Parliament of Worlds Religion 2009 Melbourne Australia

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

Page 200

PRONA
PROGRAM DES
Saturday, December 5, 2009
11:30am-1:00pm INTERRELIGIOUS SESSION
share their personal experiences as members of distinct communities who seek to further interfaith compassion and understanding. Elwyn Neri is the Relationship Building Specialist and Davao PAR-Team Organizer for Peacebuilders Community in the Philippines. He is the primary networker in the field and has significant experience in organising and training Peace and Reconciliation Teams Fr Gerald M Musa is a Catholic Priest from the Diocese of Sokoto, Nigeria. He comes from a predominantly Muslim family. In his ministry as priest, he has worked in communities where Muslims and Christians live together. He has worked with the Nigeria Inter Religious Council (NIREC), as well as the Muslim-Christian Forum in Nigeria. He is currently pursuing a PhD at the School of Journalism and Communication, University of Queensland, Australia Dr Natalie Mobini-Kesheh has been a member of the Australian Bahai community for almost 20 years. She is an active participant in interfaith dialogue on its behalf and convenes a Women's Interfaith Network group in western Sydney. Dr Mobini-Kesheh received her doctorate from Monash University. Her research focused on the Arab minority in Indonesia. She is the author of one book and several papers in this field.
Christian Action and Witness For the Environment: What You Can Do When You Go Home Beth Blissman Philip Wollen Steve Harms Margareta Dahlin Johansson Room 108 Panel Discussion This panel presents three approaches to applying the Christian lessons of social justice, stewardship of the environment, and bearing witness on behalf of the oppressed, to environmental issues. Stories include community-based and individual responses to the environment and describe successful approaches for building community to support the earth. Raised near the Allegheny Mountains in the eastern US, Beth Blissman is a scholar and activist who currently directs the Oberlin College Bonner Center for Service & Learning. Beth enjoys creatively linking people of faith with opportunities for eco-social transformation. Her academic background is interdisciplinary: she holds both an undergraduate degree in architectural engineering and a doctorate in religion and social change. Beth's research interests include emerging ethical frameworks that simultaneously address racial and environmental justice. Philip Wollen is a former Vice President of Citibank and General Manager of Citicorp who left his job at age 40 to dedicated the rest of his life to helping animals, the environment, and poor and impoverished people throughout the world. He is vegan and runs the Winsome Constance Kindness Trust, which supports 400 projects in more than 40 countries. He will represent the Christian Vegetarian Association at the Parliament of the World Religions. Reverend Steve Harms is the former president of the Interfaith Council for San Francisco Bay Area County. He is the Senior Pastor of Peace Lutheran Church in Danville, California Reverend Margareta Dahlin Johansson, ordained in 1981, is a former chapiain at the Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm. Her ministry has to cused on ethics and women's and children's issues. Reverend Johansson serves as a pastor at Peace Lutheran Church in Danville, California
Interreligious Dialogue in Conflict Resolution Panel Elwyn Neri Fr Gerald Musa Natalie Mobini-Kesheh Room 109 Panel Discussion Too often, misunderstandings result from a lack of communication. Whether it is language barriers, mistranslations, or insufficient contact, the absence of dialogue only furthers discrimination, a lack of empathy, and the potential escalation to violence. On this panel, speakers from a range of traditions and from different parts of the world will discuss active engagement to increase dialogue between faiths, by creating opportunities for communities to interact and providing translation services. They will
Global Ethics and Religion Forum: Religion and Post War Reconciliation in a Sustainable and Just World of Human Rights Joseph Runzo David Little Judith A Mayotte Nathan Tierney Brian Orend Gerrie Ter Haar Shin Chiba Frank Brennan SJ Room 110 Panel Discussion Series of symposia/panel discussions The human reality of war, its origins and its consequences have long been a matter of concern to the world's religions. Arrayed against deep human aspirations to live in harmony and peace, the persistence of war poses a daunting challenge to justice and sustainable living. One response to that challenge has been the centuries-long development of just war' thinking that has taken place in the context of a number of humanity's religious traditions. While just war thinking has taken a variety of forms in different religious contexts, it has not yet been fully articulated in terms that explicitly place it within the framework of the larger questions of sustainability. This panel will explore the ways in which the traditions of just war thinking intersect with the question of human and planetary sustainability. The panel will make a strong case for the positive, global contribution of the world's religions to a better world of sustainable peace and justice, Dr Joseph Runzo is Executive Director and President of the Board of Directors of the Global Ethics and Religion Forum, an educational nonprofit dedicated to global ethical responsibility. He has written and lectured extensively around the world on comparative religion, religious ethics, human rights and the ethics of war and peace. He is Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Chapman University, USA, and a Life Fellow of Clare Hall, Cambridge University, UK.
196 PWR - Parliament of the World's Religions