Religious Freedom: Malice Toward None 04/29/18

On April 29, 2018 Rev. Ed Kosak and Unity of Charleston hosted a very successful interfaith event, with 15 faith paths represented. The event included a call to Jeffrey Mannaseh in Malawi Africa have a Skype call to the originator of this global event Greg Davis in Columbus Ohio. This event was held simultaneously in Madison, Wisconsin, Concorde, New Hampshire, Rockton, Illinois, Ventura County, California, Boise, Idaho, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Houston, Texas, Ames, Iowa, Grass Valley, California, Columbus, Ohio, Kasese, Uganda, Gulu Town, Uganda, Kashmir, India, Faisalabad, Pakistan as well as in Malawi in Africa. Among the partners in Africa was URI, United Religions Initiative which I believe is the organization that Jeffrey Mannaseh serves in. Click on image to view the video.

The opening speaker was to be Russell Binder, sharing his perspective on Judaism. He was unable to attend and his part was covered by Rev. Ed’s long time interfaith colleague Toreah “Cookie” Washington. Next came Victoria Smalls speaking from her Baha’i faith, she was followed by Dr. Amarjit Singh on Sikhism. Then came an artistic interlude with Dr. Peter Kfoury playing the Oud. Next to speak was Rev. Christian King on Christianity, she was followed by Shaila Shroff speaking on Hinduism, Native American spirituality was addressed by Rev. Catherine Nelson who also played beautifully on her double wooden flute. We were then presented with interpretive dance by Trudy’s School of Dance and coordinated by Erica Capdevila. Dr. Reshma Kahn spoke about Islam, and next was to be sensei Cindy Beach who was unable to attend due to logistical problems. Her time was taken to connect by Skype with the events originator Greg Davis in Ohio. The Quakers, the Religious Society of Friends were represented by Trish Bender and she was followed by another artistic interlude, native flute performed by Cerantha. Speaking for the Mormon faith was Dr. David Goltra and he was followed by Bernadette Victor from the Unitarian Universalist Church in Charleston, and she was followed by a Will Moredock who presented his secular humanist perspective. This was followed by another artistic interlude featuring Greg Guay performing an original piece on classical guitar. Perspectives on paganism were presented by IPSC’s Holli Emore and Clarissa Mickle who were followed by Simran Singh who spoke for the Oneness movement. This was followed by another artistic interlude featuring unity of Charleston’s own Brad Henty and Chris Crosby. Cookie Washington provided closing remarks.

Throughout the event people were informed of interfaith opportunities, locally this included The Coastal Interfaith Community, the Christian Jewish Council, Charleston Area Justice Ministry and the statewide organization IPSC, Interfaith Partners of South Carolina. Rev. Ed also took some time to talk about The Parliament of World Religions and encouraging people to become involved and to attend the upcoming Parliament this November in Toronto. Ed also shared that he and Greg will have a table at the Parliament promoting Religious Freedom: Malice Toward None.
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