The 2013 report of the Canberra Interfaith Forum commences, All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. ”—Article 1 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)
Human dignity knows no borders. The desire for freedom, democracy and security is shared by all.
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Human rights and peace are protected best when people listen and learn from each other in a spirit of cooperation and respect.
The criterion for lot of dissension is sadly and unfortunately religion. That arises mainly out of misconceptions and ignorance of each other’s faith. Canberra Interfaith Forum’s objectives are to remove all that.
To serve our objectives we held a symposium and very appropriately had the theme as “how can we contribute to Global peace and Human rights”. Peace and the human rights are entitlements of all irrespective of faith, belief or creed.
The Canberra Interfaith Forum (CIF) are a group of people from 12 different spiritual traditions in Canberra: Baha’i; Buddhist; Brahma Kumaris; Christian; Hindu; Indigenous, Islam, Jewish; Pagan Awareness Network; Sikh; Sathya Sai; and Sukyo Mahikari. CIF meets regularly, usually on the third Sunday of the month at the Theo Notaras Multicultural Centre from 3.00 – 5.00 pm.
Following the Parliament of World Religions held in Melbourne, December 2009, the ‘Interfaith Forum of the ACT’, which had been active since 1993, became the ‘Canberra Interfaith Forum’. CIF has been operating since March 2010.
The activities of the CIF include hosting interfaith public forums; visiting each other’s places of worship; discussions and social activities; and the maintenance of an Environment Garden, which is located at the eastern end of Grevillea Park just east of Clare Holland House (ACT Hospice). CIF also contributes to the ACT Multicultural festival. Ms Mary Porter MLA, representing the Chief Minister, officially launched the Environment Garden on 20 May 2011.
Plaque of the Canberra Interfaith forum in the Environmental and Meditation Healing Garden, Canberra (nearby Clare Holland House – ACT Hospice).
The plaque shows all the traditions which participate in the Canberra Interfaith Forum.
Our vision, aims and objectives are:
VISION:
To encourage people living and working in harmony, respecting all cultures, races and spiritual traditions.
PURPOSE:
To enable and facilitate open exchange, dialogue and corporation between people of various spiritual tradition within the ACT.
OBJECTIVES:
- To promote open conversation between individuals of various spiritual traditions based on equality and mutual respect.
- To deepen knowledge, understanding and appreciation of various spiritual traditions.
- To demonstrate loving and effective relationships between peoples of various spiritual traditions.
- To share deeper spiritual insights and values in the community.
- To uphold and respect the right of all human beings to maintain and practise in harmony the spiritual traditions of their choice.
- To promote cooperative action involving participating spiritual traditions in the ACT.
- To participate appropriately in community events such as the Multicultural Festival and multifaith worship.
- To disseminate information on multifaith and relevant activities.
I also had the opportunity to address members of Parliament last year at the Parliament House. In dealing with our vision and purpose I gave a brief illustrative story from India. More than 1,000 years ago, a group of Zoroastrian refugees fleeing religious persecution arrived in India from Persia, in what is now the state of Gujarat.
The Zoroastrians asked the local king for refuge but he said there was no space for them in his land.
One of the Zoroastrians asked the king for a cup of milk filled to the brim. He then gently took a teaspoon of sugar and stirred it into the milk without spilling a drop.
He then said to the king, “If you take us into your kingdom, we will be like the sugar in the milk: we will blend in with you but we will also make your kingdom sweeter”.
The king allowed them to stay and that group of refugees, (and others who followed), flourished to become India’s Zoroastrian Parsee community – one of the communities which has contributed greatly to its education, culture and prosperity.
Turning to our contemporary lives, there are four great institutions of modernity: science, technology, the liberal democratic state and the market economy. Unfortunately none of them address our spirituality.
We in the CIF believe that our diversity has the potential to add sweetness, strength and substance to the lives of people here in Australia as well.
To ensure this sweetness, strength and substance, it is vital that we teach all our children, whether in faith schools or not, to honour this country, respect its traditions, contribute to its welfare and show the same respect to others as we ask others to show to us.
It has been said that: “There shall be no peace among nations until there is peace among religions“. Interfaith dialogue is an effective means of communication between religions, getting to understand each other, and building trust and confidence among people of different faiths. Through trust and respect, people will be willing to cooperate sincerely for the service of humankind.
And how are our youth … our future … to arrive at and achieve those goals?
The first step is to gain an understanding of one another’s wisdom texts – of one another’s ancient traditions indeed of one another!! … In this multicultural society, we feel that our government should mandate and foster a national curriculum for comparative religious studies for all our youth – so that they can gain an understanding of science, culture, civilization, languages, as well as theology – indeed of our world … and of people they see as … “the other” …
In accordance with the Ethics Education initiative of The Global Network Of Religions For Children, let us create a program: that would promote the values of Respect (tolerance is not enough … can a couple who only tolerate each other have a close relationship?)
Respect for differences and similarities and Empathy for the victims of injustice. We would deal with conflict in the spirit of reconciliation and encourage our youth to take responsibility for creating a better, more just and more peaceful future for all of us … …
Our forum is run by many dedicated members.
As our contribution to the Canberra community the Canberra Interfaith Forum has so far carried out the following activities:
- On 26 September 2010, CIF hosted a Public Forum on the theme of the ‘Concept and Relevance of Spirituality’
- Established an Environment Meditation and Healing Garden which is open for all to use. The purpose of the garden is to promote meditation on our relationship with th
e environment and meditation and healing between our multicultural peoples and the land. Very fittingly this Garden is located adjacent to the Hospice. The Garden was opened by Ms Mary Porter MLA on behalf of the ACT Chief Minister on 19th May 2011. - On 11 September 2011, CIF organised a Peace and Harmony Interfaith Gathering at the Environment Meditation and Healing Garden to reflect on various tragic acts of inhumanity.
- CIF ran information stalls in the past including during the 2011, 2012 and 2013 Canberra Multicultural Festivals to enable faith groups that are affiliated to CIF to display and disseminate literature and information that relate to their spiritual traditions.
- On 5 February 2012, CIF organised a Symposium on the theme, ‘How can we contribute to global peace and human rights?’ at the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture.
- On 26 June 2012 CIF hosted a Peace Pole Ceremony in support of an interfaith activity near Parliament House.
We invite you to engage with us and we look forward to ongoing work with you on interfaith matters. I can be contacted at dean.sahukhan@act.gov.au
May God/ the Divine bless us all. May God bless our beautiful nation, Australia,
Thank you.
Dean Sahu Khan,
Chairperson
Canberra Interfaith Forum Inc.
5 May 2013
