Third Parliament of Religions in Alicante, Spain
report submitted by Guillem Ramis, Earth Charter Affiliate of the Balearic Islands
ENGLISH. On the 12th and 13th of May, 2007 the "Third Parliament of Religions" was carried out at the University of Alicante, Spain, with the subject CARING FOR THE EARTH, EMBRACING LIFE: THE EARTH CHARTER AND THE COMMITMENT OF RELIGIONS. More than 400 people participated in the event. The whole congress (including reports, workshops, round tables, communications and the sharing of experiences) made reference to the values expressed in the Earth Charter.
Moreover, the following contributions explicitly related to the Earth Charter:
- "The Earth Charter and a Culture of Peace", inaugural address by UNESCO ex-general director, Federico Major Zaragoza.
- "The Biblical Idea of Shalom and the Earth Charter", key note speech by Plàcido Ferrándiz of the Protestant Church.
- "The Earth Charter and the UN Decade on Education for Sustainable Development", report of Juan Ramón Galán of the Fundación Valores.
- "Education and the Earth Charter. Towards a Planetary Ethics", round table with the intervention of Teresa Guardans (Center for the Study of Religious Traditions), José Luis Mira (Episcopalian Church), Nobel Perdu (Bahá'í Community) and Guillem Ramis (associate of the Earth Charter Initiative in Mallorca).
- Under the same headline, Guillem Ramis later presented his experiences in using the Earth Charter in schools in Mallorca.
The organizer of the event, MIA (Interreligious Table of Alicante), distributed the complete text of the Charter to everyone who helped to facilitate the encounter.
During the Congress, Soka Gakkai of Spain opened the Spanish version of their poster exhibition “Seeds of Change" that was also presented in English in Urbino (Italy, 2003) and Amsterdam (Netherlands, 2005). This new edition will now be shown in villages and cities of Spain: http://www.earthcharter.org/art/sgi_panels/index.htm
The conference report can be read in Spanish and Catalan/Valencian at http://www.mia.org.és/Index_archivos/page0003.htm