I’m part of a team organising an inter-faith forum on peacemaking, being held as a follow-up to the Gold Coast Project Abraham forum held in September. The Project Abraham Community Forum on Peacemaking will be held on Sunday, November 12, 2 to 5 pm at Nerang Bicentennial Community Centre, Nerang-Southport Rd, on the Gold Coast. The Project Abraham concept comes from the tradition held in common by Jews, Christians and Muslims. Each of these faiths includes the Abraham narratives in their scriptures. Here on the Gold Coast a group of leaders from each of the three faiths gathered to host a travelling exhibition and a community forum on hospitality.
Now’s the time for making peace. There’s been a lot of media coverage of Muslim beliefs and practices over the last few weeks, particularly with reported comments from Ramadan sermons. Australians each read or hear about controversy regarding the rights of women. In overseas news we have been hearing about conflicts in areas that affect Jews, Muslims and Christians – Lebanon and Israel for example.
So what do the traditions and scriptures of each religion have to say about making peace? As the facilitator for the day I’ll be exploring the story of Abraham’s peacemaking in the wake of war.
First speaker is Uri Themal, Rabbi at Temple Shalom on the Gold Coast, and former director of Multicultural Affairs Queensland. Uri recently returned from a conference in Paris where he delivered a paper on Jewish perspectives on war and peace.
The second speaker will be Imraan Husain, Imam of the Gold Coast Mosque (Islamic Society of the Gold Coast). Imam Husain has been in the Gold Coast news constantly over the last few weeks, providing a moderate Muslim perspective on a so-called ‘honour killing’ and calling for people to reconciliation rather than hostility.
Third speaker will be Tony Kitchen, executive officer – education at Queensland Catholic Education Commission. Tony’s background in Catholic education has focused on peace education, peace building and capacity building.
Pictured below are speakers from the first forum in September: Chief Justice Paul De Jersey, Imam Imraan Husain, (Anglican) Bishop Ron Williams, Rabbi Uri Themal.
The Community Forum will have kosher and halaal food provided by the Jewish and Muslim communities. The Christians are organising the tea, coffee and cold drinks.
The afternoon will include 90 minutes of questions and discussion. My hope is that people will meet and get to know people from other faiths, putting into practice the call for peacemaking.
I am proud and gives grace and respect for Australian abraham nongovernmental organizations, being able to see, watching, correcting, analyze, conclude and give a look at patterns, thought patterns, pattern analysis and pattern do for human life in various communities in order to appreciate each other , respect and lead the way in the various activities of human life while trapped in a limited life and without further thought that hurt other people, Thanks. Proviciat to proyect abraham “You had Australian”.