Interfaith lecture at the UM campus Newman Alum Center

Pictured (l-r) are Father Frank Corbishley, Dr. Reza Shah Kazemi and Rabbi Gary Glickstein
Pictured (l-r) are Father Frank Corbishley, Dr. Reza Shah Kazemi and Rabbi Gary Glickstein
[dropcap]A[/dropcap] diverse segment of the community gathered at the at the Newman Alumni Center on the campus of the University of Miami on March 30 to engage in an intellectual discussion about the universality of different faith traditions.

The Ismaili Council for Florida, the University of Miami, College of Arts and Sciences, MCCJ and Temple Beth Sholom co-sponsored an Interfaith lecture titled “Spirituality and Universality in Islam.”

The guest speaker, Dr. Shah-Kazemi, is a research fellow at the Institute of Ismaili Studies in London and is Managing Editor of the Encyclopædia Islamica. He maintained through passages of the Qu’ran that Islam “explicitly refers to the divine Ordainment of religious diversity.”

Following the lecture, Father Frank Corbishley, UM Episcopalian chaplain since 1994, discussed the importance of remembering the past mistakes of all Abrahamic faiths.
“Humility demands that we acknowledge that we all have baggage and that the other religions also have something beautiful to contribute,” he said.

Rabbi Gary Glickstein discussed how Judaism embraces not only all faiths, but also those without a

Roberta Shevin and Rev. Priscilla Felisky Whitehead
Roberta Shevin and Rev. Priscilla Felisky Whitehead

faith. Rabbi Glickstein has been the spiritual leader of Temple Beth Sholom for the 30 years and is the founding executive director of the Woldenberg Center for Jewish Life.

A spirited Q & A followed the panel discussion and Dr. Gayle Pagnoni, chair of the Religious Studies Department at Palmer Trinity School, said the event was “the kind of intellectual tradition rich among the children of Abraham.”

Organized as one of the Ismaili Council for Florida’s ongoing outreach and community engagement initiatives, the Council intends to have many more similar discussions of pluralism and interfaith relationships.


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