Multifaith at Kingsmead School

[Guest guest]

 

 

 

 

 

2nd October

Multi Faith session at Kingsmead School, Enfield

 

The session had representatives from the Jewish Christian, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu and Humanist backgrounds. The day consisted of interactive sessions with 250 students from year 11.

The youngsters had prepared some very pointed questions for the faith representatives. Questions like: If God is powerful and compassionate then how do you explain suffering? The Jewish representative claimed that it was mankind's fault, the Christian representative said suffering was due to the original sin committed by Adam. None of these answers are really satisfactory or give an explanation as to why there is such horrendous suffering in the animal kingdom or suffering that arise due to natural causes. How can mankind be held responsible for that?

The Hindu response was deliberately light hearted, it was, 'Why are you asking me? Ask God.' This raised a great deal of laughter. It was not a flippant answer but recognised the difficulty of reconciling an all-powerful all-merciful God with the thorny issue of suffering.

A pointed question was fired at the Humanist: Why are you so sure there is no God? The humanist response was equally cutting: Because there are not enough reasons to believe in God! Though esoteric Hinduism agrees with most of the criticisms that Humanist lobby levels at world religions it disagrees with one of its core beliefs. The belief that Human beings are nothing more than an extension of the material kingdom. Hinduism insists that we are essentially spiritual beings on a material journey and not material beings conjuring up ideas of spirituality to improve our material status.

 

jay lakhani of Education

Hindu Council UK