Interfaith Harmony Week in Stuttgart, Germany

Hubert Arnoldi
February 5, 2011
UPF -- Germany

Stuttgart, Germany -- The UPF chapter in Stuttgart, Germany celebrated an inter-religious event on February 5, which connected to the "UN World Interfaith Harmony Week."

We started the meeting by welcoming the more than 40 guests. Then we gave a short introduction about the history of inter-religious dialogue and announced our motto of the afternoon: "One Family under God."

Leaders from six different religious beliefs gave speeches, and four more people read a prayer or a proclamation. After each speaker gave their address on the podium, they lit a candle on the stage: Dr. Al-Radwany, a representative of Islam; Dr. Saidi, a Mandaean; Dr. Tanay, a Sufi; Dr. Schmidt, a Bahá'í, Dr. Schick, from Scientology; and finally Mr. Arnoldi, the local UPF leader as a representative of Unificationism.

Each one of them expressed something about the essence of his religion and its contribution to peace. Afterwards came the prayers from Buddhism, Sikhism, Christianity, and an appeal from a German spiritual healer. The audience was deeply moved by the wisdom expressed by the different religions. They were also impressed by how many similar points there are from the various religions.

After this special part of our event we took a group photo and invited all participants to coffee and delicious snacks. Everyone present shared in lively conversation.

The guests stayed several hours, and as they were leaving expressed their gratitude for such an interesting meeting. Dr. Schmidt from the Bahá'í religion, a leader of "Religions for Peace" in Stuttgart, gave a special praise saying, "I wasn't even aware of the UN World Interfaith Harmony Week and I am positively impressed about the high quality of this UPF event."