Dunedin Interfaith Council: we must build unity

A medical doctor, a minister and a University of Otago professor believe that efforts to build greater understanding and tolerance between faiths should be intensified after the Christchurch terrorist attacks.

Dunedin Interfaith Council chairman Dr Adrian Hindes, university chaplain Rev Greg Hughson, and Otago's National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies former director Prof Kevin Clements have advocated greater understanding.

Dr Hindes and Rev Hughson were among more than 100 people, including Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull, who attended a large interfaith gathering which ran for about six hours on Saturday at the Arai te Uru Marae, in Shetland St, Dunedin.

The meeting, which began about 9.30am, had previously been organised to mark the start of Race Relations Week, but people - including from many different traditions and the police - had taken the chance to discuss concerns arising from the Christchurch attacks.

Rev Hughson said that it was a well-attended, positive meeting, and Muslims had been given reassurances after some had voiced concerns about their safety, in the aftermath of the Christchurch terrorist attacks.

Dr Hindes said the interfaith council comprised members of the main Christian denominations as well as Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus and Baha'is.

Council members met monthly to promote interfaith activities and to promote peace and fellowship between members of different faiths.

The Dunedin Interfaith Council "wishes to express our profound shock and distress at the senseless killing of our Muslim brothers and sisters'' as they were gathered peacefully for worship, Dr Hindes said in a statement.

"We are reminded of the urgent need for each of us to build enduring bonds of love and fellowship with those from differing faiths and cultures,'' he said.

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to all who are affected but especially the families and friends who have lost loved ones or have been harmed in any way.

"We are all one people.

"We stand committed and determined to free our hearts and minds from prejudices of all kinds and and be united in our diversity,'' Dr Hindes said.

The marae gathering showed the value of the "long-term relationships'' between faith communities that had been built up over the years.

Rev Hughson helped found the Dunedin Abrahamic Interfaith Group, after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States in 2001.

The group, which focused on Judean, Christian and Islamic faiths, had been established to provide reassurance that people who came under attack would be supported by members of other faiths.

"It was good to be together [at the marae],'' he said.

"We supported each other in our grief, easing the grief.

"We can't give oxygen to this hate.''

Rev Hughson said the patient awareness raising and relationship forming work that had been undertaken by the Abrahamic group and the Interfaith Council had shown their value at the marae meeting.

More work to build closer understanding and tolerance of diversity among the world's religions was needed in the wake of the Christchurch attacks, he said.

That valuable work would now continue by intensifying efforts to build mutual understanding and respect among faiths, and including continuing to raise awareness among young children.

"We need to inculcate in the next generations this respect for diversity.

"We share a common bond and we share common values of love and respect and valuing of human life.

Prof Clements said New Zealand was at a "critical moment'' in terms of the response to the terrorist attacks.

The sort of intolerance and xenophobia shown in the Christchurch terrorism attacks had "no place in a Western-style democracy''.

More awareness-raising about faith diversity was needed, together with increased security monitoring of some extremist right wing groups, and a tightening of the country's gun laws.

By contrast, opting simply for stronger physical security without improving mutual understanding was "completely the wrong way to go'' and could result in a ``police state'', Prof Clements said.

john.gibb@odt.co.nz

 

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"Let the tares and the wheat grow together until the time of the harvest..."

 

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