Participants were Richard Mattheson-Kaplan, worship leader at Congregation Beth Israel; Paul Crowther, bishop of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; Darold Bigger, professor at Walla Walla University; Tim Hays, pastor of Assumption Catholic Church; Joel Ley, pastor of Christ Lutheran Church; Brother Hassan Ziada, imam of the Tri-Cities Islamic Center and Brother Yehia Ibrahim, also from the Tri-Cities Islamic Center.

“What a marvelous privilege it is to gather together as members of a larger community than our own denomination,” said Hays as he began his remarks.

A large community did turn out, between 75 and 100 men and women, most of whom appeared to be above 40 years old.   The audience was seated with their backs towards the torah ark at the front of the room, in an effort to support the interfaith event.

“This room does tend to get warm with so many people in it,” said Kate Bobrow-Strain.

Organizers Patrick Henry and Mattheson-Kaplan timed the event to occur the day after Yom Kippur, a Jewish holiday that addresses forgiveness. Panelist comments focused on the relationship between God and people in forgiveness, and the difficulties of putting religious principles of forgiveness into practice.

“I don’t know anyone who sins on a schedule,” said Hays. “Forgiveness is an ongoing process.”

The audience saw how personal a process the forgiveness question can be when Bigger shared the story of his daughter’s murder. In the interfaith spirit, he noted that it was a Lutheran text that eased his conflict. “While we were still sinners, Jesus died for us,” he recited.

The night continued to be personal when the audience got to ask questions, which included whether Catholics excuse their sins too easily by trusting in God’s forgiveness; how one can forgive institutional wrongdoing by governments or companies; and whether justice matters more than forgiveness.

One audience member, Whitman Senior Adjunct Associate Professor of Religion and General Studies  Roger Miles, opened his post-forum question to the panel by saying, “I suppose at an interfaith conference I should be listening for commonalities, but I was impressed by difference.”

The participants did allow their different religious rhetoric to enter their dialogue. Ibrahim opened his remarks with “As-salamu `Alaykum” meaning “Peace be upon you all,” while Crowther closed his speech with the LDS statement, “I testify that…” But the men also tailored their language to express commonalities. Ibrahim referenced God instead of Allah, a distinction Ziada addressed later by noting that Allah is Arabic for God, just as Elohim is God in Hebrew or Gott in German.

Though the panelists worked to find common ground, a man in the audience asked whether more worldviews could be brought into the discussion.

“I’m interested in your perspective on forgiveness outside of the faith traditions,” he said to the panelists.

Mattheson-Kaplan responded by expressing his desire to invite more participants to dialogue.

“This was the starting point of what we hope will be many such events. Tonight we brought the three Abrahamic traditions under one tent, but it’s not a tent with a lock on the flap,” he said.

Whitman Intercultural Center Program Advisor Ben Wu, one of only a few young adults at the forums, appreciated the audience questions and the evening overall.

“I really liked the question at the end about forgiveness outside of religion,” he said. “I think [the forum] is a great idea. Anytime you get people together for an event like this, you’re going to have interesting things come up.”

Henry, a Whitman Professor of French from 1976 to 2002, said that while students did not attend the event, he saw their interest in matters of religion and morality when he taught a Literature of Peace class that had a 30 person waitlist. Henry considers it vital to get more students involved in future interfaith events.

“Tell the students they missed something tonight,” he said. “I hope it’s the first of many, and that students will come. There’s no future without you.”

Henry added that he believes students can learn from these events that occur beyond Whitman grounds in a way that they perhaps cannot in school.

“Whitman is not a guide to religion in the world. Religion is growing. We need to have face-to-face dialogue,” he said.