Lectures focus on the afterlife

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The Comparative Religion Series is free and open to the public. Sessions will be 7-9 p.m. on Tuesdays, Jan. 22-Feb. 26 at Temple Beth El, 5101 Providence Road.

Temple Beth El’s 16th annual comparative religion series will spend six weeks offering answers about the after life from six different religious perspectives.

“After Life: A Beginning or an End?” will start on Jan. 22.

The community is invited to weekly two-hour sessions where local religious and educational leaders will offer their perspectives on the possibility of life after death.

Speakers will represent Jewish, Mormon, Christian, Hindu, Muslim and Buddhist perspectives.

Gene Meyers, a member of the organizing committee, said the series has been revamped in the past to address topics with wider interest to the community.

They searched for subjects with pizzazz, and recent series have addressed sex, women and religion and the idea of whether the Abrahamic faiths worship the same God.

As a result, the average attendance each week jumped from 40 to 300.

For 2013, the committee again looked for a subject that would interest people from different religions. This year’s topic came from a discussion about rituals involved when people are dying.

The series will open on Jan. 22 with an introduction from Temple Beth El’s Rabbi Judy Schindler, Meyers said. Each week, a representative from a different faith background will speak and answer questions.

Other speakers include:

Daniel White, associate professor and director of undergraduate studies at UNC Charlotte, who will offer the Hindu perspective.

• Imam John Ederer of the Muslim American Society of Charlotte.

• Ryusho Jeffus Shonin of the Myosho-ji Wonderful Voice Buddhist Temple.

• Russ and Amy Jacks Dean, pastors of Park Road Baptist Church.

Brand Hosford and Jay Hellpern of the Huntersville congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

People who attend the lectures can submit questions in writing during the session, and the speaker will address them at the end of the evening.

Meyers said sometimes the breaks in each session, when people mingle and have refreshments, can yield important conversations.

“We get a lot of people talking to individuals they’ve never met,” Meyers said. “It’s amazing how many people have never talked to a Jew or a Muslim or a Hindu.

“It promotes understanding of other people’s beliefs.”