(Visited 16 times, 1 visits today)
ACU Interfaith Breakfast highlights
October 17, 2018 by · Leave a Comment
Australian Catholic University had organized an Interfaith Breakfast meeting at the NSW Parliament House on 17th October 2018. The meeting was well attended by over 200 invitees including Premier of NSW, Minister for Multiculturalism, ex-premium Hon John Faye AC (and now a chancellor of ACU) and about 35 other MPs. Almost all religions of Australia including Hindus and Sikhs were represented there.
The Premier of NSW Honourable Gladys Berejiklian addressed the gathering recollecting her Armenian background. She applauded that such a diversity of religions and cultures was present there to have a dialogue among themselves and to have a dialogue with elected representatives. She was proud to see the diversity which is not seen in other places in the world. Its good for framing public policies that initiative for change is coming from the faith leaders. As Australia is increasingly becoming secular, discussions with faith leaders on important issues will result in better policies.
Hon John Faye AC expressed his happiness at the growing number of religions in Australia. He said that separation of State and Church does not mean that religious persuasions should be ignored and that they have an important role to play in getting better outcomes from their Governments. He noted the success of Australia’s multiculturalism that religious diversity has not lead to fights but has rather enriched the Australian culture.
Mr Luke Foley, Leader of Opposition said that the separation of state and church means that state should not impose “a” religion but it also does not mean that religion should have no say in shaping state policy. He lamented that some core values are under attack due to excessive individualism, self-centredness, capitalism and materialism. Our society and families are changing as more children are being raised without the presence of a father figure in the family and we are getting drenched in excessive celebrity culture. He said that people often get criticized for bring their faith to the parliament but religion is what gives us our values and it would be naive and irresponsible to drive religion out of the public square.
Ms Janice Petersen an SBS Journalist said that there are sixty eight million refugees in the world and it is the religion that offers that solace, social acceptance and hope. Census shows that people in Australia are drifting away from religion and it is good to see that many religious leaders are becoming pro-active. She advised religious leaders that in order to get coverage on SBS, they should scrutinize current issues (like Gay teachers rights, refugee issues etc), formulate a policy response to them and have a spokesperson ready to speak on them.
The Interfaith meeting received 20 prayers/readings from different religions that include :
- Ahmadiyya Muslim
- Anglican
- Baha’i
- Buddhism
- Latter-Day Saints
- Congregational
- Druze
- Engaged Buddhism
- Hinduism
- Islam
- Judaism
- Lutheran
- Quakers
- Roman Catholic
- Russian Orthodox
- Seventh-Day Adventist
- Sikh
- Sukyo Mahikari
- Unitarian
- Uniting Church
Towards the end, five religious prayers were read by their representatives. Hinduism prayer verse 10,191:2,3,4 from Rig Veda were read by Pandit Ramachandra Athreiya Rama.
Hindus were represented by Pandit Ramachandra and Pandit Rami from Australian Hindu Clergy as well as Surinder Jain and Dr Nihal Agar from Hindu Council of Australia.
(Visited 12 times, 1 visits today)
ARRCC members pledge for eating less Meat
October 13, 2018 by · Leave a Comment
By : Surinder Jain.
ARRCC – Australian Religious Response to Climate Change is a multi faith network committed to action on Climate Change. Hindu Council of Australia has been a member for more than ten years and has recently celebrated 10th Anniversary of its Eat Less Meat campaign.
Members of ARRCC in Sydney met on 13th October 2018 to celebrate 2018 Week of Living the Change. It is a week in which members make personal commitments on making changes in their lives that will help the environment.
IPCC has recently identified three major causes of climate change and they are
- Fossil fuels
- Transport and
- Agriculture
and the solutions to alleviate the effects are
- Use renewable energy
- Cut down on transport that have a large carbon foot print and
- Eat less meat.
It is the first time that climate change activists have come out openly and boldly to declare that Meat production is one of the major causes of climate change. Studies show that if we take all the action we need to take on fossil fuels and transport but neglect to do anything on Meat production, we will end up failing in stopping the catastrophic consequences.
YET, most climate change enthusiasts are hooked onto the first two and not paying due attention to the third cause of Meat being the final culprit. Perhaps because, it is easy to tell others to stop coal mining. It is happening somewhere far away and affects those few thousand jobs in rural hinterland only. To change our travel habits is somewhat more personal but a matter of pride and a little inconvenience. The technology and encouragement to do so is here and now and we can actually do it with small sacrifices.
However, to change one’s food habits and taste is very personal and perhaps one of the most difficult things to do. It involves the livelihood of not a few thousand Australians but of millions of Australians who produce meat and are also the backbone of rural and national economy. No one seems to have defined a transition path for these proud farmers to help them change from Meat to Plant based food production. It needs to be done on an urgent basis.
If we take Meat out of Australian diet, we will be left with a very poor, unbalanced diet which can be a cause of many deficiencies. Hindus who have been vegetarians for thousands of years and have adopted their cuisine and living style to a vegetarian diet and are thriving (there are over a billion in India alone) have a special responsibility to keep Australian cuisine healthy and balanced as they move towards lesser meat consumption.
