18 January 2024 12:00 am Views - 312
With Presidential elections scheduled for this year, most political leaders and party members are focusing on how or where to get new votes. They also need to give priority to issues like interfaith harmony in a sincere and steadfast manner, instead of just rhetoric and external participation for publicity purposes. All major religions are based on Truth and when they come together, we will see a truthful, just and fair society.
From February 1 to 7, the United Nations marks the World Interfaith Harmony Week with the theme being “Sustainable Development through Interfaith Harmony.” The UN General Assembly proclaimed this week in 2010. It pointed out that mutual understanding and interreligious dialogue constitute to 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.
Recognising 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.
World Interfaith Harmony Week (WIHW), conceived to promote a culture of peace and nonviolence, was first proposed by King Abdullah II of Jordan at the United Nations in 2010. This was quickly adopted by the UN General Assembly in a resolution, 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 programs and initiatives that would promote the aims and objectives
of the week.
After a two-year hiatus 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 Holy See and the Kingdom of Bahrain to the United Nations, together with the UNSRC (Society of Writers) 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 peace and harmony, in an environmentally sustainable world. Our world continues to be beset by conflict and intolerance with a 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 neighbourliness based on our common humanity, a message shared by all faith traditions. 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 that was 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 a 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 – was the need to “protect Mother Earth that nurtures and sustains us”; a thought that was warmly and widely embraced.
One of the world’s greatest statesmen, Mahatma Gandhi has said, “The essence of all religions is one. Only their approaches are different,” while the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama has pointed out that, “All religions try to benefit people, with the same basic message of the need for love and compassion, for justice and honesty, and
for contentment.”