It was a very moving ceremony and demonstrated the ability for many people from different faiths, ethnicities and political viewpoints to come together and pray for a common purpose.

Speakers included:

• Tiopira Rauna (LDS, Secretary of the Wellington Regional Interfaith Network)
• Dr Margaret Mayman (Reverand of St Andrew’s on the Terrace)
• Rev Godfrey Nicholson (Vicar of St Peter’s on Willis)
• Sultan Eusuf (Chief Officer, Federation of Islamic Associations)
• Rabbi Johanna Hershenson (Wellington Progressive Jewish Congregation)
• Ratilal Champaneri (President, NZ Indian Central Association)
• Carrie Coddington (Past Secretary, Baha’i Kapiti Network)
• Melanie Gregg and Lime (Soka Gakkai NZ)

You can download or listen to an audio recording (35 minutes, 16 MB):

The story from the Standard Newswire reports a Muslim woman from Jordan saying, “I have realized I have much more in common with a Christian from Palestine than [with] a Muslim from the West … The differences are mainly cultural, not religious.”

Three of the participants were interviewed, and you can listen to their stories below:

Razan Abd El Haque, a Muslim woman from Jordan:

Olivier Salagi, a Jewish man from France:

Veranika Shetskaya, a Christian woman from Belarus:

Thanks to MidEastYouth for the link!

Dave