California State University, Bakersfield is pleased to join Bakersfield College and The Gandhi Alliance for Interfaith Harmony as co-sponsors of the 24th Annual Gandhi Alliance for Interfaith Harmony Conference.
On Sunday, Oct. 3 from 2-4 p.m., members from five faiths — Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Sikhism — will share their perspectives on "The Role of Religion in Overcoming Prejudice." Register for the zoom conference here.
“This topic is as timely as ever,” says Dr. Liora Gubkin, director of CSUB’s Institute for Religion, Education and Public Policy. “We can interrupt our biases and prejudices and build relationships based on mutual understanding when we come together to truly listen to one another’s stories.”
In honor of Gandhi's birthday, Oct. 2, the Gandhi Alliance for Interfaith Harmony was established by Dr. Hansa Patel and Dr. Naina Patel 23 years ago in Bakersfield to promote Gandhi's message of interfaith harmony.
Rabbi Jonathan Klein, new to our community as the spiritual leader of Temple Beth El, looks forward to joining in this Kern County tradition.
“In an era of social media and the relentless, hurtful and destructive scapegoating that has stolen the narrative away from love — within a context of ever-increasing isolation that began long before a pandemic sequestered and atomized us from one another— a universal tolerance promulgated by religious voices demanding respect for the inherent worth and dignity of all must be inserted into the conversation," he said. "This Interfaith Conference reminds us that not only is prejudice a learned deleterious value, so too celebration of diversity must be taught, inculcated, preached from every space, and religions can be key to spreading this healing perspective if we make them do so.”
Sudha Bhatt, a long-time member of The Gandhi Alliance, especially hopes students will attend “to create a new generation of leaders who are peace-loving, tolerant, giving, caring and cooperative members of our world.”
Members of the Gandhi Alliance dedicate their efforts to this conference with the hope that students will benefit in their personal interaction as they will be empowered with tools on how to be global citizens with people of identities that may be dramatically different than their own.
It is a vision that moves beyond mere tolerance, says Gubkin, “to a wholehearted appreciation of one another in the full complexity of our identities and a commitment to work together for a world where everyone can flourish.”
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