Interfaith ecology project in Auckland

The Rasheed Memorial Dawah Trust (RMDT) held a meeting this Sunday launching an interfaith project to restore the Onehunga Bay wetlands in Auckland’s Manukau Harbour.

About twenty people came to the well-publicised meeting, billed as a planning session for Christian-Muslim co-operation.  I was invited to attend the meeting, and jumped at the opportunity for several reasons:

• The Wellington Council for Christians and Jews is exploring ways of taking a more “Abrahamic” focus
• I have great respect for planning – too many initiatives are approached in an ad-hoc manner
• I had corresponded previously with Aarif Rasheed, who has been very inclusive, welcoming, and supportive

I was the only Jew present, in fact I got the impression that I might have been the first Jew that some of the participants had met in person.  There were only a couple of Christians present, so nearly all of the participants were Muslim

The Big Idea behind the project is to get people of different faiths together with a common purpose and shared goal resulting in public good with and positive outcomes for the environment.  The Onehunga Bay wetland has been degraded over the years to the point where it covers only roughly 80 square metres, and the project’s aim is to restore it to cover about 4 hectares.  That’s an ambitious goal by anyone’s measure, and will have a knock-on effect improving the water quality in the surrounding estuary and bay.

Hopefully the good people of Auckland will be able to demonstrate to the world that people from different faiths can join hands and work together for positive outcomes for their cities and the environment as a whole.

For me, it was great to see a group of focussed Muslims reaching out and taking the lead in an environmental project.  It’s an example that the rest of us would do well to follow.

If you know anyone who might like to get involved, contact RMDT.

UK Poll: Christianity and Judaism will disappear within 100 years

The Telegraph reports that a recent survey shows that “just over a third of people thought religions like Christianity and Judaism would still be practiced in Britain in 100 years’ time,” but in contrast, “… the number of actively religious Muslims is predicted to increase from about one million today to 1.96 million in 2035.”

I’m not sure how much credibility to give public surveys, in that the pollsters are questioning members of the public who generally lack specific knowledge.  As one anonymous pundit put it, “Opinion polls measure the public’s satisfaction with its ignorance.”

Given that only 33% of Britons consider themselves religious, these results come as no surprise.  Rumours of religion’s demise are premature …

Dave