Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Imagine representatives of five major religions gathering together and knocking down or at least explaining long-held stereotypes and misgivings with a sense of calm and light-heartedness.
That’s what happened during a two-hour talk on faith at the first of a series of discussions on diversity in Warsaw Thursday night.
The series on diversity is hosted by the OrthoWorx Diversity Committee and held at the YMCA. Thursday’s program attracted about 45 people.
The speaker panel included Rabbi Lenny Sarko, representing Judaism; the Rev. Dr. Timothy Hallman, Christianity; Priest Ji, Hinduism; Hythem Sidky, Islam; and Venerable Wuling, Buddhism.
The program began with a recap of major tenets of each of the religions and served as a refresher on how each views topics such as deities and the afterlife.
But the most interesting portion came as moderator Matt Goebel, director of Christian emphasis with the YMCA, posed questions to the five r
epresentatives submitted from the community prior to the event.
The following are a few abbreviated highlights from the Q-and-A:
• Sidky was asked how Islam is working to battle negative stigmas associated with Islam and Muslims.
He suggested engaging directly with Muslims would help and encouraged people to visit a mosque to learn more.
“I think you will find that your mosque will be an excellent host and they would love to have you there and have a frank conversation – we can talk about questions or concerns you might have,” Sidky said.
“The key thing is to humanize other people. I think the communal level and the human level can sort of help bridge the gap in our collective understanding,” he said.
• The rabbi was asked about the stereotype that Jews are “money grabbers.”
That reputation stems from the historical fact that during the Dark Ages, Jews were not allowed to own land. At the same time, while much of the world was not literate, a vast majority of Jews were literate, he said.
“If two kings needed to write up a contract, guess who they turned to? A Jewish guy. ... So they ended up going toward international trade, national trade and other areas they were allowed to participate in since they could not own land, they could not farm land – they were not allowed.
“As we head toward modernity, you see the first international banking houses, they tended to be Jewish. The Rothschild is an example. So you get this stereotype of what professions do they have? Money dealers. It kind of ended up in that area, but again, it was kind of forced into that area,” Sarko said.
• The representative of Islam was asked about the treatment of women.
Sidky said poor treatment of women is a male problem that transcends religion, race and nationality and pointed to the large number of women in America who are raped.
“There is as much of mistreatment of women in Islam as in every other faith and nationality and country in the world, but as a doctrine itself, Islam promotes and categorically prohibits any form of verbal, psychological or physical abuse of women at all,” Sidky said.
He said that westerners who look at Muslim woman and assume their use of the hijab – or head scarf – is forced upon them is a misnomer.
He also pointed out that numerous women from Muslim majority countries – Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Turkey, Kosovo and Kurdistan – have served as heads of states.
• The rabbi was asked what the difference is between Jesus and the Messiah.
Sarko said Jews view Jesus as a man, while the Messiah is a messenger.
“The saving of the world is our responsibility,” he said. “When we have finished saving the world, the Messiah comes down and says, ‘Yep, you got it right. Congratulations.’ That’s the only thing the Messiah is there for. It’s up to you and me to save the world.”
• Priest Ji was asked about the main tenets of Hinduism. While he said it’s a complicated issue, he said there is an emphasis to “always speak the truth” and “always go the right way.”
• Hallman was asked about the viewpoint that Christians feel superior to other faiths. He said that basis began from the beginning of the faith when Jesus commanded the apostles to “go onto all of the earth and proclaim the good word of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God. ... Part of Christianity has been a missionary faith from the beginning,” Hallman said.
• In a lighthearted moment, the Buddhist representative was asked if the Buddha was actually fat.
“The fat, chubby guy everyone is thinking of is actually not even yet a Buddha ... and he is waiting to become a Buddha in our Buddha land and he will do this in 5,670 million years,” Wuling said.
The Chinese Buddha people often see in Chinese restaurants, she said, is smiling because he has great joy in practicing and learning.
The big tummy, she said, is because it represents impartiality. “With his smile, he accepts everything,” she said.
The diversity series will continue on March 1 and the topic will explore aspects of India. The location has not been determined, Goebel said.
According to a leaflet from the organizers, OrthoWorx and the YMCA are striving to create a safe environment for the exchange of diversity-related topics with the hopes of promoting inclusion and understanding of all people.
Organizers also say they hope the series will help make the community more welcoming to potential employees.
“We have a diversity committee in order to attract and retain top talent from around the world. You have to be an opening and welcoming committee, so we try to inspire people to want to learn about other kinds of people,” said Gennie Brissette-Tipton, manager of communications and projects for OrthoWorx.
“We do a lot of stuff with kids because kids are malleable, but this is our first event for adults, who are a little bit less malleable than children are,” she said.
