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Closing Wisdom Prayer on Future and Faithfulness
Interfaith Summit, Session 2
July 23, 2024

Presented by Dr. Sumeyra Tek
Raindrop Foundation San Antonio

Good evening everyone,

Religious and spiritual diversity is without a doubt a source of richness in our societies. Faithfulness leads to societies that are committed to living and working together for a higher good. Today, we are reminded about the absolute power of faith that brings us together for working towards the common good. We are reminded of the Golden Rule, compassionately acting to treat all others in ways we deeply desire to be treated ourselves, a common principle for many religions.

As we move from here, a safe and respectful space. Which I want to define as a “Peace Island”, a metaphor used by Muslim Scholar Fethullah Gulen, a safe space for dialogue, and a haven for building peace. We need to have more of these spaces, more of these gatherings.  A credible and constructive dialogue should not be limited to spiritual leaders, and I know many of us here today. It must involve all parts of society, and especially the “grassroots” at the local level, as well as be inter-religious, interfaith and inter-cultural to make a genuine difference. Can we have more friends at these tables, younger generations, can we create more causes just to be together. Do we need more people of faith to believe in the importance of interfaith dialogue?

I even want to pause here, and want to ask you a question? Is interfaith dialog limited to people of faith. I want to challenge you here, let’s think about this for a second.

This afternoon, I called a friend, and asked his permission if I could tell you about him at this gathering. He said “Definitely, Yes”

He is a dear friend, a Raindrop volunteer, who is a musician, not Muslim, the director of our very famous Raindrop Ensemble that I am sure many of you know. It is a community orchestra that performs at city-wide interfaith gatherings. He is Jewish by heritage, also non-faith, not associated with any organized faith or religion, but yet he is the person who you will see deeply committed to the interfaith dialogue, shares his talents and leadership. He told me that, as long as religions exist, even if he does not believe in one, he believes in the power of religions that can positively impact society. And he saw this through the good people of faith. He saw the bad examples as well. But he chose his stance. He is non-faith, but at the same time an advocate for interfaith dialogue. We all have that goodness, the transformative experience that we all share at these gatherings needs to be replicated in many other places.

We need to have more peace islands, and genuine experiences of dialogue.

Collaboration, cooperation that we have just heard about the fruits today which have benefited our city in many ways.

From here, at the base of the mountains, aiming for the summit, Let’s work together towards a world that many more people believe that religious traditions, and/or spiritual and humanistic beliefs are the solutions, not reasons for conflicts; and interfaith dialogue at both the individual and institutional levels is the absolute path for a community that all can flourish.

Let’s again put compassion and love at the center of everything.

As the famous Sufi poet Rumi once said, “When we practice loving kindness and compassion, we are the first ones to profit.”

We are all together in this precious journey, and peaceful coexistence for all  is not far.

This is my prayer, Amen.