Archbishop of Sydney

Waitangi on the Bay of Islands in north-east New Zealand is where the Maori chiefs signed the Treaty ceding control of New Zealand to the British in 1840.

 

A beautiful part of the world with a countryside like the Central Coast of N.S.W., its weather is milder in summer and colder in winter.  No huge monuments mark this historic site except a Norfolk pine, a large flag pole and a Maori "marae"  (meeting house or learning hall) surrounded by a huge expanse of lawn.

 

Waitangi was the site last week of the Third Asia-Pacific Interfaith Dialogue sponsored originally by the Australian and Indonesian governments, where 115 leaders of different faiths from 15 countries spread between New Zealand and Myanmar met to discuss the general topic of "Building Bridges".

 

The New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark opened the conference, which was also addressed by President Macapagal-Arroyo of the Philippines and our Foreign Minister Alexander Downer.  Originally a response to the September 11 and Bali bombings, the meetings now serve a wider purpose than Christian-Moslem dialogue with significant Buddhist and Hindu presences.  None of the participants wanted a clash of civilizations in our part of the world, whatever our local difficulties and what might be happening elsewhere.

 

Despite the fact that religious influences are difficult to quantify and more apparent in the long rather than the short term, Foreign Minister Downer is to be commended for this initiative which acknowledges that religions do help (or hinder) peace and development.  The days were a time of learning, of exchanges of views and information as well as forming networks of acquaintances and friendship even among the Australian participants.

 

Our first public protests against the Dialogue highlighted a couple of challenges.  A group of 20 protestors demonstrated noisily through Tuesday morning against the 130 political killings a year in the Philippines, more (they claim) than in Marcos' time.  Rogue elements in the army and police are often blamed (rightly or wrongly), and President Arroyo is accused of not doing enough despite her encouragement of the Catholic bishops speaking with the police and army chiefs.

 

The second protest that afternoon was much larger and quieter as a few thousand Christians from the Destiny Church, mainly Maoris, demonstrated against the New Zealand government whom they accused of selling out the country’s Christian heritage.  Only free societies allow such protests.

 

Some might support inter-faith dialogue because they recognize little value in specific religions or might see them like a variety of rivers, large or small, flowing into the same ocean.  But it doesn't have to be like that.

 

In fact, nearly all participants were strong believers in the truth of their particular tradition, but this is another reason for talking together, getting to know one another, seeing what we have in common and occasionally touching on our differences, real or apparent.

 

No one was selling out.  We were trying to bridge differences.