Addressing polarisation through interfaith dialogue

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The webinar"Addressing polarisation through interfaith dialogue" was held on 7th June on the occasion of the International Day of Living Together in Peace.

This webinar is a result of collaboration between Baraza CC and URI Europe.

Addressing Polarisation URIE Baraza Webinar

Two excellent speakers have agreed to give us their perspectives on this important topic.

Dr Brian Adams is the Chair of the governing board for A Common Word Among the Youth (ACWAY), an international NGO supporting youth leadership in interfaith and intercultural dialogue. He was founding director of the Centre for Interfaith & Cultural Dialogue in Brisbane, Australia and the architect of the G20 Interfaith Forum, among other dialogue platforms. He has 20+ years of experience working in Africa, Europe, North America and the Asia-Pacific gaining fluency in French and Swahili along with his native English.

Holder of a Doctorate of Philosophy in Political Science, and two Master degrees in Community Development and Conflict Resolution, Dr Adams focuses on the promotion of interreligious, intercultural, and inter-organizational respect and understanding. As a former Rotary Peace Fellow, Brian is primarily focused on promoting respect and understanding across cultural, religious and organisational boundaries.

Shahin Akhtar is a board member of URI UK. She brings with her a decade's experience of interfaith dialogue. Her facilitation focuses on four major types of interreligious dialogue, which consist of, “polemical,” “cognitive,” “peacemaking,” and “partnership”. She will be talking to us about the importance of dialogue and unity and the effects of polarisation in interfaith relations.

She is married and a mother of 3 wonderful children.

Unfortunately, Mrs. Akhtar lost her voice before the webinar, so she participated as a participant. Mr Deepak Naik from URI UK, a URIE Board member, kindly accepted a last-minute invitation and agreed to share his input on this valuable topic.

Deepak Naik is the Executive Director of Together in Action Trust (tiatrust.org) in the UK. He is the Chair of the Board of United Religion Initiative (UK), and a Board Member of URI (Europe) since its inception. Also, he is ENORB (European Network on Religion and Belief) Board member.
Born in Uganda to parents from India, but most of his life he spent in England, now lives in Coventry. Deepak is honored to be with URI from the time of its design, establishment, and nurturing into a global inter-faith movement. In the UK, Deepak has been an activist for over 40 years, working mostly with young adults to co-create, organize, and deliver work that celebrates and honor the sacred, safeguards nature and helps bring a sense of fairness and hope to all.
He believes that the journey to building and maintaining healthy and meaningful relations between people who are different is by facing and experiencing their failures and successes together.

Adressing polarization webinar participants