Voices raised in harmony adorned the opening of a World Religion Day celebration attended by a capacity audience at the Baha’i Centre of Learning in Brisbane on 3 February 2013.
The Sweet Chilli women’s choir from Maleny established a theme of religious unity in a musical invocation from various faiths performed in the a capella style.
Representatives of the Baha’i, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh and Zoroastrian communities then read excerpts from their holy scriptures that illuminated the theme of the event— “Eliminating Racism- the Role of Religion.”
Among the special guests were the Queensland Governor’s representative Commander Dominic Katter; the Lord Mayor’s representative, Cr Peter Matic; the Federal MP for Brisbane, Ms Teresa Gambaro, the State MP for Mt Coot-tha, Mrs Saxon Rice, and Brisbane City Councillor Kim Marx.
Other civil dignitaries included the Queensland Police Service Commissioner, Ian Stewart, former Police Commissioner, Bob Atkinson, and Indooroopilly State School principal, Helen Kenworthy.
The MC, Audrey Aumua, paid a special tribute to the traditional owners of the land, before introducing the event’s anti-racism theme by saying that racial prejudice violates the dignity of human beings and blights human progress.
The interfaith event was a way of having a dialogue about the role of religion in eliminating racism, Ms Aumua said.
She introduced keynote speaker, Nikki A-Khavari, a member of the Baha’i Council of Queensland, who said racism did not originate within the human spirit but rather within the human mind. It is an erroneous notion that humans belong to separate races and therefore deserve differential treatment, she said.
Ms A-Khavari, a lawyer by profession, said the Baha’i view was that the oneness of mankind had to be implemented by appropriate legal measures, but that this was not enough.
“Full equality” Ms A-Khavari noted, “requires the transformation of the individual” to overcome racist ideas as they arise.
“Religion has the inherent capacity to instil in the hearts and minds an awareness of, and sensitivity to, human rights and the equality of all people,” she said.
The musical interludes during the event included recitals by guitarist Joshua Toloui-Wallace and pianist Denzil Aumua, both Baha’is, as well as a performance on harp, drum and guitar by Helen Gilmour and Rachael Austin of the Pagan community.
The program came to an uplifting conclusion with a performance on the erhu by Dr Nicholas Ng from the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, and more songs by the Sweet Chilli choir.