Daily religious education

KYLE BERGER REPORTER

In 1985, when Vancouver was preparing to celebrate its centennial, David Spence, the minister of St. Andrews United Church in Port Moody, and a few friends thought it would be a good idea to also mark the city's religious diversity.
In 1986, they held an art exhibit that focused on various religious holidays and created a catalogue of the art, which took the form of a calendar. Eighteen editions later, the Multifaith Calendar has taken on a life of its own.

A project of the Multifaith Action Society, which is made up of local clergy of various religions, the calendar marks the specific timelines, religious holy days and events from 13 religions.

"It's been overwhelming," said Spence, who is also the managing editor of the calendar. "We had nine religions included in the first edition and now we have 13 because people want to be included."

He recently took calls from people hoping to add Confucianism and Daoism as well.

Spence explained that it is important to ensure that they have complete, accurate information about each featured religion.

"We make sure we can get a good academic explanation of how each religion understands time," he said. "We also want to reflect each religion visually.

"The absolute value [of the calendar] is recognizing the diversity and the plurality of our society," he continued. "We are multicultural and this is an opportunity to recognize that, honor it and respect it."

Beth Israel's Rabbi Charles Feinberg, who is the current president of the Multifaith Action Society, said the calendar is an excellent educational and awareness tool.

"I think that you can then be more sensitive to your non-Jewish friends and colleagues about their religious observances and be aware of what's really important to them," he said. "It promotes multicultural understanding and harmony and, from a Jewish point of view, it also offers others a fine way of understanding our holidays."

The art in the calendar depicts an ecological theme inspired by the David Suzuki Foundation. The 17 local artists whose works are featured in the calendar include E. J. Hughes, Susan A. Point, Ellie Jeon and Chrysan Chen. The 13 religions featured are aboriginal spirituality, Baha'I, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Shintoism, Sikhism, Unitarian, Wicca and Zoroastrianism. Each day of a particular month that is celebrated by a religious or spiritual community is briefly described in a side bar on that page.

The calendars cost $14.99 and can be purchased at various local bookstores, by e-mailing [email protected], or online at www.amssa.org. They can also be purchased through Feinberg at 604-731-4161.

All profits go into the production of the calendar, as well as other multifaith programs connected with the Multifaith Action Society.

Kyle Berger is a freelance journalist and graphic designer living in Richmond.

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