Paris, France—UPF held an online interfaith discussion on the topic “Beginnings of the Creation.”
A total of 85 people registered for the webinar, the third in a series, which was held via Zoom on April 11, 2021. Participants joined not only from France but also from Belgium, Burkina Faso, Canada, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, Switzerland, and Italy. Additional participants joined via Facebook.
Prior to the webinar, those who had registered were sent a few texts on the discussion topic, taken from the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and the Quran.
The moderator was Dr. Ye-Bonne Koyama, an aerodynamics research engineer and a representative of Youth and Students for Peace, an organization that is affiliated with UPF.
Following a short introduction by Jean-François Moulinet of the interreligious forum Dialogue & Alliance of UPF-France, the program proceeded with readings of sacred texts, followed by comments by representatives of different religions:
Veda-Buddhism: Venerable Michel Thao-Chan, founding president of the Cercle de Réflexion des Nations;
Judaism: Tirzi Martin of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, another organization that is affiliated with UPF;
Judeo-Christianity: Gaël Cosendai, a Christian pianist
Islam: Professor Boumédiène Benhiaya, founder of the Kalima Institute;
Unificationism: Didier Guignard, founder of the Club-Science-Paris;
This was followed by announcements of upcoming activities by Jacques Marion, the president of UPF-France. The meeting concluded with a 20-minute group discussion.
The next online interfaith meeting is scheduled for the beginning of May, on the topic “Beginnings of Humanity.”
A recording of the event can be seen below.