06.07.2012
Dublin City Interfaith Forum Holds First Event
Interfaith solidarity needs to be built from a platform of friendship rather than from a crisis, the Archbishop of Dublin told a recent Dublin City Interfaith Forum seminar. The seminar, which took place in the Wood Quay Venue, was the first event to be held by DCIF since its formation late last year. Archbishop Michael Jackson, who is the chairman of the management committee of NIFCON, the Anglican Communion’s interfaith body, said that Christians were often caught in a post 9/11, post 7/7 context which resulted in a distortion of political values and created an anxious environment when people of different faiths met.
Recalling a visit to Leiscester some years ago the Archbishop spoke of interfaith initatives he had observed in the city which involved building trust and mutual respect and working together to prevent community dissent. “There’s no point in trying to build solidarity from a crisis. We need to build solidarity from a platform of friendship… Forward preparation and mutual understanding are better than trying to cobble together solidarity out of a crisis,” he stated.
Archbishop Jackson outlined three pairs of words and activities which lay at the heart of interfaith encounter as NIFCON has developed the way of dialogue: sending and abiding; embassy and hospitality and presence and engagement. “In my experience, these are activities that are essential to the mission of the Christian Church today; so they seem to me to be essential points of encounter with people of World faiths other than Christianity by self–professed Christians. They set us who are Christians free from any sense of superiority and prior/superior entitlement. They also release us to assert, argue and substantiate our truth–claims in a climate of courtesy, respect and adventure. They bring the responsibility to listen to others who can do the same with honesty, integrity and humility,” he said.
The Archbishop asked what interfaith communities in Ireland could do together. He said they needed to make the Government work hard at inclusion. “Ireland is an angry post–theocratic state. We need to be taken seriously as leaders and servants, as those of Faith, who are key players in building an Ireland of the future out of the rubble of economic greed and institutional profligacy. Together we are well placed to challenge a Governmental system which is first and foremost interested in its own re–election to power; secondly is interested in an economic definition of the human person; thirdly is convinced that community is no more than the adjacency of lone individuals. An interfaith community can challenge the bankruptcy of that notion. If we do not act urgently, we become, in the words of those who hold power, a malfunctioning sector, the ‘Faith Sector’. This is the peril of not acting together. For my part it is in the area of education that we need quickly to act together,” he concluded.
Introducing the seminar, DCIF chairperson, Sinead Lynch, explained that the forum grew out of work being carried out by the Irish Council of Churches. “Because the religious landscape of Dublin had changed over the last 10 years, they felt there was a need for an inter–religious platform,” she said. There are 23 members of the forum representing the Baha’i community, Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Judaism, Muslims and Sikhs. The members meet regularly to discuss issues surrounding integration and education. Ms Lynch said the forum also aimed to challenge injustice and discrimination and to create a culture in which people of every faith could participate fully and safely. She said the seminar aimed to expand the process. “When we’re in the context of interfaith we might feel a nervousness to find common ground. But the fact that each of us has faith is positive,” she commented.
The seminar continued with a very informative panel discussion with Alison Wortley of the Baha’i community, Dh Aksobhin Tracy of the Triratna Buddhist Community and Imam Jameel Mutoola of the Muslim community. It was facilitated by Fr Alan Hilliard and teased out aspects of the participants’ faiths. There were also presentations by Yanky Fachler of the Jewish Progressive community, Dr Jasibir Singh Puri of the Sikh community and Dr Hemant Kumar of the Hindu community. During lunch, which featured traditional food, participants had the opportunity to view stands providing information on different faith communities represented on DCIF.