The Ventura County Interfaith Community held its annual Feast of Faiths on October 11, 2026 in Ventura at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The delicious meal, which was catered by Hummus Republic, was Mediterranean cuisine. The food was halal (permissible to all religions).
0-100 people enjoyed the Feast of Faiths. The different faiths of people attending the dinner event included: Catholics, Muslims, Jews, Bahais, Buddhists, Unitarian Universalists and Quakers. Students from different local universities also attended.
Besides eating a Mediterranean meal, attendees were able to realize that we all are on the same journey, we are just taking a different path through our own religious beliefs. We also learned to love each other’s differences in order to learn about others religious beliefs.
Rabbi Michael Lotker blew the Shofar (Rams Horn). He said, “God speaks to the world in many frequencies.” Also, “We are all tribal in nature, since it’s in our DNA. We want to save (protect) our tribe.”
Bobi said, “We are all interconnected through our religious diversity. Our strength is being diverse.”
Tim Helton, PhD, said, “We want the various tables to have an interfaith dialogue while we’re eating our dinner. “Through being respectful of others and active listening,” he said,” We can better understand each other.”
The table topics focused on the two questions:
- How does your faith affect your daily life?
- How does your faith understand the golden rule (Love thy neighbor as thyself).
Participants at Tabe 3 discussed, “How polarized the world is now, especially through social media, and that we need to have more empathy towards each other’s.”
Attendees at Table 4 focused on the fact that, “Kindness spreads. And, it’s important to donate time through volunteer work, such as, feeding the hungry.”
Table 5 talked about genealogy. And, Table 8 focused on, “The importance of dialogue and showing empathy towards each other.”
And, Table 12 said that, “All religions show commonality towards each other, which is a hopeful sign.”
Teri Helton, MSN, President of the Ventura County Interfaith Communities, said that, “As we eat together, we have broken down barriers. The call of the interfaith community is to love each other, and to share from our hearts, which is true love.”
We all learned that it is important to love and care for ourselves and others of all religions, and that interfaith leads to peace for the future.
The mission of the Ventura County Interfaith Community, established in 2005, is to create a safe and nurturing space where individuals from diverse faiths and backgrounds can come together to learn, share, and grow while warmly embracing all community members. For more information about participating, go to: vcic.info.
https://venturabreeze.com/a-table-of-many-faiths-a-community-united/