The Institute of Interfaith Dialog organized its monthly get together on Friday, October 28, 2011. This month, the theme of the presentations was “Love of Neighbor”, which is a crucial factor that ties people of a society. The program had eight speakers from diverse backgrounds and different countries such as Spain, Singapore, USA, Turkey, Kazakhstan, India, and Mexico.

Dr. Joyce Juntune, a professor at College of Education at Texas A&M University, told stories from her childhood to state how important neighborhood in USA. Mrs. Suzanna Ramos mentioned how people socialize in a neighborhood in Singapore. It was very interesting to learn that the architecture of buildings actually was designed to help people to socialize. The speaker from Mexico approached the issue from religious perspective because the Christianity has a huge impact on neighborhood in their culture. Mrs. Fatma Kalkan also approached the topic from religious perspective, told stories from her childhood and connected them to Islam because as in the Christianity, Islam has a lot to say about neighborhood. Since Russia and Kazakhstan has an intervening culture, Ms. Darya talked on behalf of both countries. After brief information about Russia and Kazakhstan, she mentioned what kinds of activities they have in order to maintain relationships among neighbors. Finally, Mr. Hector Ramos addressed the common values in a culture that makes neighborhood meaningful.
 
Highlights of the program point out that the neighborhood is a universal value. However, each culture has a unique way to show their love of neighbor. That is why we need to learn more about other cultures.