Created in 2002 by the Global Family for Love and Peace CC, the Week of Global Interreligious Dialogue is a platform for people and organizations to share stories of interconnectedness and the power of working together. It celebrates the global International Day of Peace through local participation and collaboration.
During the week of Sept. 15-21, 2012, participants in the Week of Global Interreligious Dialogue have the opportunity to share their religious, spiritual and cultural values and traditions. In previous years, the event has been celebrated in communities throughout Australia, Bosnia, Finland, Ghana, India, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Taiwan, Uganda, the United Kingdom and the United States.
“The Week of Global Interreligious Dialogue creates occasions for dialogue and for sharing our cultural uniqueness through music, art and food,” said Laurence Singer of the Global Family for Love and Peace CC. “Our gathering of communities builds a critical mass of positive energy and unity to facilitate a greater understanding of our own interconnectedness, our interconnectedness with the Earth and our responsibility for each other.”
In addition to the Global Family for Love and Peace CC, the Week of Global Interreligious Dialogue will be organized by the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors, the Indigenous Cultural Education Center, Lalitamba Mandiram and the United Religions Initiative at the United Nations.
The Week of Global Interreligious Dialogue is also an annual participant in 11 Days of Global Unity, an annual worldwide promotion of peace, justice, sustainability and transformation from Sept. 11 to 21.
Both events will take place in conjunction with the International Day of Peace, an annual event celebrated by the United Nations and people throughout the world as a day of global ceasefire and nonviolence.
The theme of this year’s Peace Day – celebrated everywhere on Sept. 21 – is “Sustainable Peace for a Sustainable Future,” in keeping with the recent United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. More information about URI’s celebration of the International Day of Peace is available at uri.org.
