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NOMOCHOMO ago

http://blog.stchcathedral.org/?p=4520

UN workshop on Religious Pluralism and Tolerance: The Bahrain Model: Thursday 3rd December 2015

The workshop has been sponsored by the intriguingly named Humpty Dumpty Institute (putting the pieces together again in a broken world) and working closely with the U.N. The delegates were mostly religious leaders from different faith traditions: Christian, Jewish, (a female rabbi working in Italy) Islamic, Buddhist and Hindu, as well as people connected with the Humpty Dumpty Institute. Sadly, neither Nancy Khedouri nor I were able to use the powerpoint presentations that we’d prepared. Apparently union rules require three people to operate the projector! The presentations were well received, despite this, and there were some interesting responses. I was particularly impressed by Daisy Khan from WISE (the Women’s Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality) whose organization is addressing, very publicly, Islamic extremism. I had a good conversation with Major Jim Betts from the Salvation Army, who was delighted to hear that the Salvation Army meet in the Cathedral compound and also with a thoughtful Buddhist nun, originally from Taiwan but who had studied marketing in Perth, Australia.

In the evening we went to dinner in the home of Mark Epstein, on the board of the Humpty Dumpty Institute and met a great variety of people: Congressional representatives, Ambassadors to the UN and others connected to the HDI. The home was the roof space on the top floor of an apartment block with an amazing view of the lit up Empire State Building, a large room with collections of grand pianos, hats, paintings and hunting trophies (moose and deer).

Humpty Dumpty Institute’s 50th Congressional Delegation: Friday 4th December 2015

Once again the Bahrain delegation was picked up by the faithful Bahrain Embassy driver, who was from Kinkiizi in south-west Uganda. He was delighted to see photos on my camera of his home area and of Bishop Dan Zoreka, whom he knew. We returned as observers this time of a meeting of representatives of Congress, all Democrats I think, and their legislative assistants, most of whom had been at last night’s dinner. Talking to Ralph Cwerman, the President and Chief Executive Officer of HDI, many Republicans regard the UN with deep distrust, despite its headquarters being in New York, because they believe it undermines US sovereignty.

We began by visiting the memorial to the slave trade, opened earlier this year. A number of presentations were given on conflict resolution by Christopher Coleman, and peace keeping by Herve Ladsous, the Head of Peacekeeping Operations, and a wide ranging and very impressive presentation was given by the Deputy Secretary General, Jan Eliasson, a former Swedish Foreign Minister, highlighting the importance of addressing so many issues with an international perspective: climate change, the refugee crisis, and organized crime – just three examples.