Nevada, US, November 25, 2010:

(From Our Correspondent) In a remarkable interfaith gesture, Christians, Hindus and Jews came together in Nevada’s capital Carson City (USA) on November 23 and shared stories of “blessing and gratitude” as part of Third Annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Service.

It was held at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, where the priest Jeffrey Paul welcomed the interreligious gathering with homemade brownies and chocolate. Stories shared included Jewish rabbi Jonathan B. Freirich’s “Curse of Blessings”, Hindu leader Rajan Zed’s “Ungrateful Man”, Roman Catholic deacon Bob Evans’ “Twenty into Fifty Goes a Hundredfold”, United Methodist pastors Dixie and Rob Jennings-Teats’ “Rabbi’s Gift”, Unity minister Larry Schneider’s “11th Box”, and Episcopal priest Jeffrey Paul’s “26 Cent Girl”.

Rajan Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism and who concluded the gathering with “Gayatri mantra”, most sacred mantra of Hinduism, says that a more inclusive and broader understanding of religion is needed and events like this help unite us as a community.

Thanksgiving, which traces its roots to Plymouth (Massachusetts, USA) settlers in autumn 1621, is said to be an annual tradition in USA since 1863. It is also observed in Canada, Grenada, Leiden (Netherlands) and Liberia.

Details of the picture attached:

After sharing stories from different traditions on “blessing and gratitude”, from left to right are: Jewish rebbetzin Ginnie Reel, Jewish rabbi Jonathan B. Freirich, Roman Catholic deacon Bob Evans, Unity minister Larry Schneider, Episcopal priest Jeffrey Paul, Hindu leader Rajan Zed, United Methodist pastor Rob Jennings-Teats, United Methodist pastor Dixie Jennings-Teats.