Latter-day Saint founder joins the likes of Jesus, Moses and Aristotle within the World Peace Dome.

It all began with a cup of espresso — or, to be clear, an absence of espresso.

Just a few years in the past, Vishwanath Karad, Hindu founding father of the MIT World Peace University in India, was invited to talk at Brigham Young University, the Provo faculty owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

At a reception for Karad staged by BYU President Kevin Worthen, the Indian traveler was feeling drained, so he requested for some espresso. His hosts politely knowledgeable him concerning the religion’s well being code, the Word of Wisdom, which prohibits “hot drinks,” outlined as espresso and tea.

When he heard the reason, Karad launched into “a deeper exploration of what the church was all about,” mentioned Brian Grim, founder and president of the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation.

That culminated in Karad “deciding to install a statue of the [church’s] founding prophet, Joseph Smith, under the [World Peace Dome],” Grim wrote on the web site, “along with [dozens of ] other statues of religious leaders (from multiple faiths) as well as statues of philosophers and scientists already commemorated beneath the dome.”

The 15-foot bronze statue was unveiled this week in Pune beneath the 263-foot-high dome on the MIT World Peace University, as dozens of Latter-day Saints and 1000’s of others appeared on.

“I am gratified that you would honor us as members of [the church],” Latter-day Saint apostle D. Todd Christofferson informed the group, “as you honor the Prophet Joseph Smith with his statue in this majestic hall built to promote world peace.”

Christofferson was grateful, a church news release reported, for his or her “generosity and kindness.”

Friendship is “one of the grand fundamental principles of [our faith and doctrine],” Christofferson quoted Smith as saying. “[Friendship will] revolutionize and civilize the world and cause wars and contentions to cease and men to become friends and brothers. Even the wolf and the lamb shall dwell together.”

Indeed, friendship was on the root of how a little-known American-born religion would entice the eye of a outstanding worldwide peace advocate.

Karad had a college classmate named Ashok Joshi, a famend entrepreneur and award-winning Indian scientist who moved to the Beehive State a long time in the past, Grim reported. Though he didn’t be part of the Utah-based religion, he had many Latter-day Saint pals.

At Joshi’s invitation, Karad visited Salt Lake City in 2015 and delivered the keynote address on the Parliament of World Religions held that 12 months in Utah’s capital.

At Tuesday’s occasion, Karad mentioned that he noticed within the LDS Church one thing “so similar, so matching with what Indian culture stands for. These were the people who showed me a glimpse of what India would like to convey and proceed and promote. … A very unique event is taking place today,” he mentioned within the release. “What good fortune, friends.”

The 55 statues on the World Peace Dome — together with likenesses of Moses, Peter and Aristotle — characterize these “who think always [of] the soul and the mind,” Karad mentioned. “The absolute right path can be shown only through education. What type of education? It has to be a universal, value-based education system.”

Mormonism’s founder additionally believed in training, declaring that “‘In knowledge there is power’ — power to fulfill our divine destiny as children of God,” BYU’s Worthen said on the ceremony. “My wish on this occasion is that those who enter this dome and this university feel a measure of that power as they experience this sacred space.”

One factor ought to be clear, although, Christofferson mentioned: Latter-day Saints worship Jesus Christ, whose picture is also depicted in a statue beneath the dome.

“We readily acknowledge [Joseph Smith’s] continuing influence for good in the world, the revelations that he brought forth, his example of service and sacrifice and his devotion to and witness of the living God,” the apostle mentioned. “The greatest aspect of the mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith was to bear testimony of Jesus Christ — that he lives.”

The World Peace Dome is greater than 500 miles from Bengaluru, the place the church is building its first temple on the earth’s second most populous nation with 1.4 billion individuals. When accomplished, the 40,000-square-foot constructing will serve shut to fifteen,000 Latter-day Saints within the globe’s largest Hindu nation.