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Multi-Religious Education Meeting in
Jakarta
The First International Seminar on
Multi-Faith Education for Peace and
Harmony was organized and hosted by the
Faculty of Tarbiya and Teacher Training
at the Universitas Islam Negeri (UIM) of
Jakarta. In the heart of a heavily
Islamic city this University has a
special function that distinguishes it
from other universities in Indonesia.
The main task of UIM is to reintegrate
religious with natural sciences. The
Faculty of Tarbiya (or the Department of
Education) is responsible to educate and
train prospective elementary and
secondary school teachers in the fields
of religious, social and exact sciences.
Hence a large number of the participants
at this conference were teachers in
training.
The former President of Indonesia,
Abdurrahman Wahid, affectionately known
as Gus Dur, opened the Seminar
explaining how he reconciles seemingly
irreconcilable differences between Islam
and Christianity. He prefers to trust
the truth of the other person, even if
it differs from his own belief. In order
to maintain useful relations with
radicals, he never uses words like
radical or terrorist and speaks of
fundamentalists, thus preserving a
positive connotation. Invited guests
included Nurah Amatullah and Sr. Joan
Kirby representing the Consultation for
Interfaith Education (CIE), a pioneer
consortium of 10 religious organizations
(including the Temple of Understanding)
whose mission it is to explore the
status of, and to establish Interfaith
Education as an academic discipline.
Since this state university operates
under the supervision of the Department
of Religious Affairs, the conference
closed in the Presidential Palace where
Dr.Azumardi Azra, Rector of UIM and a
truly visionary educator, announced to
the President of Indonesia the decision
to open a Center for Multi-Religious
Education for Peace and Harmony in the
Faculty of Tarbiya at UIM.
Eighteen speakers represented seven
religious traditions – Islam,
Christianity, Catholicism (they are
distinct here), Hinduism, Buddhism,
Taoism and Confucianism and came from
six South Asian – Indonesia, China,
Singapore, Taiwan, Australia, Pakistan
and three western nations – the USA,
Ireland and the United Kingdom. The
three Christian speakers were from
Dublin, London, New York, and three
women speakers from London and New York.
Very thoughtful and supportive papers
were delivered by Toh Swee Hin from the
Multi-Faith Center at Griffiths
University, Brisbane, Australia, John
D’Arcy May from Dublin, Lady Caroline
Cox House of Lords London. Sr Joan
delivered a paper describing the
experience of three consultations hosted
by the CIE: the first in 2000, in New
York and Delhi simultaneously, the
second in 2002 at the United Nations and
the third in 2004 was at the Parliament
of the World’s Religions in Barcelona.
Nurah’s paper asked for parity for women
showing the need to include women’s way
of being and seeing in any
multi-religious conversations.
All Indonesian schools teach
religion, in fact five religions are
taught. It is nonetheless a courageous
and ground breaking advance toward peace
and harmony for these professors at UIM
to initiate the concept of multi-faith
religious education. The expectation is
that understanding brings respect and
respect leads to peace and harmony. As I
left the Conference, I wondered how soon
multi-faith religious education for
peace and harmony will be offered in the
United States.
If the UIM offered immersion in the
Muslim world of Jakarta, the very next
day I attended the Roman Catholic
Cardinal’s Archdiocesan Synod for the
priests, sisters and many laypersons at
Atma Jaya, a Catholic University in
Jakarta. One of my religious sisters was
my guide and it was fascinating to hear
that Catholics explain their lack of
outreach as an effort to avoid the
Christianizing label which even I had
heard repeated by some at the
Conference. I attended Sr. Digna’s
classes at ELSAM, a Center for Human
Rights and at STM Seminary where we
discussed the United Nations Millennium
Development Goals and gained insights
into a developing nation’s perspective
on these UN goals.
Indonesia, so recently liberated from
Dutch rule (1945), presents many
contrary images: high levels of
education, great poverty and pollution,
westernization, deep commitment to
Islam. This is an important country in
South Asia that receives far too little
attention from the west.
UN World Summit Meetings and TOU
Annual Programs & Events
Representatives of the TOU have attended
all of the major UN World Summit
meetings including: the World Summit for
Social Development in Copenhagen (1995);
the Fourth World Women's Conference in
Beijing (1995); Habitat II City Summit
in Istanbul (1996); the World Conference
Against Racism, Racial Discrimination,
Xenophobia and All Forms of Intolerance
in Durban (2001); and the World Summit
on Sustainable Development in
Johannesburg (2002).
Participation in and Contribution to UN
World Summit Meetings: (a few examples)
In New York, at the 2004 Commission
on the Status of Women, the TOU
co-sponsored a workshop entitled
"Women's Stories of Inclusion and
Exclusion from the Abrahamic Sacred
Texts.
This presentation is so well
received that we have been asked to
present it on three other occasions.
In Copenhagen, at the World Summit
for Social Development the TOU presented
a major paper on "Ethical Values for
Social Development."
In Johannesburg at the World Summit
for Sustainable Development, TOU
representatives worked together with
other NGOs to provide a Sacred Place for
prayer and ritual during the event.
Every year the Department of Public
Information co-sponsors a major
conference for NGOs from all parts of
the world. Sr. Joan Kirby has been named
co-chair of the 2004 Annual DPI/NGO
Conference with Paul Hoeffel, Director
of the DPI/NGO Section. The upcoming
conference is dedicated to raising
awareness of the commitments of
governments to the Millennium
Development Goals, which were adopted by
all of the member states at the UN in
2000, with a promise to further progress
in eradicating poverty, providing basic
education, promoting women's health and
furthering development in the poorest
countries of the world.
Sponsorship of Programs for
Delegates, UN Staff and NGOs
TOU Annual Programs:
Interfaith Service in Commitment to
the Work of the United Nations
Since 1997, together with the Interfaith
Center of New York, the Temple of
Understanding has hosted an annual
interfaith service to mark the opening
of the UN General Assembly. Religious
and spiritual leaders gather to offer
prayers for the United Nations from
their various traditions. Over the
years, we have had representatives from
the Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist,
Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Baha'i, Daoist,
Zoroastrian, Yoruba-Lukumi and Native
American traditions. Every year
Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the
President of the General Assembly join
us for this service.
A Season for Non-Violence
A Season for Nonviolence, January
30-April 4, is a national 64-day
educational, media, and grassroots
campaign dedicated to demonstrating that
nonviolence is a powerful way to heal,
transform, and empower our lives and our
communities. Inspired by the 50th and
30th memorial anniversaries of Mahatma
Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
this international event honors their
vision for an empowered, nonviolent
world. Alison Van Dyk serves as a
Co-Director for this international
project. The Temple of Understanding,
along with the Interfaith Center of New
York, the Association for Global New
Thought and the M.K. Gandhi Institute
for Nonviolence, and others helped to
launch this project in January 1998 at
the United Nations and have been
organizing its international events at
the UN for the past seven years.
TOU Events:
The Temple of Understanding hosted
William Marks, author of the Holy Order
of Water, as a speaker for the full day
discussion of Water for Life: Fresh
Perspectives of the World's Water Crisis
in coordination with the UN's focus on
the Environmental Crisis.
Throughout 2002, the Temple sponsored
monthly Prayers for Peace, hosting
religious meditation teachers from eight
different religious traditions.
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