Joint Celebration of Religious Events

The Peacebuilding Department of Diocese of Raiwind, Church of Pakistan organized an event to celebrate Christmas and Eid Milad-ul-Nabi together. The event was held to introduce and encourage the concept of joint celebration of religious festivities among the masses in order to promote interfaith by unveiling its positive impact on our society. People from different walk of life gathered at joyous occasion of Eid celebrations. A total of 204 people attended the event. Approximately 45% were female participants and members of Trans community. Religious leaders, youth and women from Christian, Hindu, Muslim and Sikh community participated in the event. Mr. Noman Sajjad and Ms. Zarish Yaqoob from the Peacebuilding department started the program and invited representatives of 4 different faith for opening prayers. It was followed by the brief introduction of the Peacebuilding Department of Diocese of Raiwind-Church of Pakistan and the activities held in the year 2016. Bishop Samuel Azariah, Allama Arif Asghar Chishti, Advocate Shabnam Nagi Govinda Luhana and Amreek Singh were the main speakers of the event. The speakers mainly talked about the significance of sharing happiness with people from other religion and how important it is to hold interfaith gatherings since it strengthen the sense of tolerance understanding and peace. Furthermore they agreed that such gatherings can really boost and strengthen relations among people from different faith. The young volunteers of the peacebuilding department of Diocese of Raiwind showcased a theatre performance on 2 themes; discrimination against religious and sexual minorities in our societies and how we can become agents of change and work together to address such social issues. Bishop Azariah, in his concluding remarks, hauled the efforts of the peacebuilding department in bringing people from different faiths, cultures and profession under one roof.