Dr. Arvind Sharma
Birks Professor of Comparitive Religion
McGill University
Dr. Arvind Sharma: Projects
The global congress, World’s Religions after September 11, successfully achieved its aims after five days of intense discussions and dialogue by people different faiths around the world meeting in Montreal.
The goals of the congress included the unveiling of the text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by World’s Religions, the opportunity for people to get together and discuss issues, and show that people both secular and religious - can work together and for a common good.
2025 delegates from 84 countries attended the five day congress in Montreal with 225 speakers participating in over 330 sessions. Keynote speakers included Shirin Ebadi, Iranian lawyer and Nobel Peace Laureate; leading Islamicist Seyyed Hossein Nasr, and best-selling authors Karen Armstrong and Deepak Chopra.
Conference on World's Religions
Most people remember where they were and what they were doing when they first heard the news of the aerial assault on the Twin Towers in New York on September 11, 2001.
The ground may not have shifted under our feet at the moment but the very concept of religion underwent a paradigm shift for many of us. Instead of standing for virtue and piety, and peace and harmony, the word religion was launched on a semantic trajectory which would make it a byword for evil, aggression and terror.
But is there not more to religion than this? The aim of this conference was to bring together the various religions of the world in an ecumenical spirit to address the many issues facing the world today, in the hope that this will help all of us become better human beings.