April 4, 2011 (Monday)The Religious Society of Friends -- otherwise known as Quakers-- invited The Peacemakers' Circle to facilitate an interfaith dialogue session during their Asia-Pacific regional gathering (April 2 to 7, 2011) held at the Bukal ng Tipan Maryhill Retreat Center in Taytay, Rizal.
The Peacemakers' Circle brought together three speakers from different religions to the forum, namely: Prof. Julkipli Wadi from the University of the Philippines Institute of Islamic Studies; Ven. Vincent Taguinod (Mahayana Buddhist) from the Universal Wisdom Foundation; and Dr. Shakuntala Vaswani (Hindu) of The Peacemakers' Circle and United Religions Initiative.
Beginning with the provocative powerpoint presentation on Images of Conflict and Visions of Peace, the audience was given a visual context of the theme for the afternoon.Each speaker then shared on the significance of peace, interfaith dialogue and coexistence based on the teachings from their respective faith traditions. This was followed by small group discussions on what struck them from what they saw (on the powerpoint video) and what they heard (from the speakers), and what is the significance of interfaith dialogue in their own faith.
An open forum followed as participants from each group shared and posed questions for the panel to answer and expound on. It was an engaging interaction between the delegates and the speakers that left everyone with a general sense of deep gratitude for an enlightening session of interfaith dialogue.