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RELIGION & ETHICS
Promoting the meeting of different faiths Dialogue between the major religious faiths, especially Christianity and Islam, is crucial to building understanding and reducing tensions in the Australasia-Pacific region, according to Charles Sturt University (CSU) Professor of Theology, Reverend James Haire.
 CSU Professor of Theology and promoter of understanding between faiths, Reverend James Haire. Photo: Keith Wheeler Reverend Professor James Haire is the Executive Director of Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture (ACC&C) at CSU’s Canberra Campus and one of the world’s leading scholars and promoters of interfaith dialogue.
In July he returned from his native Northern Ireland where he was presented with an Honorary Doctorate of Letters (DLitt) from the University of Ulster in recognition of his contribution to interfaith understanding.
He also received an Order of Australia (AM) in the June 2006 Queen’s Birthday Honours for service to religion and the community through the promotion of ecumenical and interfaith dialogue as well as his work in theological education and service to the Uniting Church in Australia.
He believes our relations with Islam, both within Australian society and within Indonesia (the largest Muslim country in the world) is one of the most important issues now facing Australia.
“Most of Islam is moderate and most Muslims want to live in liberal democracies. At the same time Australians need to have a greater understanding of Islam rather than simply a romantic view. It is also essential that Muslims living in Australia have a sense of ownership and pride in Australia and understand why we operate the way we do and why we’re an egalitarian society,” Professor Haire warned.
“There is an urgent need to increase dialogue and understanding between people of different faiths and religious backgrounds and Australia is ideally placed to lead the world in nurturing these relationships, given our culturally diverse population,”
Professor Haire said.
Reverend Professor James Haire is perhaps one of the best qualified people in Australia to lead this dialogue with Islam. For 13 years between 1972 and 1985 he served in Indonesia as a minister of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. During that time he also acted as Principal of the Halmahera Theological College, in the Molucca Islands, Indonesia and was Professor of Theology at the Christian University of Indonesia at Tomohon.
James Haire’s longstanding involvement in Muslim-Christian dialogue in Southeast Asia and his close relations with Muslim leaders, including former Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid, were critical factors in the successful peace negotiations which he led between Christians and Muslims in the troubled Moluccas and Sulawesi province of Indonesia between 2001 and 2005.
As well as his experience in Indonesia, James Haire has an extensive background promoting ecumenical dialogue and cooperation between Catholic and Protestant Churches. He is a former President of the Uniting Church in Australia (2000-2003) and co-chaired the ongoing National Dialogue between the Uniting Church and Catholic Church in Australia from 1992 until 2004.
Last year he was appointed to the executive of the Christian Conference of Asia which is a regional ecumenical body comprising churches within Asia and Australia.
A native of Belfast in Northern Ireland, James Haire studied at Worcester College, Oxford, UK in the same year as the former British Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw with whom he remains a close friend. He graduated with First Class Honours in Theology from Oxford University in 1969 and gained his PhD in Theology from the University of Birmingham in 1981.
James Haire was ordained a minister in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland in 1972 before his first appointment as a missionary to Indonesia. He came to Australia in 1985 as minister for the Darwin city parish of the Uniting Church and continued his academic career as a part-time lecturer at Nungalinya College, an ecumenical theological college for Indigenous people in the Northern Territory.
Prior to his appointment as executive director of ACC&C, Professor Haire was Head of the School of Theology at Griffith University in Brisbane and Professor of New Testament Studies and principal of Trinity Theological College, Brisbane.
James Haire is also CSU Professor of Theology and Director of the University’s Public and Contextual Theology Strategic Research Centre, based in Canberra.
ends Author: Virginia Gawler
Editor's Note:
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