The URI family welcomes three new Cooperation Circles (CCs) in December! 2014 has been a remarkable year; 69 new CCs joined URI across all regions, which represents a 55% increase from the number of CCs who came onboard last year. In addition to our growing numbers, we are bearing witness to incredible commitment and impact. These stories are captured on The Latest News, as well as new CC Profiles that offer an in-depth look at the scope and activities of our members.
Here are brief descriptions of our newest CCs:
Religions United for the Advancement of Communities and Humanity (RUACH) is based in Yaounde, Cameroon, and is committed to advocacy for the integration of all the religions of the world in order to achieve global peace, religious harmony, and spiritual development of humanity. The group is basically not connected to any religious institutions but was formed by free and independent individuals from different faiths who were wiling to come together, to merge their effort and energy to build peace in their society.
RUACH consists of members from various faiths expressions in Cameroon, including the Christian traditions (Protestant, Roman Catholic and some Greek Orthodox), Muslims traditions, Brahma Kumaris and others. Some of the activities carried out or planned by the organization include interreligious and interfaith programs, human rights advocacy projects, peace education, democracy and governance projects. RUACH intends to partner and collaborate with other local, national and international partners. RUACH was formed based on their experiences in various interfaith settings locally. For the future they plan to commemorate different UN international days related to the issues the CC is working on, including: peacebuilding, democracy, human rights, women, etc. They also plan to implement a human rights educational and advocacy campaign across the country in order to mobilize faith and indigenous communities.
Dialogue Center Bulgaria, Bulgaria
Dialogue Center Bulgaria has been registered in Plovdiv’s City Court as a non-governmental organization since 1998 and includes like-minded people of different religious and ethnic origins. Their main goal is to promote dialogue in Bulgaria in the long and costly period of transition after the fall of the totalitarian regime and 45 years of atheistic indoctrination. The group is formed by members coming from different religious and spiritual backgrounds such as Eastern Orthodox Christian, Protestant Christian and Muslim. They have organized lot of activities in the late 1990s, mainly through religious and spiritual education and cultural events, also throgh printed and electronic media. Their most remarkable activities are the religious lectures on the culture of dialogue and tolerance produced for the Bulgarian National Television in a specialized program for deaf-mute and hard of hearing people with subtitles. During the last few years, they have regular monthly participation in a radio program on the Bulgarian National Radio from the studio in Plovdiv in regard of the various religious traditions and historic momentums where the power of the civil society is witnessed through religions.
Spiritual Revival, Bulgaria
Spiritual Revival was created to contribute to the promotion of the spiritual culture and religious traditions at a regional and national level. Media has been their tool since they started in 1992, with a printed weekly newspaper called Sianie which is from 2010 distributed electronically. Their rationale is that people with a common vision and common goals can form a group of like-minded people and to work together for a better future. “Under one roof, in one home Bulgaria, let us give a hand to one another” was one of their projects in the past (1995-1998). At this moment they are developing an “International Forum” – a gathering of people from the East and West in a forum so that, together, they address problems of diversity, tolerance, unity, etc. Their current activities include an electronic media newspaper “Sianie (Radiance)” for religion, philosophy, science (from 2010). Their slogan is “Peace, Freedom, and Unity. Forward into the New Time.” They are working with all minority groups to overcome differences and to live in peace through a Facebook platform. They also organize open air performances and regional competitions.
