Parliament of Worlds Religion 2009 Melbourne Australia

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

Page 166

PROGRAM D
Friday, December 4, 2009
among religious and spiritual communities in concert with organisations of civil society in order to safeguard sacred sites across the world.
Bhai Sahib Dr Mohinder Singh comes from a line of spiritual leaders, and is Chairman of Guru Nanak Nishkam Sewak Jatha. He is a retired civil and structurat engineer, with two honorary Doctorates for work in faith, community and education. Bhai Sahib is also a recipient of the Juliet Hollister Award from the Temple of Understanding.
The Chiefs' Prophecy: Survival of the Northern Cheyenne Nation
Leo Killsback, USA: Northern Cheyenne, Director Room 107
Film
Forced onto a reservation in 1884, the Northern Cheyenne began to lose touch with their cultural values and forms of leadership. A Cheyenne Chief prophesied that the Nation would return to its traditional ways after 100 years. This film presents the history of the Northern Cheyenne and how a new generation of leaders hopes to restore the traditional values of this embattled Nation.
Leo Killsback is a member of the Northern Cheyenne Nation of southeastern Montana (USA). He is also a member of the Northern Cheyenne War Dancers Society and a painter for the sacrificial ceremony of life at Noavose. He is currently completing his dissertation on the history of Cheyenne leadership and also teaches courses, including Tribal Law, Tribal Government and Native Americans in Film, at the University of Arizona and Tohono O'ohdam Community College.
Life of Jesus: Non-Christian
Perspectives
John Lindsay Falvey
Dr Kala Acharya
Jalal Heydari
Sandra Carroll
Room 108
Panel Discussion
At the heart of almost all of Jesus's recorded sayings sits a paradox of language that resonates across many religious traditions. This panel will present Buddhist, Hindu, and Shia Muslim perspectives on the life and teachings of the founder of Christianity. We will also consider the person of Mary, mother of Jesus of Nazareth, and her significance for Muslims and Christians.
Lindsay Falvey is a professor at the University of Melbourne, where he was previously Chair of Agriculture, Dean of Land and Food Resources, and Dean of Agriculture, Forestry and Horticulture. He is also a life member of Clare Hall, Cambridge, at the University of Cambridge. He has written extensively on religion, agriculture and issues of sustainability from multireligious perspectives.
Dr Mrs Kala Acharya is the director of K J Somaiya Bharatiya Sanskriti Peetham, a cultural and research institute. She has authored two books and edited several books, and she has organised interfaith dialogue seminars in India and abroad. She is the working group member of the Congress of World's and Traditional Religions, Kazakhstan.
162 PWR Parliament of the World's Religions
2:30-4:00pm ENGAGEMENT SESSION
Mr Jalal Heydari is the Director of the International World Forum for Islamic Sciences. He is also Director General of the Asia-Pacific, Al-Mustafa International University. He has a Master's degree in Islamic Philosophy and Theology from Imam Sadeq University, Tehran. His publications include 'Possibility and Necessity from the Viewpoints of Sohravardi and Kant' and 'The Infallibility of the Prophets from the Viewpoint of Wisdom and Islamic Traditions".
Sandra Carroll lectures in Religious Education at the Strathfield campus of the Australian Catholic University, Sydney. Her doctoral thesis from San Francisco Theological Seminary was titled 'Teaching about Mary: Professional Development for Religious Educators. She is currently on the Editorial Committee of the Journal of Religious Education. She shared a team award for outstanding contributions to student learning from the Carrick Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education in 2007.
Grassroots Community Organisers Networking for Interreligious Solidarity
Rev Dr Shanta D Premawardhana
Dr A T Ariyaratne Swami Agnivesh PV Rajagopal
Mohammad Tahseen Room 109 Interactive Workshop
In our interconnected world, where conflicts originating in one part of the world have repercussions in another, effective community organizing requires not only building powerful local and national organizations, but also creating strong alliances across regional and international boundaries. Leaders of several interreligious grassroots community organizing movements, particularly from South Asian countries, will engage in a conversation about moving organizations in this direction. These veteran community organizers will address the struggles, the victories and the lessons learned from their experience working for justice, reconciliation and peace. Among the questions they will address are: 'How do we motivate our religious communities to move from interreligious dialogue and cooperation to solidarity?, 'How do we build powerful interreligious movements that have the capacity to challenge systemic injustices?', 'How can people in poor, oppressed and marginalized communities become participants and leaders of such movements?' and 'How do we network to strategically counter the rise of violent groups that claim to be motivated by religion?"
Rev Dr Shanta D Premawardhana is the Director of Interreligious Dialogue and Cooperation for the World Council of Churches, Switzerland. Dr Ahangamage Tudor Ariyaratne is founder and President of Sri Lanka's Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement, a non-profit organization that involves millions of people in 15,000 villages in development projects. In 2007, he was recognized as Srilankabhimanya (pride of Sri Lankal, Sri Lanka's highest civilian honor. He has also won international recogni tion for his work in peacemaking and village development including the Gandhi and Niwano peace prizes and the Sushil Kumar International Peace Award.
Swami Agnivesh is the president of the World Council of Arya Samaj. A prominent social activist, he is best known for his work against bonded labour. His campaigns have also led him to fight against alcoholism, female foeticide, child labour, and for the emancipation of women. His current 'mission' includes fighting the consumer culture and the Western model of development in India, opposing Western cultural imperialism, and battling casteism. Swami Agnivesh is the 2004 recipient of the Right Livelihood award, which is also known as the alternative Nobel Prize.