Parliment of the World's Religious

Noela Leamy
(December, 2009)

From 3rd to 9th December I was privileged to attend the Parliament of the World’s Religions held for the first time in Australian – in Melbourne. The book containing details of sessions is 360 pages outlining in detail 650 topics and introducing the eminent individuals chosen to present the input and challenge the listeners.

The lasting impression for me was the wealth of differences so obviously present and so peacefully and respectfully interacting. I could not describe the daily scene better than Joan Chittister who wrote:

“Everywhere a veritable art gallery of religion strolled by: sheikhs in silk, Buddhist monks in maroon cotton, Sikhs in a tall turbans, bishops in scarlet and gold chains, platoons of various nuns from all places, all traditions, Jewish rabbis in yamulka, imams and priests in mufti and lay leaders of all stripes loaded down with booklets to give away, petitions to sign and programs to advertise. Clearly, God speaks in many tongues and in many places to a world full of different people.”

The overall theme of the parliament was ‘Make a World of Difference – Hearing each other, Healing the World’ so the seven major subthemes reveal the strong focus on hearing and healing: : “Healing the Earth with Care and Concern," "Indigenous Peoples," "Overcoming Poverty in an Unequal World," "Securing Food and Water for all People," "Building Peace in the Pursuit of Justice," "Creating Social Cohesion in Village and City.” and finally “Sharing Wisdom in the Search for Inner Peace.”

Personally I followed the theme of Sharing Wisdom in the Search for Inner Peace and this topic focused on personal meditation and listening from the heart. But, like so many others, I was very much caught up also on the search for answers to poverty and hunger. Speakers including Hans Kung emphasized our personal responsibility to have less, live simply and to be active in sharing what we have with those on the edge. Crossing boundaries to find these needy people was a constant theme. It all sounded familiar but in a new way very personally challenging – and urgent.

There could be no doubt in the minds of the thousands of participants that religion had a vital role to play in today’s world and that together we could be a very significant force for achieving justice especially for women, in governance, in creating greater equity and in care of the earth. One practical suggestion about food was to have one meat free day weekly because the amount of grain needed to feed one animal in preparation for slaughter was sufficient to feed huge numbers of people. The figures provided were staggering! And the difference just doing that would make to our carbon footprint, quite convincing. It was also suggested that since we are so competent in arriving at an agreed upon ‘poverty line’ perhaps we should move towards establishing a line above which people were living in greed.

ACRATH had a booth and display so we took turns in talking about trafficking to people who visited the site – dispensing armbands, hearing some encouraging stories and making some helpful international contacts. Our session/workshop was attended by so many of all ages that people were sitting on the floor everywhere. We were greatly heartened in the knowledge that hundreds of armbands bearing our website (www.acrath.org.au) and that of UNDOC (www.undoc.org) were taken by enthusiastic individuals to many different parts of the world. But there is much more to be done!
 
 
 
  

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