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Sikhs at Parliament of World
Religions
Visible Sikh presence and participation marked the gathering and
Sikhs were involved in interfaith, intrafaith, and engagement
sessions as well as religious observances.
WSN Network
 More
than 200 Sikhs from all over the world, including India, United
States of America, Canada, Europe, and Australia, participated in
the Parliament of the World’s Religions held December 3-9, 2009 in
Melbourne, Australia. About 5,000 persons from more than 200 faiths
from 80 countries across the world attended the event.
The theme of the
parliament was Make a World of Difference: Hearing Each Other,
Healing the Earth. It was organized by the Council for a Parliament
of the World’s Religions (CPWR). Representatives of diverse world
religions addressed the conference on the problems of the world like
poverty, ignorance, crisis of ethics, and environmental concerns.
Representatives
of World Sikh Council – America Region (WSC-AR), Sikh Interfaith
Council of Victoria (SICV), Australian Sikhs, Shiromani Gurdwara
Prabhandak Committee (SGPC), Gurmat Sangeet Project, Guru Nanak
Nishkam Sewak Jatha, Institute for Understanding Sikhism,
International Fateh Academy, International Institute of Gurmat
Studies, Nanakshahi Trust, Palatine Gurdwara Sahib Chicago, Sikh
Council of Australia, Sikh Educational and Religious Foundation,
Sikh Youth Federation, 3HO, and United Sikhs attended.
 Sikhs
were involved in interfaith, intrafaith, and engagement sessions as
well as religious observances. The plenary sessions also included
visible Sikh presence and participation.
Sikh speakers
also presented papers in several interfaith and engagement sessions,
including equality for women and girls, creative methodologies for
interreligious dialogue, religion’s imperative to present “the
other” faithfully, talking about new generation, media and faith,
inner peace, importance of family, interreligious dialogue and Sikh
perspective, sustainable and peaceful ecology, democracy and
diversity in global perspective, women’s interfaith network, models
for productive coexistence among youth and Faith, culture, and
policing: The Victorian experience.
 A
highlight of the parliament for the Sikh community was an
International Sikh Consultation by WSC-AR convened as a formal
parliament session on December 7. About 100 Sikhs from across the
world gathered to discuss issues with regard to developing an
international Sikh representative structure / organization that
discourages individual personal leadership. The session was
moderated by Dr. Ranbir Singh Sandhu, founding Secretary General of
WSC-AR. The need for an international representative Sikh
organization was unanimously agreed upon and consultations within
countries with a significant Sikh Diaspora presence will be pursued
with the objective of having an organizational structure in place by
the time the next parliament is convened in 2014.
Earlier, the
Sikh community parliament attendees from across the world gathered
at the Craigieburn Gurdwara Sahib on December 4 to pray together
during the Communities Night celebrations. The event was hosted by
Craigieburn Gurdwara Sahib and the Sikh Interfaith Council of
Victoria.
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Sikh intrafaith sessions were held on the following topics:
• Interfaith
understanding in Sikh history and theology (Balwant Singh Hansra
- USA, Harnam Singh Shan - India, Sangat Singh Syalee - USA,
Devinder Singh Chahal - Canada, Rajinder Singh Mago - USA)
• Principles
and articles of the Sikh faith (Ranbir Singh Sandhu - USA,
Kuldeep Singh - USA, Gurbax Singh Gulshan - UK, Mejinderpal Kaur
- UK)
•
Preservation of Sikh heritage (Balwant Singh Dhillon - India,
Davinderpal Singh - India, Balvinder Singh - India, Sarbpreet
Singh - USA)
• Sikh youth
perspectives (Jasjit Singh – Australia, Jessie Kaur - USA,
Gurpal Singh - Australia)
• Gender
equality in Sikh faith (Amrit Kaur Vesha - Australia, Gurbux
Kaur Kahlon - USA)
• Sikh
diaspora and global Sikh community (Kuldeep Singh – USA, Gurbax
Singh Gulshan – UK, Ranbir Singh Sandhu – USA, Ajmer Singh Gill
– Australia) |
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A highlight of
the World Sacred Music Concert on December 6 was a Shabad sung by
Bhai Kultar Singh Jatha of Delhi, India before thousands gathered at
the evening event.
Roop Singh,
Additional Secretary of the SGPC travelled from
Amritsar
to Melbourne to address the closing ceremony on December 9 on behalf
of Jathedar of Sri Akal Takht Sahib. He shared the message of Giani
Gurbachan Singh, Jathedar of Siri Akal Takhat Sahib, and said “On
the auspicious occasion of the Parliament of the World’s Religions
that is being held in Melbourne, I have brought for the entire
humanity a message of mutual respect and universal brotherhood from
Sri Harmandar Sahib, Sri Amritsar, the holy place of worship for all
and the centre for the betterment of humanity.”
Sikh Missionary
Centre USA and other organizations provided books, CDs and brochures
on the Sikh faith, which were distributed during the parliament at
the educational booth of the Sikh Interfaith Council of Victoria.
 The
World Sikh Council – America Region, with the financial support of
many of its member Gurdwaras and organizations, helped several Sikh
scholars from India, US, and Europe to travel to the parliament and
present papers. The Sikh Interfaith Council of Victoria, with the
financial support of many Gurdwaras of Melbourne, helped several
Sikh representatives from abroad travel to and participate in the
parliament.
The Sikh
participation and engagement at the parliament was facilitated by
the World Sikh Council – America Region (WSC-AR) and the Sikh
Interfaith Council of Victoria (SICV), Australia. Dr. Tarunjit Singh
Butalia, Chairperson of WSC-AR’s Interfaith Committee, serves as a
member of the Board of Trustees of CPWR on behalf of WSC-AR. Mr.
Gurdarshan Singh Gill, of SICV, headed the local Sikh planning
committee in Melbourne.
The WSC-AR in
collaboration with SICV plans to publish a Sikh proceedings of the
parliament in 2010. The publication will include peer reviewed
papers presented by Sikhs at the parliament.
16
December 2009
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