Interfaith Forum on True Love
Interfaith Forum on True Love
Feb 15, 2018
Through the combined efforts of CARP, Indian Student Association, Muslim Student Association, ACLC (American Clergy Leadership Conference) and UB Unification Campus Ministry, we were able to hold a successful Interfaith Forum on “True Love” on the campus of the University of Bridgeport. We has representatives from the Hindu, Muslim, Christian and Unification traditions. We thought having a forum on True Love during Valentines Day Week would be appropriate. About 50 people attended.
Last year CARP participated on an Interfaith Forum on arranged marriages and Co-Pastors Mika and Abe Deshotel served as panelists. It was pretty good. It was set up mostly by Campus Activities Dept and we wanted to take it up a notch.
Through the earnest efforts of Ricky deSena, Ruta and Krista Smith, Lily Shapiro and Dante Jean (all CARP officers) we were able to connect with the Indian and Muslim Student Association leadership. The Student Associations reached out to their contacts and brought people and helped us connect with the Muslim presenter. Jenny Cox designed a fantastic flyer and we handed it out to our friends and posted it around campus.
Our local ACLC Coordinator, Antonio Battilocchi, was able to connect with a young pastor in the neighborhood who has a vibrant ministry and he brought some of his congregants. Antonio also contacted the Hindu Swami who was so inspired with the program that he is seeking to establish a Temple on campus. UB has about 35 different countries represented on campus, India being one of the largest.
Many of the points touched on by the presenters were common to each other.
The importance of love in the family in raising children
Love others the way you want to be loved
Not only should we love God and love others, but realize that God loves us
The family is the school of love
During the Q and A period there were insightful questions, such as:
What is the difference between true love and false love?
If you just love God isn’t that enough, do you still need romance?
We prepared a slide show displaying the Wedding Traditions of the various faiths present to show the next logical step in the progression of True Love. The ceremonies displayed were elaborate in every faith and showed how much care is invested in bringing two families together.
We also had a book table where the various faiths could display their respective materials.
The evening concluded with two selections from the UB Gospel Choir and refreshments and more discussion.
Our plan is to continue to reach out to the religious community to find those righteous people True Mohter talks about, build bridges and educate them about the Blessing. We are thinking to hold an interfaith forum once per semester.
Submitted by Greg Breland, Unification Campus Ministry