Future leaders unite
IN an effort to overcome racism, the B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission (ADC) once again hosted its annual Multi-faith Future Leaders Program last week.
IN an effort to overcome racism, the B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission (ADC) once again hosted its annual Multi-faith Future Leaders Program last week.
A group of 40 young future leaders, representing the Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Baha’i, Sikh and Hare Krishna communities, came together for the three-day conference to find out more about other religions and learn skills that will help them lead their own communities.
“Fear of difference is a natural human response. To overcome racism, we have to work consciously to build understanding and acceptances. Programs that bring people from different backgrounds together, especially potential leaders, offer real value in easing tensions in multicultural Victoria,” ADC executive director Deborah Stone explained.
“This is the age when young people choose their ideologies and become potential leaders. We want them to be leaders who model understanding and respect for other communities.”
Chinese immigrant Francis He was one of the participants and said he discovered a lot about the different faiths, particularly the Jewish, Baha’i and Sikh religions, which he previously knew little about.
“I learnt a lot, for example that Jewish people don’t eat pork and they also have similar rules to Islam for eating meat. I learnt a lot about the Jewish culture.”
He said he was also able to answer lots of questions about Buddhism, specifically whether Buddha is considered the religions deity and the centrality of meditation.
Product design engineering student Yosl Cylich was one of the Jewish participants who received many of the questions, but he was also on the asking end.
While he said learnt from the smaller religions, whose representatives he had never met, he also found out new things about the more prominent faiths as well.
“I had never met anyone from Sikh or Baha’i faiths before so I really knew little about them. Even the religions that I did know about, I learnt a lot about because learning things from friends makes it different.”
DALIA SABLE
Pictured from left: Sahema Saberi, Yosl Cylich, Shoab Doostizadah, Anthony Vo and Inderbir Singh on the ADC Future Leaders Program.
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