Parliament of Worlds Religion 2009 Melbourne Australia

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

Page 325

PROGRAM DESCE
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
11:30am-1:00pm INTERRELIGIOUS SESSION
San Francisco since its inception in 1995. He is a trustee of the North American Interfaith Network and has helped begin several United Religions Initiative Cooperation Circles.
The Role of Religion in Mediating Conflict Stein Villumstad Thomas Daffern Fiyaz Mughal Ghulam Nabi Fai Joanne Blaney Sohan Lal Gandhi Room 212 Interactive Workshop Interfaith dialogue has far wider implications than simply bringing religious believers together to talk shop: when religious and spiritual leaders have garnered the respect of diverse communities and constituencies in their area, they can become guides and touchstones to mediating conflicts of all sorts. This panel, led by speakers with diverse experience, will discuss strategies for mediation, reconciliation and conflict resolution Stein Villumstad has extensive and distinguished experience in international development, conflict transformation, and human rights. He Served as regional representative for Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) in Eastern Africa, where he oversaw development activities in ten countries and managed five regional sub-offices. Previously, he held the position of assistant general secretary of NCA, managing the Department for Policy and Human Rights. Dr Thomas Daffern is Founder and Director of the International Institute of Peace Studies and Global Philosophy, an educational charity. He has taught and travelled in over thirty countries and has twice spoken at the United Nations Headquarters about peace studies and global spirituality and education. A British-Canadian philosopher, historian, educator. writer and poet, he has taught the history of ideas, science and religion at the University of Oxford and the University of London. Fiyaz Mughal is the Director of faith Matters, which works on developing platforms for interaction between Muslim, Sikh and Jewish communities across the United Kingdom. He is the founder and director of two microfinance projects in Palestine and Israel and has been appointed as the advisor to Nick Clegg MP on interfaith issues and prevention of extremism. Mughal was awarded the Officer of the Order of the British Empire. Ghulam Nabi Fai is the executive director of the Washington-based Kashmiri American Council, the founding chairman of the World Peace Forum, the chairman of the Kashmiri American Foundation and the London-based Justice Foundation, and a member of the board of directors of the Istanbul-based Union of the NGOs of the Islamic World. He has also organised seven international peace conferences Joanne Blaney is a Maryknoll Lay Missioner who has spent the last twelve years working in Brazil with urban grassroots groups on the themes of violence, conflict resolution and mediation. Since 2005, Joanne has been a facilitator of the EsPeRe course (Schools of Forgiveness and Reconciliation). Using a popular education model, she works with a variety of restorative justice practices including restorative circles, emotional literacy and assertive communication. She holds an MA in Education. Dr Sohan Lal Gandhi is the President of Anuvrat Global Organization, a transnational centre for ahimsa associated with the UN'S Department of Public Information. He has been at the forefront of national and international campaigns for interfaith harmony and has presented papers at more than thirty international conferences held in different countries. He is the editor of the 'Anuvibha Reporter' and has authored, edited and translated several books.
Signposts of Engaged Spirituality: Faith and Interfaith Initiatives for Building a Culture of Peace Swee-Hin Toh Marites Guingona-Africa Hiro Sakurai Parichart Suwan Tessa Mackenzie Wendy Flannery Elizabeth Khrishna Room 213 Panel Discussion There is a deepening commitment among interfaith organisations worldwide to the vision of 'engaged spirituality. In this paradigm of spirituality, faith is not complete until a believer translates the core values and principles of his or her particular religion into action on all levels of life. In other words, a believer must literally transform into those deep spiritual principles that he or she adheres to. Despite exponential economic growth, technological advances and unlimited consumerism, humanity is faced with the pervasive realities of suffering and a lack of peace. All faith communities and interfaith movements need to help build a culture of peace encompassing nonviolence, local/global justice, human security, human rights, intercultural respect and solidarity, ecological sustainability and inner peace. To do this, they must promote engaged spirituality. This panel will present important examples of grassroots faith and interfaith initiatives that should be recognised as signposts of engaged spirituality. Toh Swee-Hin (S H Toh) is Professor and Director, Griffith University Multi-Faith Centre in Australia, which seeks to promote interfaith dia
e for a culture of peace. He is active in peace education and interfaith dialogue movements including a Parliament of the World's Religions, Religions for Peace, and the Asia-Pacific Interfaith Meetings for peace and cooperation, as a member of the Australian delegation Swee-Hin was awarded the UNESCO prize for Peace Education in 2009. Marites Guingona-Africa is founder and convenor of the Peacemakers Circle Foundation, a URI cooperation circle of people of diverse religious, spiritual and Indigenous traditions, engaged in daily interfaith cooperation to end religiously motivated violence and promote cultures of peace, justice and healing for the earth and all living beings. Currently Chairperson of URI, Southeast Asia-Pacific region, she served on the Philippine delegation to interfaith meetings in New Zealand and Seoul, South Korea Hiro Sakurai is the Director, United Nations Liaison Office, Soka Gakkai International. As past President of the Committee of Religious NGOs of the UN, he co-launched the Tripartite Forum on Interfaith Cooperation for Peace. He served on the Board of Directors of the Committee on Disarmament, Peace and Security and the International Steering Committee for Global Action to Prevent War. He helped develop SGI's community education projects on the environment, nonviolence, nuclear disarmament and human security Dr Parichart Suwan bubbha is Vice-Director, Mahidol University Research Centre for Peace Building. She conducts dialogues for peace among military and religious leaders, student leaders and villagers in the south of Thailand. Her work involves Buddhist-Christian and Buddhist Muslim dialogues. She has studied Systematic Theology at the University of Chicago and Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago. She is a faculty member in the Comparative Religion and Ethical Studies Program at Mahidol University. Thailand. Tessa Mackenzie is former Secretary and current Treasurer of Interfaith Search Fiji, which seeks to promote interfaith dialogue and cooperation
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