Women's Interfaith Network

Launch of WIN - 22 March, 2001
Jubilee Hall, Parliament House, Sydney.

(Rachael Kohn, Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

I’m honoured to launch the Women’s Interfaith Network, and I’m personally very pleased because it reflects at a grass roots level what I in some small way try to achieve on a weekly basis on THE SPIRIT OF THINGS.

I have spent all my adult life in the study and dissemination of religion. Not the promotion of a particular religion, although my own Jewish tradition is centrally important to me. I am proud that it is a tradition which did not seek to convert the world, but believed that people can not only behave righteously in their own traditions, but are even vouchsafed a place in heaven at the End of Days.

Many people have asked me, why promote religion, when it has done so much harm, it is so backward, and it is so often the source of the greatest intolerance and violence. And I reply, yes it is true, religion has been all those things, and undoubtedly will continue to be. But it is also the source of the greatest human ideals and social values that we have, and it is those which I would seek, in some way, to hold up before as many people as possible, and say, “Remember these.”

But there are misconceptions about religion – not only by those who blithely dismiss it as an obsolete hangover from the premodern past, but also by those who zealously champion their religion in unthinking and brutal ways.

Traditions have existed for thousands of years, but none of them have done so by remaining pure, unalloyed and beautiful, nor by remaining rigid, blinkered and isolated. Like anything that is alive, religious traditions grow, change, and even periodically die back, like a plant, to be reborn.

But change is by no means a” sure thing”. It can result in injustice as easily as it can promote the opposite. Whatever the sacred teachings by the founders of a tradition, they are always open to misinterpretation and exploitation. Religious tradition is a human institution, even when it champions Divine teachings.

Given the frequent misunderstandings or incomplete knowledge that we often have of our own tradition and history, how much greater is the ignorance that exists about other people’s traditions? In my experience it is not a condition confined to the uneducated classes or even primarily found among them. Quite often simple people understand that there is a common humanity that links them with their co-workers, whoever they are. (When I was 18 and working as a secretary in a small office at the University of Toronto, a young shy Indian woman from Surinam, whom I felt superior to, said to me one day, “You can learn from everyone, no matter who they are or how lowly.” Thirty yeas on I have forgotten Liela, and have many times recalled her wise words to me. No, it is a far more staggering fact that intolerance and ignorance often abounds among the otherwise well educated.

That is why interfaith dialogue was born. People who studied violent religious history, people who witnessed it, and who lived through its horrors, vowed that no democratic and free society should succumb to it, or foster bigotry and hatred. Understanding other traditions is an essential preventive measure, not, I hope, in a cynical exercise to “know thine enemy.” But in order to enjoy the possibilities that friendship brings.

Like a genuine friendship, interfaith dialogue is a living thing, which necessitates, if it does not spontaneously effect, changes in the way we view each other and the way we view ourselves. There is no genuine relationship, which does not change the people involved. Indeed, there would be absolutely no reason for cultivating relationships at all if they did not transform us in some beneficial way.

Each week on THE SPIRIT OF THINGS I delve and explore a religious or spiritual theme or expression, and each week I receive a host of responses. Most of them are grateful that there is a place where religious ideas, values and trends in our society can be taken seriously. A lot of listeners describe themselves as “not religious” yet they are so concerned about spiritual matters that I am sure they put to shame those who might call themselves religious, but who rarely reconsider their views, examine their practice and put their values to the test.

I believe and always have done that looking afresh at our traditions is an essential responsibility in the business of keeping them vital, meaningful, and accountable, not only to the community of believers, but to the society which has given us the freedom and the space to carry out our traditions unmolested and unencumbered. No one today can watch the news and not realise how precious and rare that gift is. We owe society something more than just being good Christians, Jews, Muslims and Hindus, etc…We owe to the whole society our commitment to producing harmony, understanding, compassion, and above all a great and deep respect for human life and dignity. If we do not, than who will?

This event, and this organisation, is an important step in that direction. And I am here because I believe in what people can achieve for good, when they really want a better world.

Hindu message Reverend Mataji

Q. Where would you like this new knowledge to go?

A. I am very happy to stand before you as a member of our Inter-faith Network. When I was invited to join the group of ladies to form our Network more than a year ago I readily accepted. One of the cardinal principles of Hindu philosophy or Vedanta is that all religions lead to the same final goal, the Ultimate Reality, the one Godhead. Sri Ramakrishna, in whose name is the religious Order of which I am a nun, said, "As many faiths, so many paths," and that has been one of our mottos. So I was delighted to join this Inter-faith Network.

It is heartening to feel that we, as women, have been able to achieve this on our own. Our unique venture has been getting a lot of attention, encouragement and active support from many men who have been watching our activities and progress with great interest.

WIN today is only in its infancy. There is a long, long way to go. Our next step is to become a full-fledged registered organization. We are planning to widen these types of contacts and interactions, towards the grass-roots of well-established and fully recognized world-faiths, promoting goodwill. Our vision encompasses not only all parts of NSW and Australia, but the world at large. I see a very bright future for our Inter-faith Network beckoning to us.

So far we have been emphasizing that we stick closely to only an Inter-faith relationship and not to stray into any social or political channels. Today, I can, with great satisfaction and pride, tell you that we have remained faithful to this ideal successfully, protecting our human dignity and integrity with diligence. And we intend to adhere to this principle in future.

I am sure that many of our sisters from among the audience, watching and listening to us today, are already inspired by our unique activities and may be wishing to join us in our bold and wonderful scheme. Those who wish, please leave your name, email-home-work addresses in the book provided near the door.

Anyone who is inspired to open up new avenues of our Network is welcome, provided she sticks very strictly to our principles and ideals. Please contact Josie Lacey or Sister Pauline Rae to get the necessary instructions and advice. We are planning to hold another public meeting within 6 months' time when we hope to find a much larger framework of our Network, functioning more strongly and successfully in many other parts of this country.