Activist gets prize for harmony
Even amid grief, we’re drawing one another into a place where we’re safer than in isolation
AN ELSIES RIVER peace activist has been lauded by the King of Jordan, Abdullah II, with a prize for his efforts at fostering harmony between different faiths.
James Ellman, 52, the founder of Faith Hope Love Communities (FHLC) in Elsies River, accompanied Berry Behr, the chairperson of the Cape Town Interfaith Initiative, to Jordan where both organisations received the HM King Abdullah II World Interfaith Harmony Week Prize.
The prize was for their collaborative activity called “Love of Neighbour – Our Prayers for Our City”, an activity that took prayers from places of worship to people in troubled areas.
Ellman, who founded his organisation 12 years ago, said: “We run a programme called ‘Inner Peace’. We go to two schools and have around 300 children. All of this is funded by myself,” said Ellman.
The organisation focuses predominantly on areas crippled by crime and high poverty rates.
“What we want is to have the children connect with themselves so that they know what their purpose is. Elsies River is an area with a lot of gangsterism and we try to break down the importance of belonging to a group and that their family is the only group they belong to,” he said.
Ellman, who was raised Catholic, said the importance of kindness and giving back has remained a key lesson at his parish in Elsies River. Ellman and Behr flew to Jordan, courtesy of the Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, to accept the prize from King Abdullah II.
“It was a wonderful experience. This man was full of holiness. I’ve met many noteworthy figures but I think why this was an even greater experience was because we spoke about many other things,” he said.
Behr said: “It was a profound experience to be visiting ancient sacred sites in a Holy Land during Holy Week. At the prize-giving ceremony, His Majesty was gracious, encouraging and authentic, urging us to continue the work for interfaith harmony which he has made his personal mission and powerful message to the world. We came home determined to do just that.”
We try to break down the importance of belonging to a group James Ellman PEACE ACTIVIST
LAST month, Cape Town Interfaith Initiative (CTII) celebrated a landmark when we were awarded the HM King Abdullah II prize for our collaborative event, Love of Neighbour – Our Prayers for Our City, co-hosted in February with Faith Hope Love Communities (FHLC) of Elsies River.
As representatives of our respective organisations, James Ellman and I flew to Jordan courtesy of the Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, to accept our prize from His Majesty King Abdullah II.
At the prize-giving ceremony, he was gracious, encouraging and authentic, urging us to continue the work for Interfaith Harmony which he has made his mission and powerful message to the world.
We came home in time for Easter, determined to do just that.
There is a tragedy in the knowledge that the world needs a specific, named, defined movement called Interfaith Harmony. It should be the most natural thing in the world.
The adventure that is the interfaith/interspiritual way of creating harmony between people of diverse beliefs does not call on anyone to change their belief but rather to learn about and respect the faith traditions of others. Mahatma Gandhi wrote: “Friendly study of all the scriptures is the duty of every citizen.”
It’s about making friends with people of different faith traditions, and often that means people of other cultures, too. It’s about opening dialogues of understanding, being kind. Being curious. Not judging. Sharing and caring. All the things we are taught as children but somehow think, as we grow older, they apply to children only. Being good neighbours should be normal. Instead it is a UN focus area.
Religious extremism has manufactured reason for warfare, but religion teaches peace. Warfare and strife might be the way of the world, but who made it so? Interfaith Harmony is gathering humans who want to try a different way. The point of it all is to discover that we have meeting points.
We are not isolated, but connected to one another. We do, after all, share one planet. We are going to need some focused collaboration if we are to save Earth from destruction. Why are we still having this conversation?
We remain bound by hate crimes and separatist thinking. Us and Them. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern gave us a unifying slogan – They are us. How tragic that less than a month after the heinous Christchurch mosque killings, we had to use that slogan again in response to horrific Easter Massacres in Sri Lanka.
Then it happened again in San Diego on Saturday night. Jews, Muslims, Christians… who is safe? If we are not safe in our synagogues, mosques, temples and churches then where? A cycle of violence breeds fear, separation, more violence.
Our triumphant return to Cape Town with our magnificent WIHW accolade was sandwiched between some terrible global events that served to highlight the need for our work. United in grief, we prayed together in the Synagogue, Church, Cathedral and Mosque.
Even amid our grief, this is reason to celebrate because we are making friends and drawing one another into a field of goodwill where we are safer than when we are in isolation. The field of goodwill becomes our world. Its values are inclusivity, love of neighbour, respect for all.
We have seen Muslims guard Christian churches and synagogues of threatened communities. Christians and Jews form protective rings around Mosques during prayer times. This is interfaith.
Last weekend, CTII with United Religions Initiative, the Gatehouse Community (Emissaries of Divine Light) and Novalis Ubuntu Centre held workshops, ceremonies and dialogues exploring The Radiant Current of Interfaith. During one intergenerational workshop, a question arose about how to create unity and common purpose given our fragmented Capetonian geographical structure.
After discussing challenges of transport, crime, safety and distance, a 14-year-old girl from New Eisleben High School in Crossroads remarked: “We are safer when we make friends with each other.”
She encapsulated the whole point of Interfaith. She did not know I had earlier opened the Indaba saying: “I believe that interfaith is the one thing that can save all of our individual religions because it gives us a safe space in which to guard our sacred practices.”
Cape Town’s diversity makes interfaith a daily adventure. We celebrated Freedom Day with a bus tour, visiting the historic Tana Baru Muslim burial ground, Slave Lodge, Groote Kerk and Company’s Gardens, then gained some perspective on it all with a visit to the Planetarium. We started Sunday with an interfaith celebratory ceremony fittingly called Sacred Connections.
We ended it with an interfaith ceremony in a mosque. We called it Observance of Compassion for Sri Lanka. Our Jewish speaker lit a candle for San Diego, too.
In a world where Pittsburgh, Christchurch, Sri Lanka and San Diego are part of our landscape, feeling insecure is understandable. The danger is in the temptation to revert to a defensive lager. The truth is, we are safer when we make friends with each other.
Friendly study of all the scriptures is the duty of every citizen
Mahatma Gandhi