This past Sunday afternoon, World Religion Day was celebrated in the Central Cariboo Arts Centre.
An annual event, World Religion Day is commemorated every third Sunday of January and fell this year on Jan. 21. The day was first started in the 1950s in the United States by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is. It has since spread and has become celebrated internationally.
The purpose of the day is to promote equality, diversity, and unity amongst all of the world’s various religions. World Religion Day helps to highlight the fact that underlying all the religions of the world’s various creeds is the principle of harmony and that all these religions can help unify the world.
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Every year it aims to help promote multi-faith understanding harmony in Canada and around the world through a series of forums, sharing of cultural entertainment and simple prayer circles. Here in Williams Lake, 35 men, women and children from diverse spiritual backgrounds came together and shared prayers, food, music, poetry and watched a clip sent by people from Papua New Guinea wishing everyone a happy World Religion Day.
It was hoped by those who attended that the laughter, music and information they shared will plant a seed in others that will grow into a desire to gain a true understanding of the people and religions of the world and how all are far more alike than they are different.
patrick.davies@wltribune.com
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