Keywords: Interfaith Dialogue
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RELIGION
- Bruce Duncan
- 01 November 2023
3 Comments
Pope Francis' cautious remarks on the Ukraine war have stirred a complex blend of admiration, confusion, and criticism as he finds himself straddling the line between moral authority and geopolitical pragmatism. The challenge for Francis is how to uphold ethical standards while effectively engaging in the nuanced world of global diplomacy.
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RELIGION
- Emmanuel Nathan
- 20 July 2023
26 Comments
Digitisation of memory risks erasing historical appreciation of debates around the Second Vatican Council, where binary responses often eclipse the Council's nuanced narrative. To truly understand its impact, we must not outsource memory, but connect personally with this transformative chapter of our faith's history.
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ARTS AND CULTURE
- John D’Arcy May
- 08 June 2023
3 Comments
The Swap unfolds as a captivating documentary series and a remarkable ecumenical experiment. With Muslim, Catholic, and state school students at its center, the series illuminates the transformative power of acceptance and understanding through the lens of interfaith dialogue, leading the viewer to wonder: how might interfaith dialogue better shape our collective journey?
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INTERNATIONAL
- John D’Arcy May
- 28 September 2022
3 Comments
What can the pacifist do when confronted with naked tyranny? With Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, pacifists are faced with the dilemma of either helping Ukrainians defend themselves ― and what spirit and courage they have shown, led by their unlikely president ― or letting Putin have his way. If diplomacy stood a chance, it would be the alternative option for pacifists; but does it?
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RELIGION
- Stephanie Dowrick
- 06 March 2019
85 Comments
My relationship to Catholicism can be summed up as: I am on the outskirts, yet close and invested enough to care how the Church evolves. Because, it seems to me, how it evolves and the speed at which those urgent and essential changes take place will significantly determine whether it will survive — and whether it deserves to survive.
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EDUCATION
- Sophie Chalmers
- 21 March 2017
21 Comments
The Dalai Lama is turning 82 this July, and he may be the last in his line. The religious and political ramifications of this are often lost on the general public. Many people in largely Christian Australia don't know the significance of a Mikveh in Judaism, can't explain why the Buddhist Middle Path is so important, or recite what the Five Pillars of Islam are. There are as many diverse interpretations of Hinduism as there are for Christianity, and as many insightful Buddhist stories as there are in the Bible.
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RELIGION
- Frank Brennan
- 27 November 2015
2 Comments
'The crisis of child sexual abuse in our societies has required that our institutional procedures be more transparent and that we learn from the ways of the world in exercising power openly and justly. This means we have to restructure some of our church arrangements so that power is exercised accountably and transparently. All of us who have positions of influence and power in institutional churches need to be attentive to the voices of those who have suffered within our institutions.' 'Discerning the place for the prophetic voice and pragmatic cooperation of the churches in the great moral questions of the age', address to the Association of Practical Theology in Oceania conference, 26 November 2015.
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AUSTRALIA
- Benedict Coleridge
- 24 October 2014
7 Comments
The repeal of the burka ban in parliament followed woeful comments from ignorant senators and an obvious lack of real government consultation with Australia’s Muslim communities, spotlighted an embarrassing level of illiteracy with regard to Islam. We need to move beyond a token religious ‘tolerance’ that is paired with incomprehension of the religious other, towards promoting a more engaged understanding that entails some comprehension of how religious and other cultural traditions fit together.
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RELIGION
- Ashleigh Green
- 21 March 2014
7 Comments
This week's inauguration of Twiggy Forrest's Global Freedom Network — a large-scale interfaith initiative to end slavery — publicly recognises the importance of interfaith collaboration as a means of understanding and addressing social issues. Its launch comes not long after an Australian-first interfaith forum about the issue of forced marriage. It included Hindus, Buddhists, Christians and Jews, and discovered that forced marriage is not a Muslim issue.
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ARTS AND CULTURE
While Anthony the Maronite is dismissive of his Buddhist hosts' beliefs, Freeman the Buddhist finds meaning in the symbols and rituals of Catholicism. The overly simplistic intention seems to be to set open and inclusive Eastern religion alongside narrow-minded, arrogant Western Christianity.
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EUREKA STREET TV
- Peter Kirkwood
- 07 September 2012
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EUREKA STREET TV
- Peter Kirkwood
- 07 September 2012
1 Comment
The tragic deaths of five Australian soldiers last week in Afghanistan highlights yet again the ongoing cross-cultural and interreligious violence that is very much a mark of our times. Usually we look for solutions to conflict through talking and negotiations. However interfaith minister Helen Summers does it through promotion of cultural activities.
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