Inspirational Women for International Women’s Day event at Mormon Church; Interfaith Council evening at Synagogue

I’ve been to two lovely interfaith events over the last couple of weeks. The first was organised by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Rhiwbina, Cardiff, for International Women’s Day. The second was at Cardiff Reform Synagogue and organised by the Interfaith Council for Wales.

I was one of the speakers for International Women’s Day. The topic was ‘Inspirational Women’ and I spoke about the amazing women in the history of the Aro gTér Lineage. After the four presentations by a Bahá’í, a Muslim, a Mormon, and myself representing Buddhists, we split into small groups to talk about the women who have inspired us. This was followed by cake!

The Interfaith Council for Wales Event was speaking up against hate crime. There were two Christian speakers of different denominations, a Muslim speaker, and a Jew. The Unitarian Church speaker gave a pragmatic approach to assisting someone who is being bullied. She suggested engaging with the victim, talking to them and maintaining eye contact, whilst ignoring the bullies. You could say anything, even if it was gibberish. Hopefully this would enable you to move the victim away from the bullies to a safe place, and only then should you ask them whether they are alright and give whatever practical assistance they need. The speaker representing the Evangelist Church used the familiar story of the Good Samaritan most effectively to make his point. After the speeches we had refreshments, and were given a tour of the synagogue with a most interesting talk about Jewish prayer and tradition.