Just what, exactly, is paganism, anyway? And how does it differ from faiths such as Christianity? For that matter, is there more to Buddhism than meditation?
Anyone who has pondered those kind of questions can get the answers at an upcoming forum at the Mill Creek Library.
The World of Religions forum is being sponsored by the Friends of the Mill Creek Library, the group that put on a forum and roundtable discussion of the USA Patriot Act in October.
As of The Enterprise deadline on Tuesday, Feb. 17, five speakers representing five different faiths had been lined up for the event. A rabbi was scheduled to take part, but had to withdraw because of a prior commitment. Organizers were hoping to line up someone to speak about Judaism as of this newspaper’s deadline.
The five speakers for the event are: Hari Vilas Das, a Hindu priest from the International Society for Krishna Consciousness; Kevin Bates, a minister at Advent Lutheran Church in Snohomish; Kelsang Jindak, a Buddhist nun from the Vajralama Temple in Ballard; Erynn Rowan Laurie, a pagan, and Ray Stone, a member of Mill Creek Local Spiritual Assembly, a Baha’i faith assembly.
Ruth Griffith, adult librarian at the Mill Creek branch and one of the event’s organizers, said that one goal of next week’s forum was to showcase a variety of faiths, even though Islam is currently not represented. She said the library had a forum on Islam shortly after 9/11, and that this time around the library wanted to have a program focusing on other religions.
The forum will be ran as follows: the various speakers will talk about the basic tenets of their faith, and a question-and-answer session with the audience will follow.
“We’re not looking for heated debates,” said Eric Spencer, managing librarian at Mill Creek. “From the interest the fliers have generated, we’re expecting a good turnout, maybe 70 or so. In our space, 70 people is a lot.”
In addition to the library’s main parking lot, some parking is available at Library Park behind the library, which is on 156th Street SE just off Mill Creek Boulevard.
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