The meeting was presided over and addressed by Thea Ormerod who invited everyone to make a commitment to make a change in their lives that will reduce their carbon foot print. This was followed by an address of Mr Atmarama Das (Andre), Director Govinda Valley Retreat. He explained how he got revolted by having to work on a fishing boat chopping fishes and on coming to the shore forever became a vegetarian and joined Hare Krishna movement. The movement taught him that we are not the owners of this creation or even a small piece of it.
This was followed by an address by Rev John Buchanan, Minister at the Presbyterian parish of St Peter’s, North Sydney. Rev John read from the bible that we are stewards of God’s creation and it is our duty no to let it deteriorate and that is why we must fight the climate change. Reverend told the audience that he has not become a vegetarian but has reduced his meat consumption. The third speaker Gillian Reffell from the Sydney Buddhist Center spoke about her struggle to balance her life with her carbon foot print.
The meeting was followed by other people present their making pledges to reduce their carbon foot print and was followed by a Reflective Interfaith Ritual.
Thea gave following information to help people make pledges to reduce their own carbon footprint :
Pledge |
Kgs of carbon saved every year from going into atmosphere |
| Always use public transport to work | 920 Kg/year |
| Avoid Air travel except for emergencies | 460 Kg/year |
| Replace all home lights by LED | 470 Kg/year |
| Make at least half of my meals meat free | 470 Kg/year |
| Eat meat no more than once a week | 640 Kg/year |
| Eat 5 vegetarian meals each week | 690 Kg/year |
| Adopt an entirely plant-based diet | 1,300 Kg/year |
Hindu Council of Australia was represented by its directors Vijai Singhal and Surinder Jain. Hindus have a lot more at stake with climate change. We, after our death will come back in a new birth an this process will continue until we attain Liberation. Ensuring that earth remains livable is not only a noble thing to do but is also the only thing to do to our home for many many centuries and eons to come.
(Visited 54 times, 1 visits today)
Breaking Bread with Indian Chapati in Sydney Food Festival
October 9, 2018 by · Leave a Comment
By:Surinder Jain.
Hindu Council of Australia participated in Breaking Bread with other Australian communities as an initiative of Food Faith during the ongoing Sydney Food Festival at Hyde Park Palms on 9th October 2018.
Food Faith is a not for profit organization promoting environmental and social sustainability. Sharing of bread and then breaking it to eat – Breaking Bread – is its initiative to bring communities together.
Hindu Council of Australia brought Indian Bread (Chapatis) which were distributed among more than a hundred people present there along with a Kangaroo grass bread from Staple Bakery, a Challah (Jewish bread) from Our Big Kitchen and Rustic panini from Bread and Butter Project.
The session started with an aboriginal elder explaining the value of Kangaroo grass seeds as a staple food for first Australians and as a staple crop before colonization of Australia. Other speakers talked about role of bread in religious ceremonies, how food and bread has changed over the years, ongoing research by universities on less popular slow going grains and how food can be a source of sustainable charitable businesses.
Judy Friedlander explained the concept behind the Breaking Bread initiative.
(Visited 23 times, 1 visits today)
Religions meet for Peace in NSW
October 5, 2018 by · Leave a Comment
By: Vijai Singhal.
The Religions for Peace, NSW Chapter meeting was held on 20 August 2018 in Hon Walt Secord’s Office, NSW Parliament House. Meeting was sponsored by the Hon Walt Secord, Deputy Opposition leader in theNSW Legislative Council (Upper House) Shadow Minister for Health, NSW State Parliament House.
Josie Lacey OAM presided over the meeting. The topic for discussion was “Mysticism in my Religion”. Reverend PravrajikaGayatriprana, President of Shri Ramakrishna Sarada Vedanta Society of NSW spoke on the subject for the Hindu Faith.
(Visited 9 times, 1 visits today)
Religious Leaders Forum of NSW discusses violence against children
October 1, 2018 by · Leave a Comment
By: Vijai Singhal.
Religious Leaders Forum
I attended the Religious Leaders Forum on behalf of the Hindu Council of Australia on 22nd August, 2018 at the Melkite Catholic Church Schoolin Greenacre, organized by the Multicultural NSW. Before the start of the proceedings the members were given the tour of the school which is providing education to 240 students mainly from the Arabic speaking refugee families.
The main speaker for the Forum was Mr. Andrew Johnson, Advocate for Children and Young people. The topic for his presentation was “Violence against children is everybody’s business” promoting prevention of violence against children, which has deep psychological impact on the vulnerable children in the society. Support services are available for both adults and children and young people who may be suffering violence.
(Visited 9 times, 1 visits today)
10th Anniversary of Eat less Meat campaign by Hindu Council
October 1, 2018 by · Leave a Comment
By:Vijai Singhal.
The Hindu Council was the 1st in Australia to launch the “Meat-free Day” campaign on 2nd Oct. 2008 to reduce Greenhouse gas emission. We took this campaign to ARRCC (Australian Religious Response to Climate Change) and renamed it “Eat Less Meat” to appeal to people of multi-faith who are mostly meat-eaters. Lot has happened in last ten years. There is much more awareness among people of eating plant-based diet. There is lot more coverage in the main media. To celebrate the tenth anniversary of this launch Mr Vijai Singhal was interviewed at the Darpan Hindi Radio program at 98.5 FM 10-11 am this Sunday, 30 September 2018.
(Visited 22 times, 1 visits today)
