In times of challenges presented by weather and the local environment, mental health is most important for those suffering the impact of extremes in their personal environment. The Brahma Kumaris community of Australia has produced a series of meditations which may be of help in bringing peoples to inner stillness. We take a look at The Sanctuary Experience and how it can help people experiencing extreme, emotional challenges.
The Witchcraft Act saw thousands executed and tortured. Now Scotland is doing something about it
Today, witches are the stuff of light-hearted kids books, cartoons and Halloween costumes. But there is a dark history behind their place in pop culture.
Around 2,500 people — mostly women — were executed in Scotland between 1563 and 1736 under the country’s Witchcraft Act.
Now, hundreds of years later, the Parliament of Scotland is doing something about it — starting with a public apology. The apology affirms the proper attitude to gender and the role of women in society.
Forget $3000 caskets, meet the guy who paints cardboard coffins in Canberra
Tender Funerals is a not-for-profit, largely volunteer-run funeral company with operations in Sydney, the Illawarra region, and the Mid-North Coast. Giving the family maximum control at a low cost is their unique selling point. A cardboard coffin like the one in his garage wholesales for $135 at Daisy Box Australia. Tender Funerals adds a small fee and sells them to members of the public to decorate as they please.
Domestic violence in the church – guiding survivors to healing and hope
“Take a stand for the survivor, challenge the abuser and contest dismissive attitudes, while always seeking the safety, sanity and dignity of the survivor with your words and behaviour.”
This quote is from Renew, an Australian Guide for Christian Women Survivors of Domestic Abuse, published by Anglicare, which aims to be a helpful resource for survivors and for those who walk alongside them.
“It’s a place that they can find helpful, practical information,” says Lynda Dunstan, Anglicare Family and Domestic Violence Adviser, who is the Australian Editor of Renew, an adaptation of Restored, UK’s handbook for Christian women survivors of domestic abuse.
NSW religious leaders unite to help end domestic violence
More than 70 prominent religious leaders representing all major faiths signed a declaration on Tuesday with the NSW Government to help end domestic violence.
World AIDS Day prayer service
On 1 December, World AIDS Day will mark more than 40 years since the first outbreak of the epidemic; however, in 2021, every two minutes, an adolescent girl or young woman (15-24 years old) acquired HIV.
Asia Pacific Women of Faith Network: Climate Change Seminar Welcome Message
The Asia Conference on Religion and Peace will present an online seminar on climate change issues, to be held Tuesday, November 29th, 2022 2:00 PM (Japan Standard Time),hosted by Asia Pacific Women of Faith Network. (Click Here for Your Local Time) Here, a message of Welcome to the Seminar is announced.
Canberra: Attorney General references Religious Discrimination Bill at Interfaith Breakfast
Discussions about religious freedom in Australia should aim to unite the nation rather than divide it, guests at the Australian Catholic University’s sixth Parliamentary Interfaith Breakfast have heard.
Over 160 guests, including around 50 faith leaders and 50 parliamentarians, gathered for the Parliamentary Interfaith Breakfast at the National Press Club in Canberra on 24 November 2022, after a two year hiatus due to the pandemic.
Attorney general Mark Dreyfus gave a speech at the 6th interfaith breakfast event where he spoke about the government’s plan for a religious discrimination bill.
UN Alliance of Civilisations: Morocco Meeting
At this transitional moment for humanity, it is important to uphold mutual respect, unity, and solidarity, the senior UN official promoting cross-cultural understanding and cooperation has stated. Miguel Ángel Moratinos, High Representative for the UN Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC), was speaking ahead of the start of its 9th Global Forum, which opens in Fez, Morocco, on Tuesday.
Mindfulness and Academia
The study of mindfulness as an academic field is growing rapidly. Here, we survey one Mindfulness Teacher Certification Program, and offerings by some university campuses in Australia.
Tasmania: November-December 2022
Greetings of peace!
We hope everything is going peacefully for you, your families and your communities as we enter another season of holy days to end the old year (where did that year go?) and begin a new one full of possibilities.
Canberra: Youth Interfaith Forum
The Canberra Interfaith Forum (CIF) would like to invite you and your partner to its Youth Forum on “Interfaith and Care of Environment” on Thursday, 1st December at 5:30 pm at the Baha’i Center.
Faith Communities Responding to Family and Domestic Violence
Issues of religious faith, or the belief in a specific system of principles and practices that give reverence to a higher power, are often central to the experiences of many victims and survivors of domestic violence. Faith communities and secular domestic violence programs are becoming increasingly aware of the need to create an awareness of domestic violence within faith communities, as well as the need for cross-training and education about dynamics of domestic violence and the role that faith plays in individuals’ lives.
Addressing Modern Slavery
Addressing Modern Slavery provides important insights into the complexities that perpetuate slavery in a contemporary context, long after it was officially abolished. This book confronts the dark side of development that comes with intractable, complex, multi-tiered global supply chains. In particular, it highlights that global supply chains not only link us to modern slavery, but frequently generate the preconditions necessary for modern slavery to flourish in industries such as agriculture, manufacturing and mining, which account for the majority of slaves in the world. Governments can also be complicit: while modern slavery can be connected to companies and consumers through supply chains, there are also governments that actively promote and benefit from slave labour.
At a Crossroads: A Multireligious Intergenerational Response to the Social and Environmental Crises
Religions for Peace, in partnership with Manresa City Council and Religions for Peace-Spain-GTER, invite you to virtually participate for the event, “At a Crossroads: A Multireligious Intergenerational Response to the Social and Environmental Crises,” from 28-30 November 2022. This event is open to the Public.
NSW: Domestic and Family Violence – United to Remember, United to Support
The Member Churches of the NSW Ecumenical Council will hold an online webinar on November 26, from 8am to 5pm – Day of Prayer and Reflection in observance of International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence.
Christianity’s American Fate: How Religion Became More Conservative and Society More Secular
How did American Christianity become synonymous with conservative white evangelicalism? This sweeping work by a leading historian of modern America traces the rise of the evangelical movement and the decline of mainline Protestantism’s influence on American life. In Christianity’s American Fate, David Hollinger shows how the Protestant establishment, adopting progressive ideas about race, gender, sexuality, empire, and divinity, liberalized too quickly for some and not quickly enough for others.
Family Violence: ‘One victim is too many’
Family Violence, also called “domestic violence” or “intimate partner violence”, can be defined as a pattern of behavior in any relationship that is used to gain or maintain power and control over an intimate partner. Abuse is physical, sexual, emotional, economic or psychological actions or threats of actions that influence another person. Religions for Peace Australia invites people of faith in Australia involved in working with or thinking of working with faith communities/ faith leaders on the prevention of family violence to an informal Zoom gathering.
