DESCRIPTION:

Exploring Faiths is a bi-weekly series of programs organized by the Islamic Dialogue Student Association (IDSA). IDSA will be inviting a speaker representing a faith/religion every other week, and the speaker will introduce his/her faith from a dialogical, multilateral, peaceful and constructive perspective. At the end of each presentation, there will be a question and answer (Q&A) and a social hour session where participants can interact through informal dialogical and educational conversations while enjoying refreshments in a friendly atmosphere.

OBJECTIVES:

We, as IDSA members, believe that ignorance, prejudice and misconceptions are the ultimate enemies of the current communication breakdowns among people of different faiths. Considering the significance of cross-cultural communication in this era of rapidly increasing global interactions, we believe that our "Exploring Faiths" programs are of indispensable importance in that they will first help us annihilate prejudices and re-evaluate and dispose of misconceptions and then offer people a wonderful opportunity to learn about the true face of other faiths. Moreover, although it is universally acknowledged that every faith has its own sanctities, there are innumerous commonalities among different faiths, and unfortunately, they have either been totally neglected or purposefully undermined by ignorant people due to the afore-mentioned reasons. Hence, "Exploring Faiths" programs originate from the idea that every body- despite their type of faith, has the right to live in this global village as much as we do, and will shed light on similarities and thereby create new communication platforms which will provide people with the awareness of the realities of the others faiths. Nevertheless, being a believer is not a requirement to be able to participate in our "Exploring Faiths" programs.

PROCEDURE:

In the light of the afore-mentioned objectives, we consider it indispensably significant that all participants demonstrate care and sensitivity towards the following issues. As for the framework of speeches, the speakers should present their faiths from a "dialog, friendship and peace" perspective without negative reference to other faiths, and touch on certain issues such as;

* The essentials and pillars of their faiths/religions
* The sensitive and sacrilegious issues of the faith
* The holidays and their traditions
* The social implications of certain issues of the faith