Religious radicalization to be tackled by panel in Kamloops

KAMLOOPS – Radicalization in religion will be the focus of an upcoming event at Thompson Rivers University.

The ninth Kamloops edition of the World Religions Conference is titled Tackling Radicalization In Faiths and will happen next weekend. It will feature members of five major world religions speaking about extremism in religion.

The B.C. coordinator for the World Religions Conference Rizwan Peerzada says the topic is important right now in light of extremist organizations like ISIS.

“Many people are curious about this, in particular with Islam getting media attention,” Peerzada says. “It exists in all religions though, it just has been highlighted with Islam right now.”

The event hosts five speakers; one each from Islam, Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism and Sikhism. Other events by the conference organization include other religions as well and more may be added in Kamloops.

The moderator of the event will be Coun. Donovan Cavers. He says as much as he’s a moderator, he’ll be an attendee as well, trying to take away lessons from the talks.

“I thought it would be an interesting experience and as a public official contribute to the event,” Cavers says.

The event is sponsored primarily by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama`at Canada and Peerzada says the Sikh community in Kamloops have been helpful.

The event will be held at Thompson Rivers University in the Alumni Theatre from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 21. It's free and will include a free dinner. Registration is open now on the World Religion Conference website.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Brendan Kergin at bkergin@infonews.ca or call 250-819-6089. To contact an editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.