The National Forum for Cooperation of Religions in Finland (CORE) organizes together with the Swedish speaking section of the Ecumenical Council of Finland and the Theological Faculty of Abo Akademi a seminar, which will discuss religion and peace in society. The seminar will be organized on 7 February 2013 in Turku, and it aims at creating an opportunity for open discussion about this topic from an ecumenical and inter-religious perspective. The President of CORE, Jan Edström, will chair the seminar. Interventions will be heard from researcher Tuomas Martikainen, from Emina Arnautovic, who was named the refugee woman of the year in 2007, and journalist Rony Smolar. The seminar will be held in Swedish.

At the end of Harmony week we would like to invite you to a lentil soup prepared on a Middle East recipe, to have the pleasure of your accompany and to be informed of your opinion about the theme of living together and peace. The event is organised by Finnish youths who represent an open prospects future.

Faith & the Common Good (FCG) is an interfaith organization that helps faith communities make the connection between their faith and care for the environment. Greening Sacred Spaces (GSS) is the main program that FCG uses to help faith communities make environmental changes within their place of worship and broader community. FCG has developed several essential ‘tools’ for its GSS Resource Kit to assist faith communities in their greening process, and one of the newest tools is the Green Audit. This service has been designed to help faith communities see the greening opportunities in and around their sacred spaces and guide them on how to make changes towards greater energy efficiency, health and sustainability.

This concert celebrates the power of music in conveying spirituality and bringing together people from different religious traditions. Featuring Mea and Heidi Karvonen (Bahá’í), Freilach mit Kneidlach (Klezmer/Jewish), Nurani (Pakistan) and Sakari Löytty (The Namibian Mass).

Stand up comedy –night about humour, culture(s) and religion(s). Can I make jokes about religion(s), God, thy neighbor, myself? May I? Does God have a sense of humour? What is humour anyways? On the stage f.i. Ali Jahangiri (Finnish-Iranian comedian), Arimo Mustonen (from Tampere, Finland). Mostly in Finnish. Coffee/tee will be served. Free entrance.

Speaker: Lars Silén from the Finnish Bahá'í Community

Though people have co-existed for many years in Pakistan but there are still religious and cultural minorities living in isolation and fear of sharing and expressing. There are lack of interaction, less opportunity to dialogues and fear to exchange views which increases myths, gaps and misconceptions about other’s religion, cultural beliefs, values and traditions. Most of perceptions and knowledge about others faiths based on second hand information which create differences. Youth of Pakistan want to explore about others faiths, traditions and practices to understand more about each other to reduce difference and focus on commonalities, but couldn’t find safe space and chance to dialogues and exchange of views and ideas with religious scholars, community leaders and with their peers. By keeping these rational in views, Interfaith Youth in Action going to launch Diversity Talk Series program including 4 panel discussions on different topics like “Scope of Interfaith Dialogues in Pakistan”, “Religious Role in Modern Society” and “Spirit of Ecumenism among Church in Pakistan” etc, and one 1st Interfaith Youth Conference at the end to compile all these discussions with the same participants and giving them platform to discuss and share all their learnings with larger group. The main purpose of these panel discussions is reproducing the features of a small discussion for the benefits of larger audience particular young faithful and young interfaith leaders. Objectives: •To provide opportunity for 250 youngsters to discussion, get information, exchange views and know new facts from religious scholars and community leaders •To analyze different community based grassroot issues with diverse angle and backgrounds for progressive collaboration •To identify and explore other faith’s values and traditions for better inclusiveness in the society •To organize for mental recreation with peaceful discussion and build new relationships Target Beneficiaries Direct – an estimated 250 members of network, organizations and faith based groups of Lahore these include youth/student, youth leaders, young professionals, animators and chaplains Indirect – network of these participants at grass-root, local, district and national level and estimated 1000 youth members of these networks

