NZ Interfaith Group

 

Officially formed in 2008, the Christchurch Interfaith Society are a voluntary non-profit association of people representing diverse religious communities in Christchurch. Our purpose is to foster understanding and good relations, to co-ordinate action, and to liaise with other organisations. We aim to inform, explain and support the diverse religious and spiritual groups and communities in our city. We organise community meetings, bring speakers to the city and support each others ceremonies and traditions. Through this, we bring understanding, contributing to peace locally and worldwide.

The Pluralism Project's fantastic resource, "On Common Ground" has recently been turned into an on-line resource, and is well worth a visit if you've some time to explore. Although mostly geared towards American pluralism, there's an excellent selection of resources available on the world's religions. It's a great reference. The Pluralism Project was begun by Diana Eck at Harvard University.

In recent years, the Scarboro Missions Interfaith Department in Toronto, Canada has committed itself to building a website featuring curriculum and useful educational resources for interfaith work. These resources include do-it-yourself workshops, toolkits, best practices, games, activities, online courses, multifaith prayer services, guidelines, meditations, Powerpoint, etc.

The Universal Peace Federation (UPF) was founded in the hope of building a world in which peoples, cultures, races, religions, and nationalities could live together in harmony, mutual respect, cooperation, and universal prosperity. This vision of world peace underlies all the programs and activities of UPF. Specific initiatives may pursue this quest from distinctive vantage points or in relation to a particular constituency, for example, youth, academia, religion, diplomacy, politics, community activism or the arts. UPF recognizes that the task of achieving genuine peace requires an integrated, cross-disciplinary, and collaborative approach among all disciplines, various organizations, cultures and peoples. That is, peace cannot be established merely by academics, by politicians, or by religious leaders alone. Therefore the tendency for peace efforts to be fragmented and disunified has to be overcome. A unique feature of UPF's vision is the inclusion of the world's religious leaders, who bear the wisdom of their respective traditions, in the pursuit of peace. This affirmation of religion's contribution is fully interreligious in spirit, welcoming the participation of all the world's great religious traditions.