wfn.org | Baha'is participate in Golden Jubilee ceremony on environment

["Brad Pokorny" <brad@oc.mv.com>]

Baha'i World News Service
For more information, visit http://www.bahaiworldnews.org
or email editor@bahaiworldnews.org

HONORING QUEEN ELIZABETH II AND HER GOLDEN JUBILEE, BAHA'IS PARTICIPATE IN
INTERFAITH CELEBRATION ON THE ENVIRONMENT

LONDON, 18 November 2002 (BWNS) -- At a special high-level interfaith
gathering held in honor of the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, Baha'i
representatives joined with the leaders of nine other major world religions
to celebrate the significant role that religions can play in caring for the
environment.

Held 13 November 2002 in London's historic Banqueting House in Whitehall and
titled "Our Place in Creation," the event featured the presentation of a
series of environmental projects to Her Majesty the Queen and her husband
HRH Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, as well as a program of sacred
artistic, musical, and dance performances by representatives of each
religion.

Organized by the Alliance on Religion and Conservation (ARC), the event
sought to explore religions' understanding of the place of humanity in
creation. The Baha'i Faith, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam,
Jainism, Judaism, Sikhism, Taoism, and Zoroastrianism were all represented.

The Duke of Edinburgh, who has played a key role in bringing religions into
the environmental movement at the international level, explained the purpose
of the gathering in a short talk.

"We desperately need the conviction of religious belief to guide us in the
way we live on, and use, the planet," said Prince Philip. "We have got to
learn to balance the economic and scientific realities against the religious
demands for responsibility and consideration for the created world. It is
not going to be easy, but I am sure that belief and conviction are very
powerful motives to care for our planet with all its diversity."

Among the religious leaders in attendance were: His All-Holiness Bartholomew
I, Archbishop of Constantinople, representing Orthodox Christianity; the Rt.
Rev. Michael Turnbull, Lord Bishop of Durham, representing Protestant
Christianity; Sri Kushok Bakula, representing Buddhism; Rabbi Israel Meir
Lau, Chief Rabbi of Israel, representing Judaism, and Ervad Dr Ramiyar
Parvez Karanjia, a leading writer on Zoroastrian affairs.

Ms. Guilda Navidi Walker represented the Baha'i International Community. The
Baha'i Community of the United Kingdom was represented by its secretary, Mr.
Barney Leith.

"The event was quite significant, not only because of the presence of the
Queen and Prince Philip, but because of the very senior leadership
represented among the faith communities," said Mr. Leith. "And, despite all
of the religious hatred and intolerance that sometimes unfortunately seems
so prevalent in our world, the event also served to demonstrate that
religious communities can work together on important global issues, such as
the environment."

For its project, the Baha'i International Community presented the Barli
Development Institute for Rural Women. Based in Indore, India, the Institute
gives indigenous women training in literacy, agriculture, health,
income-generation, and environmental conservation.

Conservation-oriented projects announced by other religions included: a
recycling project in all 47 existing Zoroastrian Fire Temples in Mumbai,
India; the founding of a Centre for Islam and Ecology at the University of
Wales, Lampeter, UK; the planting of some 27,000 tree seedlings in temple
and community forests surrounding 14 Buddhist pagodas in Cambodia; and the
creation of a major new environmental program by the Batak Church of
Sumatra, Indonesia. These are in addition to a series of environmental
projects announced in 2000 by ARC, in association with WWF International, in
an initiative called Sacred Gifts for a Living Planet.

As the Baha'i contribution to the program of sacred performances, Shiva
Ashrafi Cooper chanted one of the Hidden Words of Baha'u'llah. Now a
resident of the United Kingdom, Ms. Ashrafi Cooper was born in Iran.

Ms. Walker said the quality of Ms. Ashrafi Cooper's singing was intensely
moving. "When Shiva arrived and started singing, there was such silence that
you could heard a pin drop," she said. "It was an essentially spiritual
experience."

In addition to the chanting by Ms. Ashrafi Cooper, the event featured
performances by members of the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra, the Mongolian
National Song and Dance Ensemble, the London Adventist Chorale, and others.

The Baha'i International Community has been a member of the Alliance on
Religion and Conservation since it was founded in 1995 at a summit meeting
at Windsor Castle hosted by HRH the Duke of Edinburgh.

For more information on the Alliance on Religion and Conservation, visit the
ARC website at www.arcworld.org or read a story about ARC's founding at
http://www.onecountry.org/oc71/oc7101as.html.For more information about the
Barli Development Institute, go to
http://www.bahaiworldnews.org/story.cfm?storyid=176 for an accompanying
background feature on the Institute or to the Institute's website at
http://www.geocities.com/bvirw.

6-BP-021118-1-JUBILEE-177-S

Baha'i World News Service
For more information, visit http://www.bahaiworldnews.org
or email editor@bahaiworldnews.org