The project will be presented at the "Interfaith WORLD HARMONY WEEK 2013" The SCOPE of our event is to create ON WEB-contact on the world for development "INTERFAITH HARMONY in ART-SCHOOL FOR DISABLED CHILDREN". It is shown that music has a positive influence on children's cognitive development, memory and networking with other of their age and beyond. Music breaks communication barriers, unites souls and shows that we are equal and united in our diversity. Project partners…………………………..Art High School “Victor Giuleanu” Rm.Valcea Coordinator……………………………… Prof.Ilie Grigore, violin, viola, piano teacher, lyric artist and piano tuner Project assistants…………………………Prof.Irina-Luminita Grigore, librarian, old books specialist, IT and specialist, foreign languages teacher Prof.Monica-Rozvita Cosac librarian, communication and relations specialist, advocacy, marketing, experienced in European projects, oriental culture specialist, foreign languages teacher.   Children who attend this workshop music are children with disabilities, difficulties of learning and especially of communication. During this musical Workshop by various musical games and by interpretation of various songs specific to their age, they will learn to be more sociable, open, communicate better and develop self confidence and self-esteem. Lessons taught and the opportunity to practice with a teacher experienced will approach children the library, books and group activities. They will be surprised to discover that they themselves can play on an instrument like any other child. They will learn that any idea can take shape, that one can dream, and that dreams can come true! Music will be an open gateway to knowledge, education, towards a world where they will never feel intimidated or disarmed. Music makes us ONE!

Encouraged by the Denish initiative we will light a candle in front of our memorial for the peace between religions that we`ve build in the "spirit of Assisi" in 2006, 20 years after the first meeting in Assisi 1986. Thus we will join the global chain of light ceremony. The candle shall keep on burning until February 10th.

Overview “Sacred Words” project intends to bring art, culture, and faith leaders together to take some logical steps that aim to open minds, inspire discussion, and serve as a model for tolerance and understanding between religions and cultures. Sacred Words project includes a unique Interfaith Art Exhibit (IAE) that is going to take place at Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California (ICCNC) on May 11 to June 7, 2013. This is the second year of having the IAE arranged by the “Faith Trio”, a consortium of the Islamic Cultural Center (ICCNC), the Kehilla Community Synagogue and the Montclair Presbyterian Church in Oakland, California. The exhibit will feature the work of Bay Area artists coming together to showcase their art while furthering interfaith understanding and respect. This exhibit builds on the success of our inaugural interfaith exhibit in Fall 2011, where 40 artists exhibited over 90 works of art. Painting, photography, sculpture, and mixed media were all represented. Artists ranged in age from 16 to 93 and represented many faith traditions. Response was strong as was attendance. As one painter expressed it, “When we all unite in our hearts and efforts, we shine beauty on the world.” To help further ‘shine beauty,’ ICCNC embarks on a second interfaith art exhibit, based on several factors: voiced demand by our constituents and faith organizations, good turnout and publicity, and the organizational mandate to pursue arts and cultural programming. The exhibit was also an ideal kind of ‘open house,’ bringing people who otherwise might not have come, given the prevalence of Islamophobia. During the course of the exhibit, we will offer up to four free youth art workshops. We will invite youth from schools in central and east Oakland and from partner organizations, and will strive for an interfaith mixture in each workshop. Impact The exhibit’s vision is guided by certain values that we hope will impact us all: creative expression is a fundamental human practice infused by divine energy, collective efforts to express this beauty help us all to understand our common humanity while celebrating our diversity, and that this public recognition is necessary particularly in times in which sentiment between religious groups is not positive. We hope to impact our organization by establishing greater understanding of and practice of interfaith action. ICCNC hopes to further solidify the connections we have and build bridges to other faith congregations. We hope to inspire our constituency with the creative acts of their fellow Muslims, and to bring more Muslim artists into our programs and community. We hope to impact our local community by showcasing creative acts by Muslims, thus countering the prejudice that Muslims are inherently destructive people. We hope to establish understanding in the local community of ICCNC as a place in which they will experience Muslim tolerance, diversity and acceptance. You can find more info about the last year exhibition on these links: From OaklandNorth http://oaklandnorth.net/2011/09/20/oaklands-islamic-cultural-center-hosts-interfaith-art-exhibit/ From J. the Jewish News Weekly http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/62921/faith-trios-exhibit-in-oakland-celebrates-local-jewish-muslim-christian-art/ Here are images from the opening and closing receptions for the previous exhibit http://delson.smugmug.com/Other/InterfaithArtExhibitReception/19099384_qjTFhT#!i=1486547118&k=ndqBgnK