Abraham conference to hear from COVID-19 frontline

The 2020 Abraham Conference will be streamed online on Sunday, 15 November. The conference will be an opportunity to hear stories of hope and perspectives on the COVID-19 pandemic from people of faith involved in medical care.

Facilitated by broadcaster Rachel Kohn, the conference will hear from Christian, Jewish, and Muslim speakers who all work in frontline medical care.

These include Renata Ieramias from Jewish Care, Dan Fleming representing St Vincent’s Health, and Medical Hospitalist Haroon Kasim.

Uniting Church minister Rev. Manas Ghosh is one of the event’s organisers. He said that the conference provided, “[A] great interfaith platform and have created interfaith friendship for nearly two decades.”

“The conference seeks to model interfaith relations with the integrity of their respective faiths, listening to one another attentively and address differences honestly, resolve them where possible,” Rev. Ghosh said.

“It promotes genuine inclusivity.”

The conference came about in 2002 in recognition of the common heritage of the Jewish, Christian and Islam.

“Sharing a common ancestry creates a unique familial bond among the three religions and setting them apart from other religions, such that they are referred to collectively as “the Abrahamic religions”,” Rev. Ghosh said.

Since 2002  the Abraham Conference has been held every year. The conference is a joint interfaith initiative of Affinity Intercultural Foundation, UCA NSW.ACT Synod, Columban Centre for Christian-Muslim relations, the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, Australian Egyptian Forum Council, and The Catholic Diocese of Parramatta.

The 2020 Abraham Conference takes place on Sunday, 15 November from 2 to 3:30 pm. The conference will be streamed on Zoom. Register via Humanitix here.