Parliament of Worlds Religion 2004 Barcelona

Author(s): Parliament of the World’s Religions
Publisher: USA Parliament of the Worlds Religions

Page 109

Program Descriptions Thursday, July 8, 2004
INTERRELIGIOUS SESSION 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM
Practicing the Sacred Art of Listening Kay Lindahl
Room 121, English Interactive Workshop
Deeply listening to another person is one of the greatest gifts we can give. This essential skill leads to mutual respect and is a key element in interfaith work. This workshop explores a spiritual approach to listening as sacred art and spiritual practice. Learn new ways to think about listening: as choice, gift and art and how to listen for what wants to be said (from the soul) rather than what I want to say (from the ego).
Kay Lindahl, an ordained interfaith minister, is the founder of The Listening Center and the Alliance for Spiritual Community, chair elect of the North American Interfaith Network and a global trustee for the United Religions Initiative. She is author of Practicing the Sacred Art of Listening and conducts workshops and retreats around the world.
A Psychological Approach to the Challenges. and Difficulties in Interreligious Dialogue Eduards Fonts
Room 122 Lecture
Lecture followed by some practical exercises. The lecturer will analyze the importance of the cultural, historical and personal bases on which each part of the interreligious dialogue sets its own approach and vision.
Eduards Fonts is a theologian, psychotherapist, and professor of Theology at the High Institute of Religious Sciences. He is part of the Cova St. Ignasi Community of Manresa.
Commitment to Harmony for a Peaceful World Pratap Bhogilal
H.H. Sawmiji Devendrakeerty ji Maharaj Sudhir Shah
Room 123, English Lecture
The events of 9/11 brought into focus the danger facing the world from built up hatred and fear. Religion is a matter of faith and the way to achieve spiritual upliftment, not disruption of social harmony and mutually supportive human relationships. Nonviolence and compassion are common to religions. Interfaith harmony is needed so that worldwide spiritual awakening can underpin and balance the benefits of advances in science and technology with durable human well being. Interfaith harmony will create the basis for co-operative effort in education, health care, and the alleviation of poverty. Religions would become dynamic contributors to a healthier
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environment, happier pluralistic human community and a stable and peaceful world.
Pratap Bhogilal is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the World Jain Confederation. He is an industrialist with an M.A. from Bombay University in Textile Technology. He is the Chairman of the Governing Council of Bhogilal Leherchad Institute of Indology, Delhi.
H.H. Swamiji is a Jain monk and an authority on Jain philosophy and scriptures. He has attended various national and international conferences. He is very knowledgeable of ancient languages including Sanskrit, Prakrit, and Kanada, and specializes in new temple inaugural ceremonies and consecration of Jain deities. Active member of the JAINA education committee and Public Affairs Council and the Jain representative of Yale University Interfaith group, Sudhir Shah has been involved in Jain education for 10 years. He is the author of Think of These Things - a collection of articles on the application of Jain philosophy.
The Imperative of Peace and the Obsoleteness of War
Joseph Prabhu
Room 124, English Lecture
This paper tries to establish two propositions: 1) war is obsolete as a way of settling conflicts and 2) there is an alternative to war in the mobilized will of the people - what Gandhi called Satyagraha (truth-peace). Developments in civil society and interreligious communication provide very real possibilities for
peace.
Joseph Prabhu is a Professor of Philosophy at California State University and a Visiting Professor of Religion at University of California, Berkeley. He is the Co-Editor of Revision Journal, the author of The Interreligious Challenge of Raimon Panikkar (Orbis, 1996), a public speaker, and a peace activist.
Requirements for an Interreligious Dialogue in a Global World: An Anthropological Approach José Luís Cancelo
Room 125, English/Spanish
Panel Discussion
Social sciences consider fundamental the fact that modern history is taking its distance from spirituality. Even though our society is becoming more secular, there are opportunities to expand our faith.
José Luís Cancelo is a Doctor in Philosophy in Madrid, professor of Philosophy at the Theological Augustinian Institute at El Escorial, coordinator of the Department of Sciences of Religion at the Center of University Studies "La Salle" in Madrid, and an expert on the interreligious and intercultural dialogue.