The Sydney Statement 

Building Bridges Between Believers from Different Religions??? 

Youth PoWR (Parliament of the World’s Religions) is launching The Sydney Statement?at www.thesydneystatement.org.au on 9 February 2021. The Sydney Statement is an interfaith charter inspired?by similar interfaith statements from other cities e.g.?The Athens?Declaration?2015,?The Beirut Declaration?2017 and?The Washington Declaration?2018. The Sydney Statement is unique in that it has been developed by youth.  ? 

Youth PoWR, a coalition of young adults from different religions?in Sydney,?including Baha’i, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh, developed The Sydney Statement over the past two years of consultations and drafting. The process has been overseen by a Steering Committee of senior representatives from these same religions, including members of peak state and national bodies.       

The Sydney Statement?provides practical steps for?building better relations between people of different faiths.?It is?especially?relevant to?schools, councils and groups and individuals involved in?community relations?across?multicultural, multi-religious societies in Australia and around the world.  

Youth PoWR invite all people of faith and goodwill from Sydney and around the world to sign up online to the values, principles and commitments of The Sydney Statement, and to create a wave of new actions for “Building Bridges Between Believers from Different Religions”. 

The Sydney Statement website contains a wealth of interfaith resources:  

·      Attractively designed A-1 and A-4?posters?of?the executive summary?and an

A-5?booklet?of the longer explanatory version?of?The Sydney Statement? 

o  These can be downloaded free from the website and professionally

printed versions are also available for purchase.   

·       Links to websites of national and international interfaith organisations (including World Interfaith Harmony Week!) 

·       Links and pdfs of interfaith articles 

·       Concrete suggestions and resources for carrying out the 21 commitments named in The Sydney Statement.  

·       Endorsements from civic and religious leaders 

·       Comments from readers – and you can add yours too!  

·       The story of how The Sydney Statement developed, 

and much more … 

We thank Youth PoWR for leading this?inspiring?and challenging?interfaith initiative. We join with them?and invite you to sign up to?The Sydney Statement?on the dedicated website?and?to?spread?it far and wide in our multicultural, multi-religious world. 

The Executive Team 

The Sydney Statement??