Parliament of Worlds Religion 2009 Melbourne Australia

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

Page 239

PROGRAM DESC
Sunday, December 6, 2009
University of California, Berkeley. His areas of specialist research and publications cover classical Indian philosophy and comparative ethics; Continental thought; cross-cultural philosophy of religion; diaspora studies: bioethics; and personal law in India. He is an Editor-in-Chief of the Sophia Journal of Philosophy of Religion.
Freya Mathews has published widely in the field of ecological philosophy. Her books include The Ecological Self', 'For Love of Matter: A Contemporary Panpsychism' and 'Reinhabiting Reality: Towards a Recovery of Culture'. Active in disseminating ecophilosophical ideas in the wider community, Freya's work focuses on ecological metaphysics. epistemology and ethics, philosophy of place and reinhabitation, and Indigenous thought, especially in the Indigenous traditions of Australia and China.
Practising Yoga: Covert Conversion to Hinduism or the Key to Mind-Body Wellness for All?
Rev Ellen Grace O'Brian, Moderator
Swaminathan Venkataraman
Chris Chapple
Dr Amir Farid Isahak
Room 104
Panel Discussion
The science of yoga has grown enormously on the global stage in the last few decades due to widespread recognition of its physical and mental health benefits. Hinduism teaches that yoga is comprised of eight steps of which the popularly practised postures are an integral part. Although yoga's origins are Hindu, its practitioners come from virtually all faiths. The United States alone has about 20 million practitioners, with hundreds of millions worldwide. However, the Hindu roots of yoga and the use of Hindu chants, such as the sacred syllable 'Om', appear to have created apprehensions that the practice of yoga leads to de facto conversion to Hinduism. Yet, as a pluralistic, non-exclusivist and non-proselytising religion, Hinduism teaches that one need not become a Hindu or repudiate one's own faith to practice yoga and reap its benefits. How founded is the fear of conversion? Is the practice of yoga inconsistent with the tenets of other religions? Can interfaith dialogue help individuals, irrespective of faith, reap the immense benefits that follow from the practice of yoga? The aim of this program is to foster understanding among faith traditions and to create a sustainable basis for the practice of yoga by all.
Rev Ellen Grace O'Brian is the Spiritual Director of the Center for Spiritual Enlightenment and a minister in the spiritual tradition of Kriya Yoga. She was ordained in 1981 by Roy Eugene Davis, a direct disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda. She serves on the board of trustees of the Parliament, is the President of Meru Seminary, and leads a thriving congregation. She is the author of several books on meditation and spiritual practice.
Swaminathan Venkataraman is a member of the Hindu American Foundation's Board of Directors and coordinates that organisation's interfaith efforts. Mr Venkataraman practises some of South India's ancient Hindu traditions including Vedic chanting. He is an engineer from IIT Madras and has an MBA from the IIM Calcutta, now based in San Francisco. He is currently a Director with Standard & Poor's at their Utilities and Infrastructure group. He also raises money for charitable hospitals.
Christopher Key Chapple is Doshi Professor of Indic and Comparative Theology at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. He received his PhD in the History of Religions from Fordham University. A founding
11:30am-1:00pm
INTERRELIGIOUS SESSION
member of the Forum on Religion and Ecology (Yale University), Chris has published more than a dozen books on the religions of India, many with a focus on Hinduism and Ecology. He edits the journal Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture, and Ecology [Brill).
Dr Amir Farid Isahak, a medical consultant, is a Trustee of the Global Council of the United Religions Inititiative (URI) and President for the Asia-Pacific Region of the World Council of Muslims for Interfaith Relations [WCMIR). He is also Chairman of the Interfaith Spiritual Fellowship (INSAF) of Malaysia and a committee member of both the Malaysia Interfaith Network and the Research and Information Centre on Islam and an advisor to the Persatuan Darul Fitrah Malaysia, the Muslim Converts Welfare and Propogation of Malaysia.
Global Poverty Project
Hugh Evans
Room 105
Interactive Workshop
The Global Poverty Project is a slideshow and presentation that will explore the issues around poverty and what we can do to help.
Hugh Evans is the Founder and Director of the Oaktree Foundation, a youth led aid and development organisation, which has now been established in the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, India and East Timor providing educational opportunities to more than 40,000 young people. In 2004 he was awarded the Young Australian of the Year.
Towards a Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the World's Religions
Dr Arvind Sharma, Moderator
Rabbi David Saperstein
Dr Joseph Prabhu
Dr Chandra Muzaffar Dr Mihir Meghani Dr Chris Chapple Dr Ines Talamantez Brian Lepard
Room 106
Panel Discussion
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations on December 10, 1948, represents a landmark in the evolution of the moral imagination of humanity. While the period in which it was proclaimed possessed a decidedly secular orientation, the religious background of its drafters played a role in its formulation. Increasingly, religious traditions come to serve as champions of human rights. In 1998 a new initiative was launched to frame a Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the World's Religions. This is an ongoing process in which the text has been examined, revised and modified at various gatherings, including the Parliament of the World's Religions at Barcelona in 2004. This program carries that process forward by inviting representatives of a number of religious traditions to reflect on the current state of the text. This session will run for three hours.
Arvind Sharma is a Birks Professor of Comparative Religion at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He specialises in comparative religion, Indian philosophy and ethics, and Hinduism [both classical and North Indian).
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