The Interfaith Network is a group of diverse cultural and religious faiths, working in partnership with the City of Greater Dandenong Council to promote peace and harmony within the municipality.
In 2015, The Interfaith Network and the City of Greater Dandenong collaborated with spiritual leaders from various traditions including Baha'i, Brahma Kumaris, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Islam, Jewish, Sathya Sai and Sikh, to release a faith-based resource focused on prevention of family violence in the community: "Promoting Equality and Respect: An Interfaith Collaboration on Preventing Family Violence".
The resource is designed for spiritual leaders because faith leaders are influential role models in the community whom people turn to for moral guidance and support. As the main community mediators and persons of influence, they must address family violence in the community. This resource helps them better understand the issue of family violence and provides guidelines on the actions they can take to prevent and respond to it.
The role of faith leaders cannot be overestimated in a multicultural society such as Australia. They are spiritual teachers, counsellors, role models and mediators for their communities. And these roles become particularly prominent and important in challenging times, as we can see now, during the global pandemic.
At LOTE, we wanted to learn more about the roles of faith leaders in society and gain first-hand insights from their experiences. That is why we organised our recent webinar 'The Crucial Role of Faith Leaders in multicultural community engagement".
If you missed the webinar, you can find the recording on our YouTube channel.
References
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Bent-Goodley, T. B. (2012). The ultimate betrayal: A renewed perspective of domestic violence. Washington, DC: NASW Press.
Bent-Goodley TB, Fowler DN. (2006) Spiritual and Religious Abuse: Expanding What is Known About Domestic Violence. *Affilia*. 21(3):282-295.
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