Tasmania – September 2022

Tasmania Logo

Greetings of peace and many good wishes for the month of September.

As an interfaith network, we join in the global commiserations on the death on 7 September of Queen Elizabeth as the titular head of the Church of England, a leader who embodied her faith.

September is also a special month because of the UN International Day of Peace coming up on 21 September 2022. There will be a special gathering to honour the Day of Peace.

Greetings of peace and many good wishes for the month of September.

As an interfaith network, we join in the global commiserations on the death on 7 September of Queen Elizabeth as the titular head of the Church of England, a leader who embodied her faith.

September is also a special month because of the UN International Day of Peace coming up on 21 September 2022. There will be a special gathering to honour the Day of Peace. Kris Schaffer has invited us to her garden, where we will be reading the Uluru Statement of the Heart together and formally supporting the Voice to Parliament and the Truth-Telling Commission … the details are below.

Our good wishes are also for the Jewish community celebrating the High Holy Days commencing with Rosh Hashanah on 25 September and concluding with Yom Kippur on 5 October and for the Hindu Community who will be celebrating Navratri commencing on 26 September and concluding on 5 October.

We hope you are enjoying the warmer weather and the coming of newness as the spring flowers are in bloom everywhere and the leaves come back to the trees.

In this update:

1) Invitation to celebrate UN International Day of Peace on kunanyi/Mt Wellington

2) Online Celebration of UN International Day of Peace

3) RfPA honours UN IDP with a presentation entitled Religion, Peace and the Moral Issues of Fully Autonomous Weapons

4) Sacred Conversations

5) Soul Food

5) Formal affiliation with Religions for Peace Australia unanimously accepted

International Day of Peace

Following the theme of 2022 for the UN International Day of Peace: End racism, Build peace, Kris Schaffer, our First Nations member, has invited us to her garden at 94 Morphetts Road, Neika to read the Uluru Statement of the Heart and to endorse the First Nations’ Voice to Parliament and the Truth Telling Commission.

Religions for Peace Australia made this commitment at the 2022 Annual General Meeting, as advised by Special Envoy Senator Patrick Dodson, to support First Nations Peoples in this way as we move towards a lasting reconciliation.

Please feel very welcome to join us. It will help if you bring a plate of food to share.

When: Wednesday 21 September 2022, 2pm-3.30pm

Where: 94 Morphetts Rd, Neika

Online Celebration of UN International Day of Peace

Please consider this a personal invitation to join a special UN Peace Day vigil on Wednesday 21 September 6.00-6.30pm. Your presence of silence and prayer at the event will be much appreciated.

The 2022 theme for the International Day of Peace is End Racism, Build Peace.

This year’s theme is, once again, an invitation to reflect and act on the kind of world we want to live in now and to create for our future generations – a world where compassion, kindness, empathy and respect are the ruling forces.

On UN Peace Day, we invite you to join long term guest meditators and faith leaders in the community to come together for a special UN Peace Day vigil.

This half hour peace-filled event, including messages of hope and a gentle guided meditation, will celebrate and reinforce compassion, resilience, courage and hope within each one of us, within the community – and for our world.

Your thoughts, our thoughts – make a tangible difference. We hope that you are able to join us and make a peaceful, healing and powerful contribution to peace in our hearts, minds, communities and our world.

The online meeting is being organised by ‘Calm in the City’ in Melbourne.

To attend, please click here to register

Religion, Peace and the Moral Issues of Fully Autonomous Weapons

Religions for Peace Australia honours the United Nations International Day of Peace with a presentation:
From Sue Ennis (Secretary of Religions for Peace Australia):

People of faith have growing concerns about fully autonomous weapons or ‘Killer Robots’. These killer robots can select and engage targets without human control. They use artificial intelligence algorithms and machine learning to make life and death decisions without human compassion, judgment or morality.

You are invited to join all people of conscience and faith in speaking out against them. As it says in the Interfaith Statement on Killer Robots, “Instead of placing our faith in technologies that unaccountably kill, maim and destroy human life, we devote ourselves to building cultures of peace, nonviolence, dialogue, and mutual cooperation, respecting the dignity of difference.”

When: Thursday 22nd September 7pm -8.30 PM AEST (6.30 pm SA/NT, 5pm WA)

Where: Zoom Online or Victorian Quaker Centre, 484 William Street, West Melbourne, Vic, 3003

To register for the Zoom link: https://forms.gle/qFCdsQ4mMAZbXtDR6

Speakers include:

* Philippa Rowlands – Chair, Religions for Peace Australia

* Caesar D’Mello – Pax Christi Australia

* Rev. Chris Parnell – Religions for Peace Australia

* Matilda Byrne – Stop Killer Robots Australia

* Rabbi Shoshana Kaminsky – South Australian Faith LeaderSacred Conversations

Sacred Conversations

From Julian McGarry:

Sacred Conversations is now run by a core group which meets casually to arrange a monthly meeting schedule. If you would like to contribute in some way, please just let me know.

Our next meeting will be held this Saturday, 24 September from 2 to 4pm at the Bahai Centre of Learning at 1 Tasman Hwy, Hobart.

For those of you who are unable to join us face to face, here is the Zoom link to the meeting:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6401673016

For more information, contact Julian, 0401673016

Soul Food

You are invited to join on Sunday week 2 October 22 3pm at the Bahai Centre of Learning for Tasmania, located at 1 Tasman Hwy, Hobart TAS 7000, for another thought-provoking Soul Food. The Theme for this program will be ” The Power of the Spirit“.

With readings and quotes from philosophers, poets, authors and faiths chosen to encourage enlightened actions.

The music will be C-Silk Quartet creating a warm environment promoting friendship followed by a nice warm afternoon tea.

All welcome – Ample free parking
Enquiries ttp://www.soulfood.com.au/tas/

Formal affiliation with Religions for Peace Australia

The Faith Communities Network of Tasmania is a group of faith leaders and representatives which was formed in 2019 under the auspices of Religions for Peace Tasmania, during a visit of Prof Des Cahill OAM to Hobart. An invitation was given to Faith Communities Network of Tasmania and other groups in NSW and Qld to become formally affiliated with RfPA. Formal affiliation with Religions for Peace Australia was officially and unanimously ratified at the quarterly meeting on 23 August 22.

It also connects us with the largest multifaith organisation in the world at a national, regional and international level. The international level is found at https://www.rfp.org/
Religions for Peace Australia website is found here and allows any interested member to join in the quarterly Executive meetings and the AGM of RfPA.

For your information, you may read the RfPA Constitution (on the website).

The code of conduct can be found at this link

Latest news of Religions for Peace International: Secretary General of Religions for Peace, Dr Azza Karam meets Pope Francis: