Religions for Peace Australia will conduct the 2023 Annual General Meeting in Canberra on 18 June 2023. The Guest Speaker is Prof Nicole Asquith of UTAS, Professor of Policing and Emergency Management, who is the Convenor of the Australian Hate Crime Network. She will be speaking about her extensive work supporting vulnerable people who face hate speech and targeted violence in our society.
Laudato Si’ Week 2023 will be celebrated May 21-28 with the film “The Letter” to mark the eighth anniversary of Pope Francis’ landmark encyclical on care for creation. This global celebration will unite Catholics to rejoice in the progress we have made in bringing Laudato Si’ to life, and show how the protagonists of “The Letter” are already doing so.
Greetings of peace! We hope you, your families and communities are safe, well and warm heading into the cooler months. We are now approaching Reconciliation Week and I’d like to draw special attention to the program on 3 June, Understanding the Uluru Statement from the Heart and The Voice to Parliament. You can find the details for this at 4) below. It will be an opportunity to ask questions and understand some of the issues surrounding the coming Referendum. The event will be held both in person and online and we hope to see you there.
National Palliative Care Week, which runs from May 21 to May 27, 2023, serves as a poignant reminder for us to pause, reflect, and re-evaluate our approach to end-of-life care. With its focus on the theme of ‘Matters of Life and Death,’ this week aims to bring the crucial discussion surrounding death and dying to the forefront of Australia’s consciousness.
Dr Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr Baumann, an Australian aboriginal elder, teacher and artist, will be in the Vatican from the 29th May to the 3rd June. During her stay in the Vatican, Dr Ungunmerr Baumann will meet with senior officials, discussing faith, ecology, and reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. There will be a meeting with the Pope.
The World Council of Churches joined other global and regional groups in delivering to the UN an interfaith statement in support of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots.
What happens when you take six Jewish teens and six Catholic teens to Israel? They return with a deepened understanding of their own faith and an appreciation of another faith.
A large collection of Gandhari Buddhist manuscripts which date back to the 1st century BC to the 3rd century AD and originate from present-day Pakistan were handed over to Pakistan during an official ceremony organized at the University of Sydney.
In a move to repatriate stolen national relics, The Government of Australia has returned a 13th-century tundal (wooden temple strut) that was stolen from Ratneshwar Temple, Sulima Square, Patan. The 13th-century strut, which was reported to be stolen in 1975, arrived at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Australia, in the year 2000 through a bequest by the Australian-British art collector Alex Biancardi.
Most people know that the Virgin Mary is very popular among Catholic and Orthodox Christians. But what they usually don’t know is that the Mother of God is also venerated by devotees from other faiths such as Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism. She might not be necessarily part of the official teaching of these traditions but she still attracts devotees. As new research shows, Mary is the most universal religious figure of our contemporary world.
Wat Dhammadaro in Lyneham, ACT, was originally established in 1993, but a major expansion has been underway for the past 13 years. Project manager Tip Muangsaen has recently submitted the final inspection request to the ACT Government, with hopes the temple will open its doors later this year.
‘Leave No one Behind: The Role of Freedom of Religion or Belief in Advancing Human Flourishing and Just Societies was the theme of the Fourth International Parliamentarians Conference on Freedom of Religion and Belief (FoRB) held in Nairobi, Kenya, from 1-4 May 2023. The Nairobi Declaration is a document signed by Parliamentarians worldwide at the 4th International Parliamentarians Conference on Freedom of Religion and Belief (FoRB).
The Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture is presenting four public Interfaith Dialogues, hosted by Profs Anthony Maher and Stan Grant. The discussions will include a panel of six faith leaders from different religions. Each panellist will briefly engage with introductory remarks addressing the above questions followed by a Q & A hosted by Stan Grant between the panel and the audience.
“At a Crossroads: An Intergenerational and Multireligious Response to the Social and Environmental Crisis” was hosted by Religions for Peace and the City Council of Manresa, Spain, on November 28-30, 2022. Timed to coincide with the 500th anniversary of St. Ignatius of Loyola’s pilgrimage to Manresa, which highlighted cross-sectoral concerns of environment, migration, and social transformation, this international consultation was aimed at addressing the environmental crises facing our planet.
Religions for Peace is pleased to announce the launch of our new blogspace, “Mindful Peace” – a platform dedicated to promoting interfaith understanding, reflection and cooperation for peace. This blog aims to provide a safe and welcoming space for people of all faith and Indigenous traditions to come together and share perspectives on issues related to Religions for Peace’s Six Strategic Goals.
The 2023 Master Sheng Yen Lecture in Chinese Buddhism will be given by Professor James Benn (McMaster University) on Tuesday 30 May, 6:00-7:30pm at New Law School Lecture Theatre (LT024), New Law Annexe F10A, University of Sydney. The lecture is presented by the University of Sydney School of Languages and Cultures.
If we’re to act in a way that observes the Earth’s limits and boundaries, then we must undergo a ‘metanoia’ – a deep spiritual transformation. This involves a radical turn-around in the way we think and live, which a practice like meditation can help to enable. So argues theologian and long-time meditator Dr Deborah Guess, who believes that making ‘greentech’ changes such as solar panels and electric cars is not going to be enough, and may even be part of the much wider problem that our economic system is geared towards producing and consuming more and more.
Washington, DC – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is alarmed by the continued enforcement of blasphemy provisions around the world and condemns efforts to enact stricter blasphemy legislation. The existence and enforcement of such laws—which punish individuals for allegedly offending, insulting, or denigrating religious doctrines, deities, symbols, and religious feelings—undermines freedom of religion or belief and related human rights, including freedom of expression.
