Public Forum On World Religions

Shreveport-Bossier City's 11th annual observance of World Religion Day will be held Sunday at the Highland Center in Shreveport.

The day began as a holiday promoted by the Baha'i faith, which believes all religions are one and differences are a result of man, not God.

The event is a celebration of religious communication and a presentation of the variety of beliefs, customs, art, music and food that are part of the numerous religions practiced in northwest Louisiana.

The event is a forum for learning more about religions from representatives of each group, said SuZanne Wright, a member of the planning committee.

"We welcome more than 15 worldwide diverse religious groups, and each will host an information booth. Everybody has questions that they've wanted to ask and just had no place to go."

Maj. Effson C. Bryant, a chaplain at Barksdale Air Force Base, will be the keynote speaker. Peter Huff, chairman of religious studies department at Centenary College, will deliver the opening statement.

Representatives of participating religious groups will share their viewpoints during panel discussions to be followed by a question-and-answer session.

"We generally have up to 300 people come through," Wright said of attendance, adding that the event is a venue enables people to learn about world religions from people that live them. "That's an opportunity most people don't have. We can't stress enough how great it is to be in an environment where we all work together to make this happen and each group is genuinely appreciative of every other group."

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