A now Houston tradition, The 5th Annual Dialog Dinner Organized by The Institute of Interfaith Dialog (IID), took place on Thursday, September 20th. About 300 attendees representing well over 100 organizations had dinner dialog and friendship with the participation of Mayor Bill White, State Representatives Dr. Alma Allen, Scott Hochberg, Council Member MJ Khan, Reverend Bill Lawson, Assistant Chief VL King, Consul Generals of Egypt, Indonesia, Netherlands, Pakistan, Panama, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and other state legislators, judges, clergy, academicians, educators, journalists. Mayor Bill White and US Congressman Nick Lampson proclaimed the day as the dialog dinner day with a presentation of the official documents to President of IID, Muhammed Cetin.(September 20,2007,HOUSTON,TEXAS)

Dr. Alp Aslandogan, Vice President of IID, opened the program with the recent developments of IID and the meaning and importance of this dinner.

Reverend Bill Lawson, pastor emeritus of Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church and president of William A. Lawson Institute for Peace and Prosperity, delivered an interfaith invocation.

Mayor Bill White emphasized the diversity of the Houston community and how these kinds of events help build tolerance, friendship and understanding. He introduced the Amazing Faiths Project that he helped launch, in a clear connection with what IID does and accomplished.

State Representative Dr. Alma Allen said she was very grateful to be able to go to Turkey and added that she came back as a different person who will dedicate most of her times to the cause of interfaith dialog. "Don't miss" she concluded "if given the opportunity to go".

Representative Scott Hochberg expressed his gratitude in being amongst all these people with a sincere hope that he can participate further in interfaith dialog activities.

Dr. Elwyn Lee, Vice President of University of Houston in charge of Student Affairs, thanked IID to have approached him on opening up an institute within University of Houston.

Council Member MJ Khan said he was inspired by the activities of IID and will continue to support as best as he can.

Bill King, former mayor of Kemah, said he was honored to be there and was fortunate enough to go to Turkey with IID.

Lawrence Allen, Texas State Board of Education Member and a candidate for City Council, mentioned the importance of dialog in our community more than ever.

Zaf Tahir, candidate for City Council, stressed the welcoming nature of Houston and how he was able to become a representative of this community although he came as a student when he was 18.

Elliot Gershenson, President and CEO of the Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston, said how this dinner was very effective that he had a dinner dialog at the table that very much touched him.

Dinner was followed by a live demonstration of Ebru art which was carried out by the artist Omer Kilic, who came from Turkey. Guests had the opportunity to visit his gallery on site.