This post contains the program schedules and descriptions for Friday, October 16th.
For a listing of the program schedules for other dates, please click on the links below:
October 17 | October 18 | October 19
PEACE WITHIN FAMILIES - The human approach
October 16th, 7:00 AM
Ballroom B
Family is the smallest group that exemplifies collaboration and teamwork. Yet those elements are widely missing from society in present times. All around we see broken homes, broken relationships and abuse. The human aspect is gradually fading away. A lot of us blame the disappearance of human-qualities on the advent of technology and industrialization. If the human mind can comprehend and deliver advanced technology that is so integral to our very existence today, why not use that same technology to create programs, games, social media that can influence our minds towards love and peace? At the family unit level, technology that is used to kill boredom, namely television, mobile/smartphones can enable users to download, play, watch games and shows that bring the family together - those that encourage bonding, love and peace. Yes, technology can be used to de-isolate the mind and can be used to encourage teamwork and collaboration. Abuse historically as well as scientifically can be attributed to neglect, isolation and other factors that are mostly outcomes of fear. To break the cycle of abuse loving human interaction is critical. The presentation attempts to demonstrate the value of 'being human' in ending violence and achieving peace.
Presenter: Rupsi Burman (Hope in Life Foundation)
Hindu Meditation: Spirituality and Perfect Health
October 16th, 7:00-8:00 AM
Room F
Perfect health is an expression of the body's ability to function in total alignment with inner wisdom, which is experienced in daily prayers, yoga, meditation and perpetual communion with the source of life ---- the God in us. Modern medical science agrees to the fact that most of the physical ailments originate primarily from emotional stress caused by anxieties, worries, and resentment from the memories of past and present. The cure for these psychosomatic sufferings is within the reach of every individual, only if he or she learns to follow the Bliss which is experienced in daily meditation. In peaceful moments of meditative unity with the soul, we are introduced to the secret codes of our programmed life and the programmer. It allows us to become a witness of our life and the way we evolve in everything. Mood elevation, enthusiastic attitude toward life, improved health, heightened awareness and self reliance are the expression of total body alignment achieved in daily meditation. Regular meditation is a necessity of life. Meditate, Reflect and Renew
Presenter: Mrs. Prabha Duneja, Chairwoman of WICS (Women’s Interfaith Circle of Service
The Evolution of Justice: A Multi-Faith Perspective With A Call to Action
October 16th, 8:30 AM - 10:00 AM
Room 251A
A common thread in the world’s religious traditions is the primacy of the principle of justice. Humanity’s current evolutionary leap in consciousness is enabling the fulfillment of the promise of justice in our time. We are living the beginning of the story of how our perspective is shifting from one of multiple communities with a consciousness of duality to a global community with a consciousness of oneness. As Ervin Laszlo puts it, “The worldshift has started.”
Presenter: Bob Atkinson (Abbey of HOPE)
Attention, Magic and the Golden Rule
October 16th, 8:30 AM - 10:00 AM
Ballroom A
Steffan Soule performs an amazing array of awe inspiring magic effects that focus on the experience of working with our attention and applying it to the universal principle of the Golden Rule. By utilizing this basic practice, central to all religions, we can make violence and bullying disappear. This presentation is for all ages and always impresses even the toughest audience in the world: teenagers! The program is filled with audience participation including an unsuspecting spectator who becomes suspended in mid air. This magical levitation serves to depict the dramatic balance we can find between the opposing forces in life that include “us and others.” Everyone will also learn how to make the Golden Rule Tetraflexagon while telling the story of "you and others" and how to find right relationship with self and other. "Attention, Magic and the Golden Rule" is sponsored by the GoldenRuleProject.org, the Utah Arts Council and many others.
Presenter: Steffan Soule (The Golden Rule Project)
Healing Our Hearts at Wounded Knee: Toward Indigenous and Global Healing: Part 1
October 16th, 8:30 AM - 10:00 AM
Room 155 B
Two-part presentation. The first session is a five-person panel delineating how the problems of massacre, racism and war are identified as leading to deep multi-generational wounding that ultimately touches each person and affects every nation on earth. Human evolutionary experiences of deep healing, spiritual transformation, and consciousness expansion indicate how far reaching, resonant and crucial it is for us to end denial of these pervasive wounds and truly heal.
We present an invitation for people around the world to join with us on December 29th, 2015 in the Ceremony for Healing Our Hearts at Wounded Knee. This is a call for Deep Indigenous and Global Healing initiated by ceremony, healing practices, and a written declaration/invocation to end massacre, racism, and war.
