2009 Oct 4: Multifaith Peace Walk
I’ll be participating in the Second Annual Danforth Multifaith Peace Walk and urge everyone to join me. The walk begins at Glen Rhodes United Church and continues past the Danforth Jewish Circle, the Pakistani Community Centre and the Madina Masjid on Danforth to celebrate the newly renovated space, ending at Eastminster United Church.
Women are asked to wear a head scarf inside the Madina Masjid.
Second Annual Danforth Multifaith Peace Walk
Sunday, 2009 October 4, 1 pm
Glen Rhodes United Church, 1470 Gerrard St E
| — Adriana Mugnatto-Hamu on 2009 Sep 30 in Fun, Green paperclip, Hope, Non-violence, Social justice & diversity |
MY FEEDBACK.
THERE WAS NO HINDU PRESENCE. AND AT THE SPEECHES THEY SAID THAT THE COMMON THREAD WAS THE ABRAHAM HERITAGE. THE WALK SHOULD EITHER EXCLUDE THE HINDU SIGN AND MAKE IT BETWEEN WESTERN RELIGIONS OR BE MORE INCLUSIVE TO HINDUS.
THE WALK WAS “PEACEFUL” BUT LACK TRUE CONTENT.
PEACE WHERE? I FELT IT DID NOT RAISE ANY AWARENESS TO PAST OR PRESENT.
I WAS DISAPPOINTED THAT ON THE FLYER THERE IS AN OM HOWEVER THERE WAS NO MENTION OF ANY OTHER RELIGIONS. SO WHY INCLUDE IT IN THE FLYER?
I FEEL THAT NEXT YEAR DO NOT INCLUDE THE EASTERN TRADITIONS AT ALL SINCE THE FOLLOWERS ARE MANY WESTERN RELIGIONS.
AS FAR AS I CAN TEL FROM YOUR LOGO. IT DID NOT FEEL INCLUSIVE FOR OTHER RELIGIONS.
Hi, I’m not the one who organized the walk, but I am the one who grabbed the clip-art from the web. (If you click on the logo, you can see where I grabbed it from.) The walk was organized by the religious groups mentioned — I think initially they were all on that stretch of Danforth Ave. Adriana repeated the announcement on this Green Party site because it was happening in our riding, and I added an illustration that seemed appropriate.
I didn’t attend the walk or the speeches: Adriana and our young son did. But I did meet some of the organizers at the end of the day. I don’t want to speak for them (and there’s many of them, so perhaps no one of them should speak for all of them), but it’s hard for me to imagine that they wouldn’t welcome wider religious representation. My guess is they started close to home (the Jewish group meets at the Eastminster Church) and expanded to what was nearby, both in terms of geography and tradition.
My guess is that if someone mentioned the shared Abrahamic traditions, they were focusing on a commonality without meaning to exclude others. I just Googled one of their flyers, which mentions, just as you say, the Abraham connection (as well as the Danforth connection). I’m guessing the peace for which they feel particularly responsible is in the Middle East.
You might want to contact the organizers (try eastminster@bellnet.ca) and offer to help them bring additional groups in.