One Planet, Many Faiths: Putting Peace into Practice

Over one hundred religious, spiritual and community leaders from diverse traditions, attended a Luncheon for the fifth UN World Interfaith Harmony Week hosted by The Interfaith Centre of Melbourne in Queen’s Hall, Parliament House on 5 February 2015.

A video containing footage of the guest speakers can be viewed here:

History of the World Interfaith Harmony Week

On 23 September 2010, H.M. King Abdullah II of Jordan introduced a World Interfaith Harmony Week at the Plenary Session of the 65th General Assembly in New York.

HRH Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad, Special Advisor and Personal Envoy to HM King Abdullah II of Jordan, introduced and explained the proposal for a World Interfaith Harmony Week to the United Nations General Assembly on 20 October 2010.

Prince Ghazi stated that this idea has the potential to do a lot of God in the world by ‘… permanently and regularly encouraging the silent majority of preachers to declare themselves for peace and harmony and providing a ready-made vehicle for them to do so … if preachers and teachers commit themselves on the record once a year to peace and harmony, this means that when the next irreligious crisis or provocation occurs, they cannot then relapse into parochial fear and mistrust, and will be more likely to resist the winds of popular demagoguery.”

The text used the Confucian concept of the word ‘harmony’, which suggested peace and also ‘beautiful and dynamic interaction between different elements within a whole’, Prince Ghazi said. The resolution ‘excludes no individual, compromises no one, commits no one, forces no one, harms no one, costs nothing, and – on the contrary – includes everyone, celebrates everyone, benefits everyone, unites everyone and has the potential to bring much needed peace and harmony to the entire world, in sha Allah,’ he said.

The General Assembly adopted the resolution without a vote.