Cape Town - In Celebration of Youth Day, The Open Mosque in Wynberg yesterday invited a panel of representatives of Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Hinduism, with the youngest being 19 years old, to address the relevance of faith and religion among the youth.
A close to three-hour open discussion was held inside the prayer room at the mosque, where the panellists spoke on why religion is important to them and their perception of their faith.
The floor was then opened to the audience to comment and some questioned why so many young people do not show interest in religion and the difference between faith and religion.
President of The Open Mosque, Professor Taj Hargey, said the motivation behind the event was to create a peaceful, harmonious society.
“We are the only mosque who would do something like this. When they talk about the youth, they talk about entrepreneurship, employment and education, which are all important, but they never talk about religion.
“Therefore I brought people from various religions to discuss this.
“South Africa already has a lot of crisis and tension so we do not need to add religious friction to that.”
On the panel was Keval Ramchander, 20, representing the Hindu faith; Benjamin Zar, 21, Judaism; Jessica Berry, 19, Christianity and Alia Khan Koumantarkis, 19, Islam. In attendance, Mbali Williams, 22, a UCT law student said she found the discussion and the panel informative.
Cape Argus