Parliament of Worlds Religion 2009 Melbourne Australia

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

Page 255

PROGRAM DE
Sunday, December 6, 2009
a current tribal council member, who continues to advocate for Native American tribes in the areas of health, museums, language retention, sacred sites, economic development and housing.
Tsugio Kuzuno is an Ainu elder and spiritual speaker from Shizunai, Hokkaido, Japan. Mr Kuzuno is noted for winning first prize in the 2nd Ainu Oratorical Contest in November of 1998. This is an event that brings participants, students, elders and the community together to get in touch with the Ainu language and culture.
Nana Osei Boakyewa Yiadom II, a noted African leader, is one of Ghana's queen mothers. Among the first African women to be elected village chief, she is a fellow with the UN Institute for Training and Research, working on a project on refugee women. Since 1986, she has served as a consultant on the UN Decade for Women, an advisor to the Committee on African Women's Affairs, and president of the Pan African Human Rights Association.
Religious Identity Formation:
The Templars in Australia
Dr Irene Bouzo
Dr Rolf Beilharz
Room 215
Interactive Workshop
A community that cannot articulate its identity risks losing its group cohesion. A group that defines its identification process in an unsatisfactory way is in danger of an identity crisis. This session explores the sustainability of religious groups through collective identity formation and community living. Dr Irene Bouzo will first present a practical, three-step framework for religious identity formation. The context is the changing nature of communities in the 21st century and how a faith group lives in an urban village. This presentation is informed by research into the multiple migrations across five continents of the Temple Society Australia and its adaptation in Melbourne. Dr Rolf Beilharz, President of the Temple Society Australia, will then provide a snapshot of the Society's spiritual aspirations and how it is overcoming geographic displacement. Freedom of personal belief is one of the basic tenets. The Temple Society identifies as an independent Christian community in the sense that it is not affiliated or aligned with any denomination. Following a thirty-minute presentation, participants will take part in an interactive workshop exploring the three steps in identity formation in relation to their experiences in faith groups.
Irene Bouzo is completing a PhD on the migration and identity formation of the German-speaking Templars. She is a trained teacher and has also worked as a policy advisor in adult migrant education and the ethnic aged care sector in Victoria, Australia. She has contributed fifteen years of volunteer work to the Temple Society and is one of its lay elders.
Rolf Beilharz is President and past Regional Head of the Temple Society Australia. He is a religious and spiritual elder and has spent twenty years overseeing spiritual, heritage, social and welfare support programs in the Templar community. He was Dean of the Faculty of Forestry and. Agriculture, University of Melbourne and is a Humboldt Fellow. Dr Beilharz has a PhD in Genetics and Animal Breeding from lowa State University.
2:30-4:00pm ENGAGEMENT SESSION
The Women's Interfaith Initiative and Grassroots Movement
Sande Hart
Kay Lindahl Room 216
Interactive Workshop
This workshop explores models of organisation for women's grassroots and interfaith initiatives. It will also discuss how such organisations are affecting the shape of the interfaith movement today. Participants will discuss how to identify a community's needs and how to mobilise women into action, dialogue, conflict resolution, reconciliation and collaboration. This workshop will present a proven, successful model of organisation for a women's grassroots and interfaith group. The workshop will enable individual exploration so that the participant can develop a group that suits the specific needs of her community. Opportunities will be provided to develop relationships and to continue networking. This workshop's objective is to empower and activate the highest common values of diverse faith traditions: service, gathering, sharing and healing our world for future generations.
Sande Hart is the Founder & President of Spiritual And Religious Alliance for Hope [S.A.R.A.H.I, a women's interfaith group that developed following the events of 9/11. She is on the Board of Directors for the Interfaith Youth Council and the Institute of Religion & Cultural Competency. Sande is also the author of 'Make a Difference 101 [Community Service: A Practical Step-by-Step Guide for Kids!".
Kay Lindahl is a teacher who offers presentations on the power of listening for diverse groups around the world. She serves on the Board of Directors for the North American Interfaith Network and the Immortal Chaplains Foundation. She is a past trustee for the United Religions Initiative. She is also the author of "The Sacred Art of Listening". Practicing the Sacred Art of Listening, and the children's book "How Does God Listen?"
Indigenous Land Rights:
Struggles and Survival (Session 2)
Aqqaluk Lynge, Greenland: Kalaallit, Moderator Francois Paulette, Canada: Dene
Chief Megaron Txukarramae, Brazil: Kayapo Room 217
Panel Discussion
The participants on this second panel will give examples of their struggles for land rights. The survival and livelihood of most Indigenous communities depend on their land rights and ownership of their land base. Dispossession of these ancestral homelands is a major problem confronting Indigenous peoples worldwide. Economic development and various forms of governmental policies pose the threat of weakening or dispossessing Indigenous peoples of their rights to their homelands.
Aqqaluk Lynge is president of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) Greenland and ICC Vice-Chair for Greenland. He has represented the Inuit of Alaska, Canada, Greenland and the Far East of Russia as President of the ICC from 1997 to 2006. Mr Lynge was first elected to the Greenland Parliament in 1983 and also served as a minister with various portfolios. He has demonstrated a deep commitment to pan-Inuit unity since the early 1970s.
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