His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Open Congress of Religious Freedom
[Thursday, 2 September 2010, 8:34 p.m.]
Dharamshala: His Holiness the Dalai Lama will inaugurate the 33rd World Congress of International Association for Religious Freedom (IARF) at Kochi in the south Indian state of Kerala on 4 September.
About 600 delegates from across the world will converge here for the four-day conference, Thomas Mathew, IARF President and Dr Homi Dhalla, Chair of the Congress working Party told reporters today.
The conference will start with the prayers being rendered by 11 different religious groups.
His Holiness will deliver a keynote address on ‘Beyond Conflict to Reconciliation-The Challenge of the 21st Century’.
The delegates will take part in three plenary themes of the Congress: (1) Role of religion in promoting human rights; (2) Science and Religion, and how can they co-operate for the progress of humanity and (3) Hindus, Muslims and Christians: How can they live together in India?
Women as agents for social change and cohesion, peace action through Gandhism, role of NGOs to implement UN declarations are among the other subjects which would be discussed at the workshops.
