Keeping the Faith

February 9, 2007

Author: Brenda Schory

Source: Kane County Chronicle

http://www.kcchronicle.com/articles/2007/02/09/news/local/doc45cc4d1dacc86692149904.txt

The prayers for peace came from all corners. Baha’i. Buddhist. Christian. Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, Jain, Native American, Sikh and Zoroastrian.

Led by Mazher Ahmed of Batavia, a Sunni Muslim, about 50 members of the Interfaith Prayer for Peace group took turns reading aloud each faith’s prayer for peace.

“We all pray for peace, but praying together seems to be a lot more powerful,” Ahmed said.

In its own way, each prayer acknowledged human frailty and called upon God to aid each person to be compassionate and to reject violence.

For almost a year, the group has met - sometimes every month, sometimes every six weeks - at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Geneva and at other local churches.

Always, they focus on including other faith traditions in seeking intervention for peace.