The Sydney Statement, an interfaith charter for ‘building bridges between believers from different religions’ was launched by Youth PoWR, a coalition of young adults profess-ing diverse faiths on Tuesday 9 February 2021.
The Sydney Statement is inspired by similar interfaith statements from other cities e.g. The Athens Declaration 2015, The Beirut Declaration 2017 and The Washington Declaration of 2018.
Like them, it is named after the city where it originated, but we believe this interfaith charter is “world-class”, and therefore relevant to the rest of Australia and the world! It is a great resource for schools, councils and anyone involved in community relations across multicultural, multi-religious Australia.
Although ‘named’ in terms of Sydney, the interfaith charter is relevant to NSW, Australia, and the world. Although ‘framed’ in terms of religions, the values and ideals of The Sydney Statement are readily accessible to secular worldviews and philosophies.
Youth PoWR
The Sydney Statement has been developed by Youth PoWR (Parliament of the World’s Religions), a coalition of young adults from different religions. For the last five years, Youth PoWR brought together hundreds of young adults from different religions to meet each other and have a voice and vote in shaping our multicultural, multi-religious society. Youth PoWR is coordinated by a team of young volunteers from different religions, some of them nominated by their reli-gion’s peak state body, who together plan, promote and host its events.
Managing the project
The Sydney Statement is an interfaith initiative of the Columban Centre for Christian-Muslim Relations (CCCMR), in partnership with Western Sydney University (WSU). CCCMR provided the Executive staff who managed and administered the project. WSU provided research into the existing interfaith city statements to produce a template for The Sydney Statement.
The Sydney Statement project was overseen by a Steering Commit-tee of leading representatives from different religions, all of them experienced in interfaith relations, some of the board members of their respective peak state and national bodies.
The Sydney Statement was financially supported by the NSW Government with a COMPACT Grant through Multicultural NSW and underwritten by St Columban’s Mission Society.
The process
In 2019, Youth PoWR held four professionally facilitated consultations in the north, south, east and west of Sydney to generate content for The Sydney Statement. Young adults from different faiths met and shared their answers to the following three questions:
- What is my lived experience-good and bad-of being a person of faith in Sydney?
- What would Sydney be like if it were a place where all people of faith could flourish together?
- What are the concrete steps to get from the present reality to that ideal?
The fruits of their discussions were agreed, shared, collated and prioritised.
In 2020, the Executive matched Youth PoWR’s input with WSU’s research on the interfaith statements from other cities. They consulted the Youth PoWR Coordinating Committee and the Steering Commit-tee on various drafts of The Sydney Statement. When the text was nearing completion, they held an online consultation with the wider Youth PoWR network. They also consulted selected religious leaders, including bishops, imams, a rabbi and several prominent theologians. Each round of consultations led to clarifications, refinements and precision. As evidence of the seriousness, inclusiveness and rigour of the process, 16 drafts preceded the final text of The Sydney Statement!
Authorisation
Youth PoWR held an online launch of the final approved text of The Sydney Statement on October 15, 2020. Like any ‘parliament’ that votes on legislation, the members of the ‘Youth Parliament of the World’s Religions’ voted on The Sydney Statement and authorised its publication.
Publication
The Sydney Statement was published on a dedicated website, www.thesydneystatement.org.au, on February 9, 2021, where people of all faiths and worldviews can sign up to live by its values and principles and to carry out its commitments to interfaith action for building bridges between believers from different religions.
Resources
The website also has resources on inter-religious dialogue and suggested concrete actions for carrying out the values, principles and commitments of The Sydney Statement.
The short executive version of The Sydney Statement is available as an attractively designed A1 single-sided poster and an A4 double-sided poster. The longer explanatory version is available as an A5 booklet. PDF files of these posters and booklet are available for free download from the website. Professionally printed posters and booklet can be purchased from the online shop.
Conclusion
The Sydney Statement has the potential to transform the interfaith landscape of our city, our state and our country. Youth PoWR invites you to sign up for its values, principles and commitments.
Please share The Sydney Statement with your families, friends and colleagues, so that believers and all people of goodwill can together create a harmonious, peaceful and just multicultural, multi-religious society.
The Executive Team, The Sydney Statement.
Listen to "The Sydney Statement."
Related links
- Read more from The Far East - April 2021
