DarrenBarefoot.com

I applaud your efforts to educate yourself about all religions and creeds.
As for “Alpha” type courses about Islam, there aren’t many formal ones set up here. A good resource would be these guys: http://www.islamicspeakers.ca/
I know one of the organizers (Omar) and he’s been giving presentations to various groups in the Lower Mainland.

Norlinda

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I’m currently reading a lot about Buddhism - to the point that I can see myself putting “Buddhist” under the religion column on a census in the future.

Buddhism Plain and Simple, by Steve hagen, was the first book I read. It’s a bit simplistic, but gives a good idea of what the core of Buddhism is about.

I’m currently reading Awakening the Buddha Within, by Lama Surya Das. It’s much denser than the Hagen book, but it’s quite an enjoyable read so far.

I’ve considered myself an atheistic agnostic (I don’t know if there’s a God, but if I had to guess I’d say no) for quite a while. My interest in Buddhism is consistent with that - Buddhism requires no dependence on an external force to acquire salvation.

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Where are you taking it?

And I’m pretty sure Alpha doesn’t get into speaking in tongues. That’s a fairly esoteric element of the modern church, anyhow. Not a classic element of faith.

Drive-in movies, yes.

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I’d suggest visiting your local Unitarian Universalist (UU) congregation. UU focuses on the development of spirituality within an individual, regardless of faith/denomination, and doesn’t have a strictly Christian doctrine behind it (although it did originate as a Christian movement in England in the 1600s). Attending “services” there is an excellent way to get exposure to and education about several different faiths and beliefs, including Bhuddism and Islam.

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Darren - one of the nice things about UU is that it fosters some good discussions about the religions without the dogma attached. They also generally offer religious education programs that cover a variety of world religions.

The North Shore Unitarian Church has a good section that explains more.

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Are you serious? Well, colour me ill-informed. (What colour would that be, anyway?)

And my tongue was in my cheek as well (although it didn’t sound much like it in retrospect) with the drive-in comment. But I should have included one of these:).

Thanks for the info… I should look this stuff up!

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This site is pretty interesting-

http://www.beliefnet.org

There are 3 major types of Buddhism, so I think you’d really have to narrow down what you’d want to learn about. I’m mostly a Buddhist, if I was to call myself anything.

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“’ve decided to embark on an exploration of the world’s major religions”

Darren, were you for real on this post?

Or were you just lying in a desperate bit for more readers?

Hit us, how did it the “exploration” go?

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