The second session is a dynamic workshop designed to engage participants in: a profound examination of sites and historical events of massacre and other forms of grave collective wounding with the purpose of instigating healing ceremony at these locations; identifying the growing number of resources for healing (workshops. ceremonies, talking circles and other modalities); beginning to identify and support those who are willing to commit to join us in ceremony and the healing journey; initiate considerations for the future.
Co-Presenter: Saniel Bonder
Co-Presenter: Jean Fleury
Co-Presenter: Audri Scott Williams
Co-Presenter: Stephen Dinan
Presenter: Chief Arvol Looking Horse
Symposium for College Students, Youth and Young Adults: Mending Hearts, Healing the Legacy of Trauma: Voices of the Generations
October 16th, 8:30 AM - 10:00 AM
UMOCA studio
Transgenerational suffering touches deep into the human psyche, fracturing social relationships, and fueling religious and racial intolerance. Teachers and students at Nazareth College address questions of generational racism and religious intolerance by speaking from our own experiences of trauma, bigotry, and hope. Our elder presenter describes young African Americans seeking to recover the wisdom of their ancestors, reclaim their humanity, and rebuild a sense of community. A college freshman from Kenya, raised by Muslim/Christian parents, compares the religious bigotry of his homeland to the racial violence in the U.S. An Egyptian Muslim student who grew up steeped in anti-Semitism recalls her transformative decision to study the Holocaust in Poland and Germany. A Catholic nun and Holocaust scholar relates her desire to repair the destructive effects of theological anti-Semitism. A professor of South Asian religions describes centuries-long traditions of interreligious exchange that suggest hopeful possibilities for the future. After an interactive panel presentation participants will engage in a discussion of intergenerational dialogue and what elders have to offer to young people and young people to elders as they take up the mantle of interreligious dialogue. This dialogue will be facilitated by the United Religions Initiative, Young Leaders Program.
Presenter Dr. David A. Anderson
Presenter Dr. Susan Nowak
Presenter Dr. Corinne Dempsey
Presenter Matthew Youde
Women’s Multi-Faith Peace Walk: Peace in Every Step
October 16th, 12:15 - 1:45 PM
Starting at Plenary Room
Women's Multi-faith Peace Walk will be a Walking Meditation – manifesting the power of peaceful sisterhood by walking slowly and silently with peace in every step. Our Walk will be led by grassroots women whose voices are often not heard from Africa, the Middle East, India/Pakistan and other conflict zones who daily struggle against war, terrorism, domestic violence, girl child sacrifice and other forms of violence. Hundreds of local women and Parliament women who support to end this kind of violence will join and walk arm in arm through a public area. We will demonstrate the harmony and peace that women anchored in their spirituality can create to the Parliament community and to Salt Lake City residents and to the entire world. Each woman will be guided by her own spirituality yet sharing that goodness through a web of interconnected hands. This will be a striking visual symbol of what women of faith are capable of doing to combat the hatred of our regions. This practice of Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Buddhist Zen Master has been adapted and carried out by multi-faith women walking together for years.
Presenters: Elana Rozenman, Siham Halabi, Despina Namwembe, Potre Dirampatan Diampuan
Harmony of Love: A Meditation with Singing Bowls
October 16th, 12:15 - 1:45 PM
Ballroom A
Since time immemorial, human beings have revered the sacred with sound. Sound is perhaps the most holy act of creation known to us. All spiritual traditions have many ways of using venerable vibrations to express resonance with our deepest experiences of divinity, binding us to a higher state of existence.
The encompassing element of sound (one often missed these days in a world humming with busyness, noise, electronic gadgets and other distractions) is silence. In this meditation we will sit in silence as well as sound to explore and expand our loving connection, heart to heart.
In an experiential spiritual exploration of voice, volume, depth, resonance and dissonance we will unite awakened presence within a space of sacred awareness.
We'll celebrate spiritual harmony by Inviting the hallowed power of sound: to heal, dream, express, believe, endure, transform, create and unify.
This intimate, communal, reverent, joyful and playful gathering celebrates the theme of our shared global commitment of Reclaiming the Heart of Our Humanity Singing, Humming, Chanting, Meditating and Rejoicing Together for a World of Compassion, Peace, Justice, and Sustainability!
Let's create and answer a resolute call and response through the power of reclaiming the heart of our humanity through Love.
