2 February 2023 03:16 am Views - 283
Building bridges across boundaries is the theme of the United Nations World Interfaith Harmony week from February 1 to 7. This is an annual event observed during the first week of February, after the General Assembly designation in 2010. The General Assembly pointed out that mutual understanding and interreligious dialogue constitute important dimensions of a culture of peace and established World Interfaith Harmony Week as a way to promote harmony between all people regardless of their faith.
Recognizing the imperative need for dialogue among different faiths and religions to enhance mutual understanding, harmony and cooperation among people, the General Assembly encourages all States to spread the message of interfaith harmony and goodwill in the world’s churches, mosques, synagogues, temples and other places of worship during that week, on a voluntary basis and according to their own religious traditions or convictions.
Significantly, we wish to point out that when King Charles III will be crowned in May, a Hindu Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will leave No.10 Downing Street with his Indian wife to attend the ceremony. London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan will also be at Westminster Abbey. Security will be coordinated by the Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, a Buddhist. The only white holder of a high office of state Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor of Exchequer (finance minister) will arrive with his Chinese wife. And the Chief Rabbi will walk from Clarence House, having stayed the night as the guest of the King and Queen Consort. It will be a perfect scene of modern Britain. Even the prophetic Pope Francis is repeatedly calling for a regular dialogue among world religious leaders to promote interfaith harmony and prevent war or violence which besides killing or injuring millions of people also creates various mafias including the arms mafia.
According to the UN World Interfaith Harmony Week was first proposed by King Abdullah II of Jordan at the United Nations in 2010. This was quickly adopted by UN General Assembly (Resolution A/RES/65/5), declaring the first week of February each year as World Interfaith Harmony week, calling on governments, institutions and civil society to observe it with various programms and initiatives that would promote the aim of the World interfaith Harmony Week objectives.
After a two-year break due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which upended all assumptions of life on earth, causing never-before faced challenges worldwide, the observance of the Week took place through a virtual meeting. In 2022, the Permanent Missions of Sierra Leone, Canada, Morocco, The Vatican and the Kingdom of Bahrain to the United Nations, together with the United Nations Staff Recreation Council Enlightenment Society and partners sponsored a conversation focusing on “Faith and spiritual leadership to combat stigma and conflict during pandemic recovery”.
At the core of all the faith systems and traditions is the recognition that we are all in this together and that we need to love and support one another to live in harmony and peace in an environmentally sustainable world. Our world continues to be beset by conflict and intolerance with rising number of refugees and the internally displaced in a hostile and unwelcoming world around them. We are also unfortunately witnessing messages of hate spreading discord among people. The need for spiritual guidance has never been greater. It is imperative that we double our efforts to spread the message of good neighborliness based on our common humanity, a message shared by all faith traditions. The theme for the observance of the Interfaith Harmony Week for 2019 was, therefore, “Sustainable Development through Interfaith Harmony,” the UN says.
In 2016, the UN launched the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. It was also the year when one of the worst global health emergencies, the Ebola pandemic that devastated Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia was winding down after claiming more than 11,000 lives. The United African Congress was among the first to call attention to the looming health emergency as early as August 2014 by holding an awareness-raising forum at the UN, followed by a concert held at the General Assembly Hall in March 2015.
Noting the interconnectedness of the quest for peace and harmony with the global health emergencies, such as the Ebola pandemic spreading across boundaries and with the 2030 UN agenda for Sustainable Development Goals, the theme for the 2016 World Interfaith Harmony Week was “Building Bridges across Boundaries.” To underscore the significance of the theme they invited Native American Spiritual leader, the ceremonial ritualist from the Mohawk Nation to participate with the other faith leaders. The spirituality that the Native American speaker imparted - through chants and dance - the need to protect ‘Mother Earth that nurtures and sustains us’ was warmly and widely embraced.