Pubdate: Thu, 29 Mar 2007
Source: Brampton Guardian (CN ON)
Copyright: 2007 Brampton Guardian
Contact:  http://www.thebramptonguardian.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1485
Author: Dee Underwood

VARIETY OF RELIGIOUS LEADERS HOSTING ANTI-DRUG SEMINAR

On Sunday, April 8, religious leaders from Christianity, Hinduism, 
Islam and Sikhism will hold a public seminar to discuss the topic of 
How to Save Our Children, Our Next Generation in regards to drug and 
alcohol abuse.

"Drug and alcohol abuse is obviously one of the major issues that 
society faces today," said Khalid Mahmood, organizer of the event. 
"We try to focus in on the main issues, and obviously drugs and 
alcohol are major challenges to deal with."

The event is being organized by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at of 
Brampton Peel Village Canada, an organization based on the Ahmadi 
denomination of the Islam faith.

The symposium itself parallels many of the Ahmadi values, such as 
encouraging interfaith dialogue and advocating peace, tolerance and 
understanding among different faiths.

"We have a history of hosting events like this (worldwide) for more 
than 100 years and the last 15 years in Canada," said Mahmood. "We 
have gained a lot of respect in the community for our model of peace."

The symposium aims to combine several points of view in order to 
create a balanced platform to find solutions to some of society's 
biggest problems.

"We like to sit down with people from different points of view to try 
to find solutions for major issues. We invite people of all faiths to 
present their ideas for every issue. We don't skip anyone, even if 
they have the absolute opposite view to our beliefs - they will still 
have valuable input," Mahmood said.

The interfaith symposium will be held at South Fletcher's Sportsplex, 
500 Ray Lawson Blvd., from 6 to 9 p.m., with registration at 5:30 and 
refreshments afterwards.

Guest speakers will be Bishop Canute B. Blake (Christianity), Pandit 
Roopnauth Sharma (Hinduism), Vern Lahey (Islam) and Tejpal Singh 
Sahni (Sikhism). For more information, please contact Anis-ur-Rehman 
at 416-301-8530 or Dr. Asim Bashir Shaikh at 416-238-9921.
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MAP posted-by: Elaine