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“Love of God and Love of the Neighbour or Love of the Good and Love of the Neighbour”

World Interfaith Harmony Week is a UN Observance which takes place during the first week of February each year.

World Interfaith Harmony Week seeks to spread the message of harmony and tolerance among the followers of all the world’s religions, faiths and beliefs. It seeks to do this by promoting their common basis of “Love of God and Love of the Neighbour, or Love of the Good and Love of the Neighbour”. Its message includes everyone, excludes no one, and is purely voluntary.

Background to the 2012 Event

The Interfaith Centre of Melbourne has invited over 100 religious, spiritual and community leaders to a morning reception in Queen’s Hall, Parliament House, Melbourne, Australia, to celebrate the second World Interfaith Harmony Week. We will celebrate by gathering together, strengthening our ties, sharing news of our interfaith activities and our future plans, through meeting new friends and creating new partnerships. The Faith Communities Council of Victoria, the Islamic Council of Victoria, the Interfaith Centre of Melbourne, Religions for Peace Australia and the Australian Multicultural Foundation support this special event.

The 2012 Celebration

A celebration of this important annual interfaith week, was held on February 1 in Melbourne. Rev Swami Sridharananda, President of the Ramakrishna Vedanta Centres of Australia and New Zealand, and Aunty Helen Bnads, Coordinator of Local Government and Community Engagement with Reconciliation Victoria, shared the meaning of the common message from the perspectives of their traditions.

Master didgeridoo musician, Ron Murray, opened the formal proceedings with traditional indigenous music and Mr Chin Tan, Chair, Victorian Multicultural Commission, welcomed over 90 religious, spiritual and community leaders, from diverse communities.

We celebrated by gathering together, strengthening our ties, sharing news of our interfaith activities and our future plans, by meeting new friends and creating new partnerships. The Morning Tea celebration took place in Queen’s Hall, Parliament House, Melbourne.