2008 Events

Schedule of events for the 2008 Festival of Faiths will be posted in this space soon. In the meantime, if you need additional information, or are interested in sponsoring a portion of the Festival, please contact us at info@festivaloffaithskc.org, or call 913-671-2320.

2007 Events

• NOVEMBER 7th - Greater Kansas City Interfaith Council Table of Faiths luncheon,
  
  
• NOVEMBER 8th - The Open Circle Spiritual Film Showcase One: the Movie
  
  
• NOVEMBER 11th - Harmony Interfaith Choral Concert
  
  
• NOVEMBER 12th, 14th & 15th - The Hindu and The Cowboy
  
  
• NOVEMBER 13th - Keynote Speaker Event:  The Daniel Pearl Dialogue for Muslim-Jewish Understanding
  
  
• NOVEMBER 15th
  The Kansas City Friends of Jung present Sounds of the Soul
  
  
• NOVEMBER 18th - CRES Thanksgiving Family Ritual Dinner
  
  
• THROUGHOUT NOV. - A self-guided tour of The Sacred in Art at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.

What is the Festival of Faiths?

The Festival of Faiths is a two-week series of cornerstone events designed to enhance dialogue, build relationships, identify commonly-held beliefs and enhance participants’ own faith experience.

What is the mission of the Festival of Faiths?

To discover, recognize, celebrate and promote the reality of pluralism in our community through listening, learning, understanding and experience – the exercise of acceptance.

Goals are:

• To build awareness of the wealth of religious and interfaith activities in Kansas City
• To widen the audience of participation in interfaith dialogue
• To create interfaith dialogue and relationships through the planning and execution of Festival events.
• To attract a large and diverse audience for the Keynote Speaker Event in November.

Highlights of 2007 Festival of Faiths:

• More than 800 persons in attendance at the keynote speaker event; a dialogue between Dr. Judea Pearl, father of the slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl and Dr. Akbar Ahmed, Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University in Washington, DC. The dialogue event was held at Village Presbyterian Church in Prairie Village, KS.
• Approximately 2500 in attendance at all Festival events. Events included:
  • Greater Kansas City Interfaith Council Table of Faiths luncheon, November 7, 2007.
  • Open Circle Spiritual Film Showcase, November 8 – 12.
  • Interfaith Unitown, November 10-11.
  • Performances of the play, “The Hindu and the Cowboy,” November 12, 14 and 15.
  • CRES (Center for Religious Experience and Study) Thanksgiving Family Ritual Dinner.
• Met and exceeded all financial underwriting goals.
• Surveys conducted following the keynote speaker event tell us that:
  • 38 percent of attendees said this was the first time they had attended an interfaith event of any kind.
  • 68 percent strongly agreed and another 29 percent agreed that the program enhanced or increased their appreciation of interfaith dialogue.
  • More than 75 congregations, organizations and individuals provided sponsorship donations.
• Received widespread pre-event media coverage in such publications as:
  • The Kansas City Star
  • Jewish Chronicle
  • Johnson County Sun newspapers
  • Assorted electronic media outlets, websites, and blogs.
• Festival committees included diverse members from the Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities.

2007 Video

The conversation between Dr. Judea Pearl and Dr. Akbar Ahmed recorded in November 2007, has now been posted here on our website.

To view this important dialogue, please visit Festival of Faiths Videos.

Note: Due to limitations in file size on YouTube.com, the one hour presentation was divided into 10 segments.