Parliament of Worlds Religion 2009 Melbourne Australia

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

Page 165

PROGRAM
Friday, December 4, 2009
history. It is a phenomenon that allows for a meeting point of all religious traditions. This diverse panel will discuss how that meeting point on the path to peace and unity can be achieved through Sufism. The discussion will include an examination of the impact of Sufism on Bengal Vaisnavism. It will take a critical look at whether Sufi movements, integrated into local customs, can counter Islamic extremism in Bangladesh and maintain communal harmony and social cohesion despite enormous contemporary challenges. It will also highlight Sufism as a means to achieve the peace that lies within each individual, regardless of culture, religion or background.
Dr Golam Dastagir is a visiting research scholar at the University of Toronto. He holds a PhD in Islamic Philosophy. He has also been a Commonwealth Scholar in the UK and a Fulbright Nominee in the US. Dr Dastagir has over 18 years of teaching and research experience in philosophy and world religions at Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka, Bangladesh, and is the former director of the Centre for Philosophical Research.
Dr Sirajul Siraj teaches in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan, India. His doctoral degree is in Sufism and Bhakti. He has done post-doctoral work on civil society from Sufi and Islamic viewpoints at Catholic University in Washington, DC. He is a widely published author on the subjects of Islam and Sufism.
Farhad Ashktorab has been the returning officer for the MTO Sufi Association at Melbourne University for many years. Farhad has been a member of the Oveyssi School of Islamic Sufism for over ten years. Through the teachings of Hazrat Nader Shah Angha Pir Oveyssi Shahmaghsoudi", he has been able to find inner peace. He now teaches regular meditation workshops through the MTO Sufi Association at Melbourne University.
Bahar Jamshidi has been a member of the MTO Sufi Association of Australia for many years and president of the MTO Sufi Association Melbourne University since 2004. Through the teachings of Hazrat Pir Hazrat Nader Shah Angha Pir Oveyssi Shahmaghsoudi' from the Oveyssi School of Islamic Sufism, Bahar has participated and presented Sufism at a number of multifaith forums across Melbourne.
Democracy and Diversity in Global
Perspective
Anwar Ibrahim
Pal Ahluwalia
Bishop Peter Elliott
Dr M Din Syamsuddin
Rabbi David Saperstein
Barbara McGraw
Room 105
Panel Discussion
In this session, panellists will explore the role of democracy in protecting religious freedom, managing religious diversity and building social cohesion. How do contemporary societies benefit from the unifying aspects of religious traditions, and is this in tension with protecting religious diversity? Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysian Parliamentarian, leader of the People's Pact and a leading voice of democracy in Malaysia, will be joined by Dr Dim Syamsuddin of Indonesia, a multireligious country with a majority Muslim population, and by Australian leaders. Anwar Ibrahim was Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia from 1993 to 1998. Highly respected for his principled stance against corruption and his skilful management of the Malaysian economy as finance minister during the Asian financial meltdown, Anwar spearheaded the Asian
2:30-4:00pm ENGAGEMENT SESSION
Renaissance movement and remains a leading advocate of civilised dialogue aimed at bridging the gap between East and West. He is currently Leader of the Opposition in the Malaysian Parliament and is a member of the advisory board of the International Crisis Group.
Professor Pal Ahluwalia is Pro Vice Chancellor of Education, Arts and Social Sciences at the University of South Australia. He has published many books and articles and was appointed a UNESCO Chair in Transnational Diasporas and Reconciliation Studies in 2008. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia.
Peter Elliott is Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Melbourne. He was a member of the Delegation of the Holy See at the United Nations Conference on Population held in Cairo, at the United Nations Social Summit held in Copenhagen, and at the United Nations Conference on Women held in Beijing. Bishop Elliott is well known as a speaker and as the author of books and articles in the fields of theology, Church history. catechetics, liturgy, marriage and the family, apologetics and demography. Dr M Din Syamsuddin is an author and president of Muhammadiyah, Indonesia's largest modernist Muslim social and educational organisation. He is vice general chair of the Indonesian Ulama Council, professor of Islamic political thought at the National Islamic University in Jakarta and president of the Asian Conference on Religion for Peace, based in Tokyo.
Designated in Newsweek's 2009 list as the most influential rabbi in the United States and described in a Washington Post profile as 'the quintessential religious lobbyist on Capitol Hill, Rabbi David Saperstein represents the national Reform Jewish Movement to Congress and the Administration as the Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.
Barbara A McGraw, JD, PhD, an author and speaker on world religions and the role of religious pluralism in the public square, is director of the Center for Engaged Religious Pluralism and professor of social ethics, law, and public life at Saint Mary's College of California. She is co-author (with Robert S. Ellwood) of Many Peoples, Many Faiths (several editions): author of Rediscovering America's Sacred Ground (2003); and co-editor/ contributor of/to, Taking Religious Pluralism Seriously (2005).
Sacred Sites, Sacred Solidarity:
The Time is Now
Bhai Sahib Mohinder Singh
Additional Speakers to be Announced Room 106
Throughout the span of human history, civilisations, societies and communities have grounded their religious beliefs and practices with sacred spaces. From shrines and sanctuaries to holy cities and sacred mountains, these sites reflect a diverse spiritual landscape of vast significance. As globalisation sweeps across the planet and contact among diverse peoples grows, so do opportunities to target the sacred sites of other communities and traditions for misguided sectarian and political purposes. This happens in cities large and small and is expressed through the vandalism and desecration of places of worship and practice. Few examples in recent memory demonstrate the threat to sacred sites more profoundly than the Taliban's wanton destruction of ancient and glorious Buddha statues in Afghanistan. In response to the increasing necessity to protect these often-fragile links between the physical and the spiritual, there is a growing international interest in establishing a preservation protocol for sacred sites of religious and spiritual communities. In this session of the 'Sacred Sites, Sacred Solidarity Symposium, Bhai Sahib Mohinder Singh, Sikh spiritual leader of Guru Nanak Nishkam Sewak Jatha, and others in the field will explore the pressing need for collaboration
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