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Projects : Mercy Global Concern : Archives |  |
Interfaith education enables us to learn about religious traditions, while also deepening our understanding of our own traditions, engaging both the commonalities that bring us together and the particularities that make us distinct. Moreover, interfaith education offers the capacity for profound personal and societal growth, which is essential to fostering and sustaining cultures of peace. The purpose of the symposium which is organizes by the Parliament of World Religions is to identify both the promising and problematic features of interfaith education, explore the multiple contexts in which it exists, ask how it can address the most pressing issues of our time, and consider the transformative potential it has to offer. While many organizations that work with interfaith education exist, the support structures that would connect as a field and lend coherence and momentum for growth need to be strengthened. This symposium endeavors to create an interactive forum through which educators and practitioners can navigate the complex landscape of interfaith education by building networks, sharing resources and support, and collaboratively addressing the challenges necessary to developing this nascent field. The Symposium on Interfaith Education, is part of a multi-year collaborative endeavor, sponsored by the Commission for Interfaith Education at the UN: Auburn Theological Seminary, the National Jewish Council for Leadership and Learning, the Fellowship of Reconciliation, International Association for Religious Freedom, the International Mahavir Jain Mission, the Interfaith Community, the Muslim Women's Institute for Research and Development. Participants at the Parliament included:
Other sessions will included: The Relationship between Interfaith Education and Justice, Conflict Resolution, Reconciliation and Coexistence. Presenters in this category included: Deirdre Mullan, RSM Director of Mercy Global Concern representing
the Sisters of Mercy at the United Nations and Carol Rittner,
RSM Distinguished professor of Holocaust Studies at the Richard
Stockton
College in New Jersey, USA, examining Education for Mutual
Understanding in the context of Northern Ireland and reflecting
on the concept
of moving ';Beyond Hate: Living with Our Deepest Differences. In
their presentation, which included examples of "good practices" the
Mercy presenters recalled the fact that one of the problems human
beings have is that we have very good memories. We carry them for
many years, sometimes across generations. Where there is a crisis,
these memories surface and give credence to atrocities and hates.
The question - "Is it possible to open new a new door, to
start a new chapter, at some point to say, 'let bygones
be bygones' remains
valid --------- and a challenge to all of us." In Northern Ireland, people tell different stories of the history of the island, of the origins of their confrontation, of the wars they have fought, and of the terrorism they have endured. Such stories are often used to justify present 'certainties' rather than moving the challenge of coexistence of getting 'beyond hate' and living with our deepest differences forward. Indeed, they frequently impede it. Using examples from the field. Deirdre talked about her work with young people in the 'Dance Beyond Hate' while Carol outlined the processes she used from the "Beyond Hate" conference to the "Journeys' of Coexistence". The Closing Session, entitled Visioning the Future: Where do we go from Here? was given by Dr. Hans Kung who is Professor of Ecumenical Theology, University of Tubingen, and the President of the foundation for a Global Ethic. He was drafter of "The Declaration toward a Global Ethic of the Parliament of the World's Religions" in 1993. In his address, Fr. Kung said that we need to replace superiority and exclusivity with exclusivity and that there will be ... "No peace among the nations without peace among the religions. No peace among the religions without dialogue between religions. No dialogue between the religions without global ethical standards No survival of our globe without a global ethic".
Reflecting
on his own experience within the Catholic Church Fr. Kung said "the
crisis liberated me from a clash of mentalities and enabled me
to elaborate on the idea of a global ethic of dialogue
among the religions. Inter-religious dialogues are not a pious
work or just an academic exercise but is rather an interactive
experience. Education is a must if we want to change society. The
global ethic is not opposed to different religions and especially
after what happened on 9/11 is needed throughout the globe. Look
at what is happening to the children of the world. We now have
children who kill children... James Bulger killed by two boys
while visiting a shopping center with his mum, the Columbine massacre,
where children killed children. Look at foreign policy and the
lies, which have destroyed a nation. Look at the sexual abuse in
the church and elsewhere. Look at women's issues - trafficking
in human beings for sexual pleasure. At the Parliament the Golden Rule in the World Religions formed part of a major exhibition:
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