International Peace Day Celebrations

dublin | anti-war / imperialism | press release

Sunday September 11, 2005 01:27

by Sheikh/Dr. Shaheed Satardien - Interfaith Roundtable

interfaithrt at gmail dot com

Repudiation of all types of violence

International Peace Day will be coming to Dublin 15 as a proclamation that the creeds in Ireland repudiates violence as a solution to any problem on earth

World Peace Day Celebrations

The 21st September of each year has
been designated by the United Nations
as International Day of Peace. Whilst
this year has a special resonance for
Ireland with the recent self-proclaimed
renunciation of violence by the IRA, it
is mostly "business as usual" for conflict
across much of the rest of the globe.
The Inter-Faith Roundtable is dedicated
to the promotion of tolerance, respect
and understanding between different
cultures and faiths and is especially
motivated to foster peace between
creeds and civilisations. They are very
concerned that it is violence and conflict
involving religion that dominates social
discourse and they wish to demonstrate
that the creeds can peacefully co-exist
notwithstanding any theological differences
they may have.

Their recent 1st Annual Peace Conference
attracted speakers from across the globe
and the keynote speech was given by Prof.
Dr. Hamid Bin Ahmad Al-Rifaie who is one
of the Chairs of the Vatican-Muslim dialogue
group, and he was joined by Catholics, Jews,
Protestants, Bahais, Hindus, Sikhs and
others where sixteen different religious
persuasions were represented.

For this year they wish to mark International
Day of Peace with a gathering of
representatives of all faiths, and those of
none, on the concourse of the new Fingal
County Council Blanchardstown
Office at Grove Road from 7.30pm on
Wednedsay 21st September '05, where
they will be joined by the Cathaoirleach
of Fingal County Council, Joan Maher,
and other dignitaries.
Music will be provided by different groups
of various cultures and faiths of all the
continents. The whole event will be broadcasted live on Radio 92.5
Phoenix FM.

The spokesperson for the Interfaith Roundtable, Sheikh Dr. Shaheed Satardien have expressed the hope that they will be joined by a large number of members of the public in their celebrations and candle-light vigil after which approximately a thousand white balloons will be released to mark the efforts and desire for peace across the world. They hope to also, if possible, release some white peace doves with the participation of some of the local organizations as a community outreach program.
They intend to make a visible example that the faiths can join in solidarity with all people across the globe suffering from the effects of conflict.
Pope Benedict XVI recently called for better
relations with Islam, and that call could easily
be applied to relations between Hindus and
Buddhists in Sri Lanka , to Protestants and
Catholics in Mexico , and to Christians and Communists in China.

The Inter-faith Roundtable celebration of
Peace on International Day of Peace will be
a proclamation that the creeds in
Ireland wish to repudiate violence as a solution to any problem on earth. If you wish to have some more details about the event and your participation in it, you may call Sheikh Dr. Shaheed Satardien on 0879932581 or email him on
interfaithrt@gmail.com
.