Parliament of Worlds Religion 2009 Melbourne Australia

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

Page 248

PROGRAM DESCRIP
Sunday, December 6, 2009
LUNCHTIME PROGRAMMING 1:00-2:30pm
Towards a Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the World's Religions, Continued
Rabbi David Saperstein
Madhu Khanna
Room 106
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 is the continuation of a three hour program.
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.
Professor Madhu Khanna teaches in the Centre for the Study of Comparative Religions and Civilizations at the Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi. She was the co-convenor of the global congress on World's Religions After September 11: An Asian Perspective, which met in New Delhi from January 17-20, 2009. She specializes in Hindu Shakta Tantra, a field in which she has published extensively, and is the founder trustee of the Tantra Foundation. Her work on Narivada, the Indian word and concept for feminism, has been widely acclaimed, a field in which she is the Honorary Advisor at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts.
244 PWR-Parliament of the World's Religions Jain Education International
Global Ethics and Religion Forum - What is Peace in a Sustainable and Just World?
2:30-4:00pm ENGAGEMENT SESSION
Rev Dr David LC Clark, Moderator
Philip Rossi SJ
Pal Alhaulalia
Leif Stenberg
Mutombo Nkulu-N'sengha
George R Wilkes
Colin Honey
Most Reverend Dr Philip Freier
Room 110
Symposium
This is Panel #4 in the 'War and the Role of Religion in a Just and Sustainable World' Symposium.
Rev Dr David LC Clark is Chair at the Von Hugel Institute, St. Edmund's College, Cambridge University, England.
Philip Rossi is a Professor of Theology at Marquette University, USA. Pal Alhaulalia is Pro Vice Chancellor and Vice President of the Division of Education, Arts and Social Sciences, and UNESCO Chair in Transnational Diasporas and Reconciliation Studies at the University of South Australia, Australia.
Leif Stenberg is Director of the Centre for Middle Eastern Studies, University of Lund, Sweden.
Mutombo Nkulu-N'sengha is an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, USA.
George Wilkes is Director of the Program in Religion and Ethics in War and Peace-Making at St Edmund's College, Cambridge University, England.
Colin Honey is Director of the Lonsdale Centre for Applied Ethics, Melbourne, a member of the Program in Religion and Ethics in War and Peace-Making at St Edmund's College, Cambridge University, England and Australia.
Dr Philip Freier became the Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne in December 2006, following seven and a half years as Bishop of the Northern Territory. Dr Freier has been working towards engaging the Church with the wider community, particularly through his 'Prayer4Melbourne' quest, in which he has visited a range of public spaces, welfare centres and shopping malls. He is deeply involved in social justice issues affecting Indigenous peoples.
ENGAGEMENT 2:30-4:00pm
The Necessity of Nuclear Disarmament and Steps Toward its Achievement
Judge C G Weeramantry
Sue Wareham, Respondent
Room 102
Round Table Discussion
'The nuclear bomb is the most anti-democratic, antinational, anti-human, outright evil thing that man has ever made. If you are religious, then remember that this bomb is Man's challenge to God. It's worded quite simply: We have the power to destroy everything that You have created. If you're not religious, then look at it this way: This world of ours is four thousand, six hundred million