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Christians and Muslims Living in Peace?
Respect, Dialogue and Engagement: the way forward
On Friday evening 15 August 2008 history was made with the
first public forum on Sydney's Northern Beaches on the subject
of Christian/Muslim relations.
The forum was sponsored by local Churches and Muslim faith
groups. These were Affinity Intercultural Foundation, the
ALIVE Community, the Catholic parishes of North Harbour,
Dee Why and The Lakes, the Uniting Churches of Dee Why and
Cromer, and the Anglican parish of Dee Why.
Youth speakers, academics, politicians, community leaders
and musical items featured in the gathering of about 150
in the Cromer Community Centre.
There was a surprising degree of consensus about the way
forward for both communities living in Australia, and the
atmosphere of the whole meeting was overwhelmingly positive
towards greater co-operation between Christians and Muslims.
A common theme in all the presentations was the need for
respect, continuing dialogue and engagement with one another.
more...
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Interfaith News
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FETHULLAH GULEN CHAIR IN THE STUDY OF
ISLAM & MUSLIM-CATHOLIC RELATIONS
The Australian Intercultural Society (AIS) in
conjunction with the Australian Catholic University (ACU)
held the official launch of the Fethullah Gulen Chair in the
Study of Islam and Muslim-Catholic relations last Friday 23
November at the Central Hall, ACU. The launch marks the important
step the AIS has taken to establish an important academic
professorial Chair that will assist second and third generation
Muslims with learning Islam correctly from its true sources,
increase academic research in the field of interfaith dialogue
and provide a means for community related activities and take
the important message of dialogue to the wider Australian
community.
Many people assisted in the development of the
launch, the AIS would like to in particular thank the following:
The Governor of Victoria, Professor David de Kretser, The
30 VIP Guests from Turkey, that included Theologians, Academics,
Journalists and Members of Parliament, ACU Vice-Chancellor,
Professor Peter Sheehan and Pro-Vice Chancellor Gabrielle
McMullen, Monsignor Peter Kenny, Archdiocese of Melbourne,
John Willams, State Director, DICA
Fethullah Gulen Chair will not only be the first in the Catholic
world but it will also become a prototype in the Islamic and
Turkish speaking nations.
more...
view photos for this event...
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Sydney launches its Interfaith Portal
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On Thursday, 6th
of September 2007, over twenty one different faith & cultural-based
organisations gathered to mark the historic launch of
this significant initiative appropriately named Interfaith
Sydney website. The launch was held at the prestigious
Lachlans at Sydney's Parramatta Park, set within the historic
grounds of Old Government House; the most important National
Trust house in Australia (recently nominated for World
Heritage), First of its kind, this inaugural event was
opened up by the Master of Ceremonies, Ms Makiz Ansari,
Executive Member of the Steering Committee of Interfaith
Sydney and the Director of Affinity |
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Foundation, who stated that "the sheer scale and importance
of interfaith related activities across Sydney has been
accelerating, showing the great need for such a medium".
Ms Ansari then officially thanked the presence of the
members from the various organisations by name. Discussing
the concept of Interfaith Sydney itself and sharing a
brief history of its development, Mrs Zuleyha Keskin,
the Executive Member of the Steering Committee for Home
Encounters Network & the Vice President of Affinity Intercultural
Foundation, is hopeful that this web portal will 'build
the idea & concept of interfaith … will encourage & inspire
others to know and act on interfaith'. This is because;
as Mrs Keskin further conceded 'dialogue is critical and
needed in order for peace to occur'. Mrs Keskin also acknowledged
the support provided by the Department of Immigration
And Citizenship (DIAC) in funding such a critical initiative.
more...
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6th Abraham Conference
Our Nation
Can We Grow Together?
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The 6th Annual International Inter-religious Abraham
Conference was held on the 19th of August 2007 at the
Eastern Avenue Auditorium, Sydney University. Affinity
Intercultural Foundation along with partnering organisations
Sydney Catholic Archdiocese, Uniting Church NSW Synod,
NSW Jewish Board of Deputies and the Columban Centre
for Christian-Muslim Relations, completed another successful
conference with over 120 attendees. The theme for this
years' conference was, "Our Nation - Can We Grow Together?"
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Our International keynote speaker was A/Prof Burhanettin
Tatar from 19 Mayis University in Turkey. His paper
was titled "OUR NATION-CAN WE GROW TOGETHER? Prof Tatar
had 3 main points in his speech which were, "Philosophy
of City as the Condition of Heterogeneity of Anonymity
of a Society", "Abrahamic Monotheism as an Infinite
Space for Dialogue between One God and Human Individuals"
and "Dialogical Character of Social Ethics".
more...
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