Interfaith event teaches more than religious doctrines

In conjunction with the J. Reuben Clark Law Society and Cache Community Connections, nine different religious groups provided information about their religion for interested members of the community, Friday and Saturday.

Residents were able to learn about the St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, the First Presbyterian Church, the Logan Jewish Community, the Logan Islamic Center, the Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, Cache Valley Unitarian Universalists, St. John’s Episcopal Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

I was lucky enough to attend the first four but other responsibilities kept me from attending the last five.

As I arrived at the St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, I was cordially greeted by one of the members. She directed me to a flier with information regarding different aspects of their church and informed me of different members who would be providing more in-depth explanations on these aspects.

I first listened to an explanation of what confession means to their faith. Through the confessing of sin and performing an act of penance, a priest can then absolve someone of their sin, the member explained.

Then I was approached by someone I knew, though not on a personal level. Our conversation began with admiring the architecture on the inside of the church but quickly moved to why religion interests us and ultimately ended with us sharing our own personal experiences with religion.

As I spoke with this man who was in a different field of work, from a different generation and from a different state than myself, our biggest revelation came from how much we each valued the humbling experiences from our lives.

Admittedly, we both agreed these humbling experiences are sometimes not the most enjoyable — as our pride tends to get in the way — but they often teach us the most. Whether it be something as simple as finding out you were wrong or something more complex, the realization of a bigger picture than our own often leads us to improvement.

This conversation set the tone for the rest of the evening, as I moved on to the First Presbyterian Church.

Though I felt bad for arriving a few minutes late, I was greeted with a wave and a smile from the pastor, as was everyone.

As Rev. Derek Forbes explained aspects of the church’s service, theology and other practices, undoubtedly, there was a level of difference between this church and the one I had just visited.

However, I kept feeling as though the sentiment and meaning behind these different things were not entirely foreign, relative to what I learned at the previous church.

Not to discourage the audience from joining his church, but instead speaking on everyone’s ability to choose as they please, Forbes said, “If people want to find a faith community, I hope they find it.”

After listening to the church’s organist play a few verses, I decided it was time to head to the next spot.

On my way out the door, I bumped into a woman who experienced the same dilemma that had caused me to be late to the First Presbyterian Church.

Due to each church being scheduled back-to-back, I was constantly deciding whether I would leave early or be late to the next location.

A minor inconvenience leading to the two of us deciding to head to the Logan Jewish Community’s meeting a few minutes early.

When I punched in the address for my next destination, I realized it was sending me to Mount Logan Middle School.

“There must be a building next to it,” I thought.

When I arrived at the address and saw familiar faces entering the school, I realized the meeting was, indeed, inside the school.

In the opening minutes of his presentation, Arthur Caplan, representing the Logan Jewish Community, informed us we were there because they don’t have a formal meeting location. He further went on to say he knows of very few Jewish residents in Logan, but they do their best to get together on religious holidays and he meets with some of them for breakfast at Angie’s, once a week.

Ascribing to Reformed Judaism, Caplan admitted, “I might not be the best person to do this presentation.”

Reformed Judaism, as defined by reformjudaism.org, “Reform Judaism affirms the central tenets of Judaism — God, Torah, and Israel — while acknowledging the diversity of Reform Jewish beliefs and practices.”

Caplan continued his presentation on the history of Judaism, different sects within the religion and explained how his relationship with the religion has changed throughout his life. At times, he has practiced more than others but he believes the religion to be true.

As I headed to my last stop, the Logan Islamic Center, I was excited to see what I felt would be the most different experience of the night.

While there were differences, a commonality I had been experiencing all night showed up again, most notably in my conversation with a Muslim woman by the name of Shaima Yacoub, following the formal presentation of the religion.

As I asked her many questions — some likely more intelligent than others — I realized that yet again, I was just a person talking to another person about our life experiences and views of the world.

As with many of the other people I had spoken to during the evening, I found that her and I had some differences in the way we lead our lives, but we had a shocking amount of similarities as well. Believe it or not, we actually share the same fandom of the National Hockey League’s Toronto Maple Leafs.

Though this theme of people being different but also so similar had been present throughout the night, it became crystal-clear during this conversation.

“I just want people to come together in the world,” Yacoub said, as the conversation came to a close.

I understand this article is very out-of-the-ordinary for what you might typically find in The Herald Journal and I have the utmost respect for the differences that make each individual person who they are.

However, I felt it was relevant to share my personal experience in this one, unique instance, which reaffirmed how human each and every one of us are.