Dialogue Australiasia is an organisation comprising mainly Christian schools in Australia and New Zealand. Their purpose is to “help young people become more fully human by nuturing and promoting the development of a broad-based academic approach to the teaching of Values, Philosophy & Religious Studies”, and their vision is to “be a vibrant organisation that brings together educators who have a shared sense of the importance of our purpose, and a willingess to work together to achieve its objectives.”

According to the conference blurb, “Relations between Christians, Jews and Muslims are among the most divisive, challenging and important issues in the world today. Despite their often violent differences, each share a common heritage as the Children of Abraham and the worship of one God. In a time when understanding these three religions has taken on a new and critical urgency, this important conference will equip educators with practical strategies and resources to enable students to explore the similarities, differences and relationships between the Abrahamic faith traditions.”

For more information, see the Conference Information page.

Dave

A new book by Bruce Chilton, “Abraham’s Curse: The roots of violence in our religions” was reviewed recently in the Jerusalem Post.

Chilton focuses on the story of the binding of Isaac / Ishmael as the archetypal story of martyrdom, but also finds numerous correctives from sacred texts in each tradition that clearly indicate that God does not want human beings to sacrifice ourselves or our children.

Chilton’s bottom line is that “the time is now for the Abrahamic religions to find a safe way down from Mount Moriah”, ie we need to overcome our violent histories and learn to live with each other.

Abraham’s Curse is available at Amazon.