IFAPA Wins 2009 Paul Carus Award

The 5^th installment of the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Melbourne, Australia is just around the corner. On November 30, the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions announced “Interfaith Action for Peace in Africa” as the recipient of the 2009 Paul Carus Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Interreligious Movement. Formed in 2002 by the Lutheran World Federation, the IFAPA brings together members of African Traditional Religions, Bahai’s. Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Muslims, and Jews with the aim of promoting peace and interreligious cooperation among Africa’s diverse religious population.

The award ceremony is set to take place on December 5, 2009 at the Parliament of the World’s Religion’s International Night. Scheduled to receive the award on the organization behalf are Dr. Ishmael Noko, General Secretary of the Lutheran World Federation and a founder of IFAPA, and four IFAPA representatives: Dr. Faroug ElBushra Abdel Gadir, Secretary General of the Sudan Interreligious Council; Mr. Robert Hounon, Secretary of Vodun Hwendo Tradition, Benin. Mr. Prabhundas Pattni, General Secretary of the Hindu Council of Africa; Mrs. Lucretia Warren, Baha’i Community of Botswana.In an official press release published yesterday, Rev. Dr. William E. Lesher, Chair of the Council’s Board of Trustees said the IFAPA “models in a creative way, the peace-making potential of the growing interreligious movement”. The IFAPA’s most significant work in the last decade has been in the area of conflict resolution. Missions have included sending interfaith delegations to Liberia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, North and South Sudan and Togo. The IFAPA also runs a women’s project called “A Mother’s Cry for a Healthy Africa”, as well as a water project in rural Rwanda.

Recipients of the Paul Carus Award are chosen by the Council of the Parliament of the World’s Religions’ International Advisory Committee in conjunction with the Council for the Parliament for the World’s Religions. The first Paul Carus Award was presented to Bishop McLeod Baker Ochola II and the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative at the 2004 PWR in Barcelona, Spain.Born in 1852 in Ilsenburg, Germany to a family of scholars, Paul Carus moved to the United States in 1887 to become Editor-in-Chief of Open Court Publishing. As Editor-in-Chief, Carus corresponded with and published the works of leaders in the fields of mathematics, philosophy, and world religions. Carus’ lifework shifted in 1893 when he offered a thirty-minute paper at the first World Parliament of Religions in Chicago. Carus was so moved by the experience that he refocused his work toward building awareness and understanding of Eastern philosophies and religions in the United States. One of Carus’ most famous accomplishments came in 1894 when he wrote The Gospel of Buddha. The book was written in the same style as Christian gospels, which proved to be a seamless way to introduce Westerners to Buddha and his teachings. Craus became a bridge-builder between science and religion, philosophy and society, and ultimately paved the way for thousands of great thinkers such as Pierce, Russell, Mach, Dharmapala, Swami Vivekananda, Shuku Soyen, and D.T. Suzuki.Website: www.parliamentofreligions.org