When the Reverend Professor James Haire, AM, asks "can the two live in peace?" at NSW Parliament House on Tuesday 1 April, he will not be referring to the Australian Labor and Liberal parties but to Islam and Christianity.

 

Reverend Professor Haire, AM, is Executive Director of the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture (ACCC) at Charles Sturt University (CSU), Canberra, and he will be addressing state politicians and invited guests as part of CSU Week at Parliament House, running from 31 March to 4 April.

 

 “Dialogue between the major faiths, especially between Christianity and Islam, is crucial to building understanding and reducing tensions in the Australasia-Pacific region,” Professor Haire said.

 

“One of the most important issues now facing Australia is our relations with Islam, both within Australian society and with Indonesia, the country with the largest Muslim population in the world.

 

“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.”

 

Reverend Professor Haire was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and studied at Oxford University, the University of Leiden in the Netherlands, and the University of Birmingham. From 1972 to 1985, he was principal of the Halmahera Theological College in the Molucca Islands, Indonesia, and was Professor of Theology at the Christian University of Indonesia at Tomohon. He played a vital role leading to the successful peace negotiations between Christians and Muslims in the troubled Moluccas and Sulawesi provinces of Indonesia between 2001 and 2005.

 

This is the first time that a university has been invited to feature its work at the NSW Parliament.