“Faith and Food” series continues with Gomaa, Nassim

The Mercy Center for Spiritual Life’s “Faith and Food” dinner and discussion series will continue Wednesday, April 3 with Dr. Sally Gomaa, associate professor of English, and Dr. Sami Nassim, director of multicultural affairs. They will discuss “Religion and Revolution: Muslims and Coptic Christians in Egypt” at 6 p.m. in the Mercy Center.

“We asked Sami and Sally to join together for this talk because they both come from Egypt, but from different religious traditions,” said Dr. Anna Mae Mayer, director of the Mercy Center. “Sami comes from the Coptic Christian tradition and Sally comes from the Muslim tradition. Each will talk about how they live out their faith day-to-day.”

The event is designed to raise students’ consciousness about the practice of religion and to expose them to the multitude of ways that people live a faithful and faith-filled life.

Among other topics, Gomaa and Nassim may discuss:

• The core values they absorbed growing up in their respective faiths
• What it’s like to be a practicing Muslim/Coptic Christian in Rhode Island, where the predominant religion is Roman Catholicism
• The Koran’s position on Christianity
• How the faith communities in Egypt have managed to co-exist peacefully
• How they and their families celebrate religious holy days