By Julia Stuart
“Interfaith contact enriches everyone and interfaith tension is normal in a nation of migrants like ours,” says Luamanuvao Winnie Laban, Presbyterian elder and Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector. She was the first keynote speaker in the Women’s Interfaith Forum in Hamilton in late February.
Presbyterians were prominent in the speaker line-up at the Forum. As well as Winnie Laban, the programme featured Moderator the Right Rev Pamela Tankersley talking about women’s leadership in the church, and the Rev Chris Nicol as front man for the TV series My God.
Speaking on women’s leadership in a Christian context, Pamela reviewed the journey of Presbyterian women to full ministry and visibility. “In theory if I have leadership skills, there is no reason why they should not be used in my Church. That’s a privilege, but it’s also an issue of justice. It is sometimes a struggle, but the structure is there.”
“We have just ordained our first Cook Islands woman minister to a parish in deepest Southland. Many women Pacific Island ministers serve in palagi parishes. While we have a multi-ethnic church, many of these congregations have grown out of conservative, patriarchal communities.
Next steps in interfaith action
Working on the draft Statement on Religious Diversity has “lifted the game” of inter faith dialogue in this country, according to Race Relations Commissioner Joris de Bres. Summing up the 2007 Interfaith Forum, he notes that in no other area of the Human Rights Commission’s Diversity Action Programme had he seen this level of engagement.
Auckland and Dunedin were leading the way in building good relations between their city councils and the local Interfaith Council, he says. “There’s a will to do practical things as well as a commitment to foster further discussion.
“One important area of engagement is in the development of the new schools curriculum.”