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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The organizers of a local conference say the world would be a better place if people had greater knowledge about different faiths.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is presenting its second annual World Religions Conference Sunday, Oct 5 at 3 p.m. at the Explorer Hotel.

The Muslim group is an non-profit organization with offices across Canada. It advocates peace, tolerance, love and understanding among followers of different faiths. It is involved in food bank collections, blood donor campaigns, visiting seniors residences and providing humanitarian relief to communities around the world.

The theme this year is "Is religion dead?" Scholars from Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, aboriginal and Islamic faiths will present their views on the theme.

Sultan A. Mahmood and Kalim Ahmed from the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Calgary were in town recently to meet with some of the conference speakers and the mayor.

"Our organization pronounces peace and denounces terrorism," said Mahmood. "In Canada there is peace but there are fears that problems could erupt due to fundamentalists."

Two Yellowknifers who plan to attend the conference are Alex Beaudin and Peter Chynoweth.

Beaudin will speak about Shambhala training which is a form of meditation open to practitioners of any faith but which is often connected to Buddhism.

Beaudin has been part of the Yellowknife Shambhala Meditation group since 2004 when it began. He says faith and religion are not dead.

"People have been opening up to study the wisdom in each religion to find their own truth," said Beaudin. "Shambhala has been growing. Eastern religions are moving towards the West.

"To me faith is when you accept and believe in something you can't really prove. For some people, they are looking for answers in their lives because they are concerned about the meaning of life or the way things are.

"Religions offer answers to questions. If people accept this faith in their heart then suddenly all this questioning doesn't happen anymore."

Peter Chynoweth of the United Church will speak about Christianity.

"Religion is not dead," said Chynoweth. "There is a revival in spiritual issues. People might be trying to find ways to express their spirituality by trying to find some areas of commonality or by trying to find something from different faiths that speak to them."

Chynoweth agrees that faith answers questions.

"Faith in a deity or divine being gives answers to the ultimate questions in your life," said Chynoweth. "What is life all about? Where do we come from? What happens when we die?"