20.12.2016
Dublin City Adopts Interfaith Charter – Faith Leaders Pledge to Promote Tolerance and Respect
A groundbreaking new charter promoting religious freedom, interfaith dialogue and religious diversity in the city of Dublin was officially launched by the Lord Mayor Brendan Carr today (Tuesday December 20). Coming as it did the day after the attack on a Christmas market in Berlin, the Lord Mayor passed on his condolences to the people of the German city and said he and Dublin’s faith leaders were “standing shoulder to shoulder to ensure that this doesn’t happen in our city”.
The Dublin City Interfaith Charter has been agreed and signed by representatives of Dublin City Interfaith Forum, including Archbishop Michael Jackson. Having committed to the Charter, the Forum plans to agree a schedule of projects and programmes in partnership with Dublin City Council to further its aims.
The Lord Mayor spoke this morning of the rise of racism, xenophobia and intolerance across the world. “This intolerance is happening more and more. But in Dublin the interfaith forum has said it is not happening here. We’re going to be a focus and a guiding light for tolerance,” he said.
He urged the faith leaders to ensure that their signing of the Charter was not an empty gesture. “What we do here needs to be brought back to our communities and we need to tell everyone about this Charter. This is the start of something… This is the start of people living together and supporting each other.”
Mr Carr thanked the faith leaders for their commitment to the Charter saying: “You’re going to change people’s lives here today. You’re going to make this city a better place to live and a better place for our children to grow up while at the same time allowing people the freedom to practice our beliefs. In this Charter I truly believe we are putting Dublin at the forefront of preventing what happened in Berlin happening here”.
Opening proceedings in the Mansion House, Archbishop Michael Jackson, paid tribute to the Lord Mayor’s “instinctive commitment” to the charter and his sense of belonging to the city of which he is First Citizen. He said 2016 had widened our understanding of Dublin and Ireland without diminishing our identity.
“We have marked through commemoration people and events, history and myth which have framed decisions and perspectives on what it is to live through one hundred years of history and to live ahead for the future and to commit together to a different society of diversity of expression and respect for others in a changed and a changing Ireland. In this way, the Interfaith Charter for Dublin is part of this generosity and part of this journey. It gives voice to who we are for each other in Dublin from a civic perspective; and to who we are yet to become as people of culture and people of Faith. This is reflected in the verbs, the words of doing and of action, that form the spine of the Charter: Commit, Dedicate, Promote, Share, Encourage, Focus, Develop, Create and which give voice to the courage and leadership shown by our Lord Mayor in this life–giving area of encounter, friendship and movement in a true expression of civic leadership,” he stated.
The Archbishop said the challenge for Faith Communities was to express themselves in the idiom of the Charter. “The pressure is on us to share the best of who we are as neighbours who want to be friends. The pressure is particularly on those of us who feel we have the ground of history under our feet as local Christians of whatever hue; until recently we have never accustomed ourselves to giving an account of ourselves; we have simply assumed an entitlement to be and to be here. All of us who stand with Faith as an expression of community and of self, of belief and of culture need to work quickly to keep up with the programme of the Charter launched today,” he commented.
Speaking at the launch, Imam Dr Ali Al Saleh of Ahlul Bayt Islamic Centre in Milltown commended the Charter and said he and the other Imams present appreciated being part of Dublin City Interfaith Forum. He said they had decided to spread the message of peace and the real message of their Prophet and their religion which had been hijacked by those who committed atrocities. “We have tasted what it means to live in harmony and peace with each other, especially from a society which has suffered. We have learned a lot from Ireland. I think we can do a lot,” he said.
You can read the Dublin City Interfaith Charter here.
Photo captions:
Top – Dublin’s faith leaders with the Lord Mayor Brendan Carr outside the Mansion House. L–R: Fr Kieran McDermott, Garda Assistant Commissioner Jack Nolan, Mr Leonard Abrahamson, Sheikh Hussein Halawa, Imam Jameel Mutoola, Lord Mayor Brendan Carr, Mr Deepak Inamdar, Ms Alison Wortley, Archbishop Michael Jackson, Dr Jasbir Singh Puri, Fr Anish Sam, Dr Hemant Kumar and Imam Dr Ali Al–Saleh
Bottom – Four school children read from the Dublin City Interfaith Charter at the launch.
More photos at: https://www.facebook.com/DublinandGlendalough/posts/1183195325049843