Presenter: Lisa Blake (Abbey of HOPE)
Spiritual Leadership
October 16th, 12:15 - 1:45 PM
Room 255B
The basis of leadership involved positive influence over people's lives as well as aligning ourselves while inspiring others to be doers of their own destiny. Understanding that both barriers and opportunities are in the mind of the leader, we will see how we can develop internal skills that enable us to successfully face life situations and succeed in what we propose.
The work starts from self-knowledge. Recognize that inner flame that enables us to see beyond the difficulties and accept challenges, and thus transform reality. Life is wonderfully rich, abundant and miraculous. The challenge is to realize.
The seminar will address among others, the following topics:
- Self leadership
- Self-knowledge and spirituality
- Overcoming adversity
- Resilience
- The value of personal experience
- Being an entrepreneur
- Innovative Leadership
- New Paradigms
- Integration
- Vision
- Enthusiasm
- Law of Attraction
- Unity Consciousness
The aim is to inspire and facilitate participants to develop a powerful vision that allows them to be leaders themselves. This will contribute to the fulfillment in their lives and community.
Presenter: Ciro Bagriel Avruj (URI - Humanity's Team)
Our Quest for a Global Family
October 16th, 12:15 - 1:45 PM
Room 355F
Mankind has stemmed from one root, though it is split up into various communities and ethnic groups, it is now striving for the recovery of its basic unity and reconciliation of different cultures. Human Soul longs for spiritual intimacy, friendship and togetherness. The most cherished dream of man ,as indicated in the Holy Vedas is "Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam" which literally means, "Global Family "----let people on earth live like the citizens of one great empire under the pure guidance of Supreme Divinity, the source of all life that connects the entire creation.
Although, universal, love and peace is the inherent spiritual nature of man, but only few can experience it. The reason is the lack of alignment with the source, the lack of spiritual guidance, which everyone should receive in daily prayers and meditation. Most of us in our educated societies, have been led to believe that pursuit of spirituality and virtue can be postponed until we have accomplished universal material prosperity and economic security. We have definitely forgotten the revolutionary saying, "Man should not live by bread alone, but by every word of God---the Supreme spirit that prevails at the heart of entire creation."
Panel discussion by Prabha Duneja (Women’s Interfaith Circle of Service (WICS-URI CC))
From Partner City to Interreligious Council: Promoting a Just and Compassionate Society
October 16th, 2:00PM – 3:30 PM
Room 250A
The core team from the Silicon Valley Partner City Project will discuss how they built a thriving interreligious council of clergy, lay leaders, and representatives from education, business, government, and non-profits after receiving The Inaugural Partner City designation at the 2009 Melbourne Parliament. From over a 30 year history of interfaith dialogue, stories will be shared about the interreligious challenges and breakthroughs in Silicon Valley to foster social cohesion.
Participants will learn about the process, structure, and tools used to create the Silicon Valley Interreligious Council (SiVIC) and how its partnerships with other groups and organizations are enhancing the community as well as providing a hub to support of interreligious activities in the region. Q & A will enable attendees to find out answers to their specific questions.
Presenter: Andy Kille (SiVIC)
Confronting Ideological Violence and Hate Speech
October 16th, 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM
Room 355 BC
Introducing a New Paradigm for Interfaith Action. As new religion-based conflicts disrupt public life, it is imperative for us to consider the benefits of implementing proactive educational measures as a means of enriching social interaction between interfaith practitioners and civic leaders. This panel will explore the value in equipping interfaith leaders with core competencies to promote effective social engagement. We will reach this goal in three parts by exploring the nature of social mistrust, the negative impact of misinterpreting religious doctrine by looking at Biblical and Quranic references, and lastly by addressing new measures to teach interfaith leaders soft skills to promote transformative engagement in the 21st century.
Presenter: Darrell Ezell
Presenter: Ejaz Naqvi
Presenter: Keith Burton
Presenter: William McGarvey (Exec. Director, Interfaith Council of Contra Costa County)
Arizona Golden Rule Education Experience
October 16th, 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM
Ballroom F
Share a Golden Rule experience as we take you through an Interactive non-religious approach to academics using the Golden Rule as your lesson guide. Participate in the magic that AGREE (Arizona Golden Rule Education Experience) can have in the everyday lives of children when Statements of Golden Rule are added to children's reading, writing, arts and music curriculum. The impact of this will not only effect them, but it will affect the lives of the adults that surround them. AGREE is a program of the Arizona Interfaith Movement.
