know thrown at each other, so this is the larger context but you can bring it down to smaller levels,” Ahmed says.
“To communities, to families, so all that could be discussed here.”
“There’s a certain stigma attached to people of faith or people of certain backgrounds, and I have experienced that myself,” Ahmed says.
Basheer Islam, a volunteer with the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, says the event will have panellists from various world religions, and will be a safe space for discussion of what they have in common.
“Part of this conference is celebrating our commonalities and giving an opportunity to ask tough questions in a very peaceful manner,” Islam says.
“So the emphasis is not on debate, the emphasis is on dialogue and understanding. We just provide a platform where people can respectfully exchange ideas.”
