Marpha Town Religious Conference (TWI Only | IC)

[Lardingo]

Margret frowned, but walked away and joined Sibel and Seashell at the Lardian Table. Sibel fidgeted with her pin, making sure it was still straight.

[Athara Magarat]

Once most of the arrived participants had taken their seats (and some groups were still to make their appearance), the opening song was performed by the Athara Magarati band YouNighted at the stage away from the great round table. The music was a fusion of various religious tunes as well as modern instruments. After YouNighted's song calling for peace and harmony was over, the Athara Magarati Minister of Culture and Tourism welcomed the participants and guests as student volunteers from various Athara Magarati schools provided water to all those present at the conference hall.

The minister, Mrs Darlami, finished her part of introducing each religious leader seated around the round table and the groups they represented. There were occasional errors in names of speakers and groups and the addressed person not being at the round table but were quickly corrected at once.

After the introduction part was done, another welcome program was done. This time a dance by various performers dressed in around 40-50 of the hundreds of national dresses of almost 200 ethnic groups of Athara Magarat. Again, the welcome dance was also making calls for unity in diversity.

After the welcome dance was over, Mrs Darlami then announced that the first session of the conference would be on the topic of Charity. "Is donating money only for earning points to reach heaven or do such an activity help the society and the world as well? Most of our faiths certainly teach us to donate to the needy and for religious purposes. It is time our participants shared their religion's views on fundraising and if it is ethical to ask for alms for religious purposes?"

[Bhikkustan]

The air was awash with incense as the Delegation from Bhikkustan arrived. Though three religions were represented by it, they all were carrying sticks of the fine bhikkustani incense. This smell, sweet and fragrant, opened the mind. There were seven members of the delegation. Four senior monks, their saffron robes and shaved heads distinguishing them instantly as Buddhists. The leader of this delegation was Venerable Ajahn Dharmashita Maha Thera, Abbot of Mount Maharasthra Monastery and member of the High State Sangha of the People's Republic of Bhikkustan. His expression of pure serenity and purpose was a mark of a high state of understanding.

Next were two Muslim imams, their flowing beards and hats in emulation of the prophet. Lastly, a Zoroastrian Magi with gaudy silk robes. They sat down in their allocated seats.

[Bhumidol]

Meri and Anna got up from their temporary seating arrangements to find an appropriate seat next to the Buddhist monks from Bhikkustan. While they made their way to their seats, they were making some lovely small talk on effective pedagogy to engage anxiety-prone underachieving students.

Yahan shuffled his way to his seat, whistling and thinking about nothing in particular.

Meanwhile, Gopal opened the door to the conference room, and flung his old 90's style flip-phone out the door out of frustration from not being able to use it. "Dang high-fangled futuristic thingamajig with no purpose", he huffed, before he crossly sat in his seat. He wanted to call up on his nephew to make sure he was taking care of his aging yak at home just right.

Despite their overall casualness, each of the teachers present were choosen by the Bhumhalese Department of Education since they also had good working knowledge of their respective Bhumhalese School. Though both Anna and Yahan were formally non-religious, they both had extensive knowledge on Bhumidol's Folk-Buddhism and the nation's most prominent Mahatrikaruna School. Meri is one of the few members of Bhumidol's secretive Gudharatri School, a mysterious sect with a highly selective membership. Gopal of course was the only devout one amongst them, having been a devout member of the conservative Shyama-Dhyan school since, according to him, "being in his momma's womb".

[Tectonix]

"SO!" Ambassador Entemont clapped his hands loudly. "We gonna, uhh...start?"

[Athara Magarat]

"Precisely." The Athara Magarati minister nodded. "Once again, I ask all religious delegates present in this conference room to present their faith's views on charity."

[Shanowinn]

Elder Heddwyn glanced up at the ceiling briefly, thinking about what to say regarding charity and donations. He cleared his throat and spoke.

"We are of the mind that monetary...donations for spiritual ends certainly would benefit everyone, in the end. It involves some...financial sacrifice, on everyone's part to a degree...but it helps everyone practically as well as spiritually."

Daghán from the Highalnd Republic group leaned over to Rhiannon Beathasdottir's microphone and nudged a word in.

"Bak te hælands te rule's 'æ'll gæv a handr 'ere an get a handr thar'..." Rhiannon regained the mic and then spoke herself, "'I'll give a hand here and get a hand there,' is a true Highland saying; we prefer to help charitably in less...money-driven ways. 'Giving a hand' now because later we may need something, and someone will be happy to 'give us a hand' then. Perhaps it is a bit like 'karma' which I have heard of, if I am not mistaken?"

The Highland group then looked roughly across the room, where the Owinn delegation glared back, but the lowlanders wished not to speak further.

[Travencia]

Wu-Wei said one of the Travencian students. Action via non action, not to sound cold but you could avoid the need for charity by not enabling a system that requires it. She's quickly disputed by her classmates, some of which don't share such extreme views. The prevailing consensus being treat others how you would like to be treated.

[Tectonix]

One of the Tectonixians stepped up, a Commissioner for the Société Laïque de Tectonix.

"The Société accepts all forms of donations below 1,000 tectias, usually coming from monthly donations made from a quite large chuck of Tectonix's population. Donations above that amount are put through a special review process. All money collected is distributed in a very open, verifiable process, and mainly funds charitable programmes and facilities meant to accommodate all from the mentally ill to the homeless."

"Our 'view' of this is really just that donating to the Société is really like donating to any other religious entity; however, instead of it being a religious obligation, people who donate voluntarily have their moral goodwill fulfilled by knowing their donations are going towards ensuring the continued welfare of hundreds of thousands of Tectonixians."