Presenter: Anne Taylor (Arizona Interfaith Movement)
The Future of Interfaith: Growing Numbers, Growing Impact
October 16th, 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM
Exhibit Hall 3
A look at the growth and meaning of religious and interreligious groups in today’s age. Leaders of the major interreligious groups will reflect on their own sense of the future of interfaith and then collectively discuss the future of interfaith. This panel will serve as a roadmap for emerging leaders of interfaith to get insight on how to further the already established collaboration and harmony throughout the world. Interfaith institutions have been at the forefront of social justice and combating hate in today’s chaotic world. This serves as an opportunity to not only look at the future, but reflect on 122 years of progress since the Parliament of the World’s Religions was established.
Speaker: Imam Abdul Malik Mujahid, Board Chair of the Parliament of the World’s Religions
Speaker: Naaem Baig
Speaker: Marilyn Turkovich
Speaker: Kiran Bali, Global Council Chair, United Religions Initiative
Speaker: Rev. Dr. Joan Brown Campbell
Speaker: Victor Kazanjian, Executive Director, United Religions Initiative
Speaker: Prof. Ibrahim Saleh Al Naimi
The Compassion Games
October 16th, 2:00pm
Room 250E
The Compassion Games provides us a new way of being in the world together, working arm and arm for our unifying goals to serve those in need, collaborate for better understanding of one another, heal ourselves, Earth and all living things to protect and restore all that we each consider sacred. In the manner of competitive altruism, the Compassion Games reminds us that we can do important, urgent work through play, imagination and creativity. We call it, “Heavy Lifting with a Light Heart”. In this explorative and interactive workshop, we will explore the simple steps to bring the Games to your group, community and already existing effort and be amazed by the stories of the Games success in interfaith circles, schools, cities, even a women's prison.
A Road to Peace: Turning Ancient Communities Into Places of Dialogue
Part of Shared Session: A Road to Peace, Enhancing and Understanding
October 16th, 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM
Room 251 F
Our project has involved the area of the Golan Heights where four religious traditions, the Muslim, the Druze, the Jews and the Christians have been living together for centuries. Here we will examine plans to restore an ancient Syrian church (2nd century C.E.) with the goal of making it into a cultural center for peaceful dialogue and artistic creativity for all stakeholders. This will be a place where tourists and artists, as well as scholars and politicians can come together to discuss what needs to be done to maintain peace in the region. We will show a film created in the Golan Heights that highlights this place of future dialogue between members of the Abrahamic religions and those who wish to build a ‘culture of peace’. We also entertain how a sustainable future can use an architectural model that shows how environmentalists and peace builders can use local social leadership as a road for peace.
Presenter Dr. James J. Hurtak
Co-Presenter Teresa Nacli
Co-Presenter Monica Willard
Co-Presenter Dr. Desiree Hurtak
An Interfaith Movement to "ReGreen the World in One Generation" and Renew the Tree of Life
October 16th, 3:45-5:15 PM
Room 355 BC
Marc Barasch will be convening and moderating a panel at the Parliament of the World’s Religions on “ReGreening the World” on Friday, Oct. 16, 3:45-5:15, Room 355BC. It will feature an esteemed group of global interfaith leaders. In addition to myself as convener, panelists are Chief Arvol Looking Horse, 19th generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe; John Grim of the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology; Lokawua Margaret, Ugandan director of the Indigenous Women Environmental Conservation Project; Rev. Fletcher Harper, executive director of GreenFaith; Vandana Shiva, celebrated seeds and soil activist; and Rabbi David Seidenberg, a scholar/activist in Kabbalah and ecology. Information of the session can be found at http://ow.ly/T0mSE
Presenter: Chief Arvol Looking Horse (Protecting and Restoring the Sacred)
A Common Word Between Us and You
October 16th, 3:45 PM - 5:15 PM
Ballroom E
This panel will discuss “A Common Word Between Us and You,” an 2007 open letter from Muslim scholars to leaders of the Christianity. The letter reignited the interfaith dialogue between Christians and Muslims on a very large scale. Muslims and Christians together make up well over half of the world’s population; without peace and justice between these two religious communities, there can be no meaningful peace in the world. The basis for this peace and understanding already exists. It is part of the very foundational principles of both faiths: love of the One God, and love of the neighbor. These principles are found over and over again in the sacred texts of Islam and Christianity.
Panelist Rev Dr. Denise Yarbrough
Panelist Dr. Susan Nowak
Panelist Reverend Doctor Derrick Harkins
Panelist Dr. Muhammad Shafiq
Moderator Karenna Gore
