Dinner slated to illustrate diversity

The Dialog Association at the University of Cincinnati is scheduled to host its first event - a special dialogue dinner celebrating the diversity of the Cincinnati community - on Tuesday, May 13 at Mick & Mack's Contemporary Café in Tangeman University Center.

Speakers with diverse backgrounds are invited to talk about their respective religions and beliefs, according to Melik Masarifoglu, a second-year UC graduate student and calculus instructor in the mathematical sciences department.

"The primary aim of this event is to help us understand each other," Masarifoglu said. "We are going to have positive interaction between people of different religious traditions."

Masarifoglu, along with mathematical sciences professor Ersin Deger, established the Dialog Association with the goal of starting a dialogue between different cultures and backgrounds.

"I am a Muslim. Islam doesn't ignore the other religions," Masarifoglu said. "We don't want to ignore other people. We want to work together and erase the question mark in our minds about other religions. We erase that question mark by sitting together, talking together and getting to know each other."

The dinner is slated to feature special guest speaker Zeki Saritoprak of John Carroll University in Cleveland. Saritoprak holds a doctorate in Islamic Theology - the science of Kalam - from the University of Marmara, Turkey.

Saritoprak also holds a master's degree in philosophy and a bachelor's degree in divinity. Saritoprak has taught such subjects as the science of Kalam, introduction to Islam, world religions, biblical elements in the Quran, islamic spirituality, classical and contemporary Islamic movements and interfaith dialogue.

Saritoprak was among many religious scholars to meet Pope Benedict XVI during a interreligious gathering in Washington, D.C., on April 23 during the pope's visit to the United States.

Many other UC professors from different religious and cultural backgrounds are set to join Saritoprak to discuss dialogue, according to Masarifoglu.

Masarifoglu and the rest of the members of the Dialog Association are organizing the dinner so that guests from different religious backgrounds are seated together, with the hope of creating an interaction with different cultures and to promote an understanding among diverse communities.

"We are going to build bridges between hearts and communities," Masarifoglu said.

Numerous dinners are set to be offered in order to accommodate all cultures.

Guests attending the dinner are asked to dress in formal business attire. The number of guests is limited to 100, and those interested in attending must RSVP by Friday, May 9 to melik@sefohio.org and include their name and how many people will be in their party.