1st Mosque ‘Open Day’ Seeks to Address Prejudices in Australia
The first national mosque open day, to be held 25 October, will be followed by a march in 20 cities organized by an interfaith community group, Welcome to Australia.
The first National Unity Day events were announced by Muslim, Christian and Jewish community leaders at Sydney’s Pitt Street Uniting Church on Wednesday, The Guardian reported.
The president of the Lebanese Muslim Association (LMA), Samier Dandan, said the day was about “demonstrating to the wider community that our mosques are open”, an openness he hoped would be mirrored in the general public.
“We want to say, open up your heart, open up your intellect, do not allow ignorance, don’t allow those bigots out there to dictate what you think,” he said.
“If you have a question, go straight to the source, do your own research, find out what a Muslim stands for, what a Christian stands for, what a Jew stands for.
“I guarantee what you’ll find is that 99% between the different faiths is common,” he said.
Dandan said the LMA was implementing other interfaith projects, including organizing visits between private Islamic and Jewish schools “to cross-pollinate their mindsets”.
“It’s about taking those common messages of peace and harmony and implementing them in a practical way,” he said.
