Your name (required)
Gail Allan

Title / Position
Program Coordinator InterChurch and InterFaith

Organization
The United Church of Canada

Country
Canada

Your Message
January 30, 2012
Greetings of peace from The United Church of Canada,
The Theology and InterChurch InterFaith Committee of The United Church of Canada affirms the values and objectives of World Interfaith Harmony Week and wishes to record our support for this initiative.
For life to survive, grow and flourish in ”the wilderness of the world”—amid the exploding bombs, the fragile atmosphere, the burning rains, the polluted waters, the many illnesses, and the myriad expressions of violence—all people of compassion and wisdom need to work together in the common task of caring for one another and the whole of God’s creation. The United Church of Canada has articulated our understanding of the work of creating interfaith harmony in the document Mending the World. The document states that “naming the search for justice for God’s creatures and healing for God’s creation as the church’s first priority, and joining with other persons of good will in the search for justice, wholeness and love” commits us to make “common cause with all people of good will, whether they be people of faith or not, for the creation of a world that is just, participatory and sustainable.”
We live in a pluralistic society; we need one another in order to build communities of compassion and justice where all are welcomed and valued, and where we can work together for transformation. Engagement with people of different faiths helps us to reflect more deeply on our own faith. We have learned from their wisdom and experience and this has helped to shape us as a church which affirms that God is creatively and redemptively at work in the religious life of all humanity. Interfaith relationships locally and globally deepen faith, shaping how we understand participation in God’s mission and how we perceive the role of faith in Canadian society.
For these reasons we value the opportunity to join with others around the world in this week of focused attention to interfaith harmony. It is our prayer that World Interfaith Harmony Week will be received by people in The United Church of Canada, and all people of faith, as a call to engage in sustained dialogue and action out of which will grow a world of peace, justice, wholeness and respect.
Sincerely,
Arlyce Schiebout
Chairperson
Theology and InterChurch InterFaith Committee
The United Church of Canada