The first week of February is designated World Interfaith Harmony Week. We are encouraged to think, pray and act to promote 'Love of the Good and Love of the Neighbour' in the context of world religions. The initiative was started in 2007 and in 2010, King Abdullah II of Jordan, in a plenary session of the 65th General Assembly of the United Nations, proposed that the week be established and endorsed by the UN. He said:
“It is [also] essential to resist forces of division that spread misunderstanding and mistrust especially among peoples of different religions. The fact is, humanity everywhere is bound together, not only by mutual interests, but by shared commandments to love God and neighbour; to love the good and neighbour. This week, my delegation, with the support of our friends on every continent, will introduce a draft resolution for an annual World Interfaith Harmony Week. What we are proposing is a special week, during which the world's people, in their own places of worship, could express the teachings of their own faith about tolerance, respect for the other and peace. I hope this resolution will have your support.”[3]
While is it doubtful that all the world’s people, or even all of the world’s religious communities, are aware of World Interfaith Harmony Week at a grass roots level, there is no doubt that there are some wonderful initiatives out there which do strenuously seek to promote peace, mutual understanding and respect among people of different faiths.
And indeed, in the context of World Harmony Week the University of Cambridge’s Interfaith Programme have launched a number of exciting events: https://www.interfaith.cam.ac.uk/news/world-interfaith-harmony-week-2023 One of these is the launch of a “study on Scripture and Violence, a collection of essays that takes a critical look at the equations sometimes made between violent-seeming texts and religious communities.” This initiative is a real sign of hope for me. For members of different faiths to sit down together and look at the hugely delicate matter of “violent-seeming texts” in their traditions can only be achieved when the individuals really trust each other and are committed to working together. The fact that they are able to launch this project demonstrates the years of patient and committed work that has already been achieved by the Cambridge Interfaith Programme.
For me, during the deeply depressing and disturbing circumstances of April 2022, a sign of hope was a huge gathering of religious leaders in Kiev, to express solidarity with the suffering people of Ukraine. I won’t burden this blog with a list of the high-level faith leaders who participated. You can watch it here: https://youtu.be/FFimBYHxsVo They stressed that they could not offer cheap comfort, but that they had all come to Kiev motivated by a need to show support and solidarity, to listen, even if it meant being overwhelmed, and to make the suffering known. I was struck by the sense of human compassion demonstrated by these people who had all flown into a war zone to be alongside those who were suffering.
The event was organised by Rabbi Dr. Alon Goshen-Gottstein who heads up the Elijah Institute, https://elijah-interfaith.org/about-elijah a fantastic example of work to promote mutual understanding between people of different faiths. In a video clip about another initiative, Peace One Day, Rabbi Alon talks about peace: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Uttja9mabg He says that all religions pray for peace – it is one of the most fundamental aspirations and hopes of all our prayer texts. He also says that we are praying not only for peace in the world, but also for peace in ourselves. He comments on how conflicted people are within themselves and how badly we all need to have peace within our own lives.
World Interfaith Harmony Week! The religions of the world offer immense, and often untapped resources for developing peace and harmony. Maybe this week is a good opportunity to renew our commitment to engage with the riches of our traditions. Such engagement will surely bring forth unexpected signs of hope.
Mother Sarah
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