Breaking down the barriers
Interfaith dialogue is shaping the future for Australia’s young leaders.
ON the other side of the world, guns fired, stones flew and peace seemed all but an ideal.
Yet at Campaspe Downs the room was dead quiet, but for the chirping of birds outside and the sound of one voice, speaking rationally, slowly and with ease, about religion.
The 40 odd faces in the room were turned attentively towards the speaker, who was keen to separate politics from belief.
“For a lot of people the Taliban represents Islam, which is, I think, not true at all: it’s just a political movement using religion as a cover for its agenda.
“In here I think there’s an opportunity for every one of us to really get into spirituality.”
Heads nodded at Said Dileri, a facilitator and participant at the Multi-faith Future Leader’s Program held in Victoria last week.
Run under the auspices of the B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission (ADC) and the Victorian state government, the free seminar unites 18-26-year-olds of different faiths who have shown initiative in their communities.
Now in its fourth year, the program has grown considerably, and so has its reach, as ADC executive director Deborah Stone explains.
Having collaborated with the Spectrum Migrant Resource Centre, ADC has engaged participants from the Sikh, Buddhist, Hindu, Baha’i, Christian, Islamic and Jewish faiths this year.
“The Muslim Jewish interaction is especially important to us,” said Stone, “because obviously that’s an area of potential conflict.
“One of the great things that [the participants] realise is that Islam and Judaism have the most in common, and so they learn a lot about each other’s cultures … but they see each other, primarily, as engaged young people,” Stone said.
And despite the different appearances, accents and attitudes in the room, participants overwhelmingly agreed that their most valuable asset were the new friends they had made.
“I’m learning a lot, but mostly it’s about the relationships that you build with other people,” said Tibetan Buddhist monk Freeman Trebilcock.
The 23-year-old is the founding member of the international peace organisation Loving Kindness Peaceful Youth and believes that interfaith dialogue can change the world.
Another participant, Abrar Al-Yasery, said at the end of the day participants were united as impassioned young adults.
“Our faith, our religion, what we believe in, that’s kind of secondary,” she said.
Having been encouraged by previous participants to come along, 25-year-old Inderbir Singh said he had undergone a sweeping change in attitude.
“It’s only been 24 hours now and we’ve made such good friends, it feels like I’ve been here for months or years.”
The Sikh donned an aqua blue turban, which he had shown the other participants how to arrange the night before.
“People are really interested and they are not shy. I opened [my turban] up in front of them and I felt like I was at my home; the people here are so loving,” he said.
Having been through a rigorous selection process, most participants are already active in their respective communities. But the aim, as ADC project officer Edna Lipson explained, was to provide them with additional leadership skills and networking opportunities.
“[We hope] that we have encouraged them and taught them to dispel a bit of that ignorance – not necessarily for themselves, but for their family and friends – and that they’ve gained some leadership skills along the way,” she said.
The seminar involved public speaking, mediation, music and an art workshop, in which participants decorated a quilt square with a representation of their hopes for peace and interfaith understanding.
Representatives from the Jewish community included young people from a number of different youth movements.
Sharon Flitman, a secular Jew who grew up in regional Victoria, said she hoped diversity would shed light on the nature of the Jewish community for other faiths.
“I’m a little bit agnostic myself, but my particular blend [of Judaism] is humanistic secular.
“I hope I can give others a better understanding of Judaism, particularly religions with which we have traditionally had a bit of conflict – which generally arises from a lack of understanding of cultural similarities and mutual practices,” she said.
Tal Meretz from Netzer agreed.
“I think it’s interesting, because often when we talk about Judaism there’s a sense of assumed Orthodoxy … in discussions it’s interesting because I often end up speaking on two levels where I say, ‘Traditionally this happens and also, I and the stream that I come from, do this,’” Meretz explained.
PROGRAM organisers tout the seminar as the beginning of an ongoing process, with participants continuing to meet up for collaborative community projects, informal catch-ups and panel discussions like the “tikkun forum” occurring next month.
Moderated by Race Discrimination Commissioner Helen Szoke, “Is Everyone a Little Bit Racist?” will see community leaders debating racial tolerance in Australia at Monash University.
And leader from the Iraqi community at the Spectrum Migrant Resource Centre, Zahra Al-hamzah, said the key lesson she hoped to take back to her community was one of acceptance and understanding.
Al-hamzah reinforced the idea that religion need not define personal connections. “Our aim is one, just to live in peace and work together. Religion is something personal for everyone, so that doesn’t have to affect our relationships with others,” she said.
Participant and representative of Hindu Youth Australia, Arjun Nidigallu concurred.
“It’s been, in many respects, an eye-opener: firstly the different religious and spiritual views that each person has come with to the camp, and also the fact that we’re able to see and appreciate the differences … it’s very important.
“The basic message of the whole camp is that we understand each other and work together, because we have to live together,” he said.
Program facilitator and high-school teacher Frances Prince said the program gave her hope for the future of multicultural Australia.
“For anyone that feels despondent or pessimistic, I think coming and seeing this – I’m not saying it would dissolve one’s pessimism – but it certainly would put it in doubt.”
For more information or to apply for the Multi-faith Future Leaders Program: www.antidef.org.au.
LIVIA ALBECK-RIPKA
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