The Rio de Janeiro Interfaith Network
June 15th, 2003 by sfuqua
This article, originally published in the Sourcebook for Earth’s Community of Religions, describes a particularly good example of interfaith “cooperative activities” generated around ethical and critical issues of our time. Number 4 in our series covering various interfaith organizations.
by Andre Porto
An organizer of the Rio Interfaith Network and a staff member of the Interfaith
Fund Against Hunger and for Life, Andre Porto also co-produced the video “One
Day for the Earth” (about the interreligious vigil at the Earth Summit), and
directed and produced the video “The Interfaith Message of the Parliament of
the World’s Religions” from the 1993 gathering in Chicago. (See Chapter 43.)
This article describes a particularly good example of interfaith “cooperative
activities” generated around ethical and critical issues of our time.
“That was a great recipe you gave me last meeting!” comments an Evangelical
priest to a Hare Krishna monk. Nearby an Afro-Brazilian “saint mother” tries
on an Indian sari given to her by a member of a Hindu group. Scenes like this
are becoming very frequent at gatherings of the Rio Interfaith Network, an informal
community of some 30 faith traditions that has been working together for over
two years. Members are proud and enthusiastic about the interchange, tolerance,
and respect they feel for each other, but it hasn’t been easy to come to this
point.
Everything started three months before the United Nations “Earth Summit” held
in Rio in June, 1992. The Institute for Religious Studies (ISER), a large non-profit
organization based in Rio, got permission to organize an all-night vigil at
the Global Forum park. The Global Forum was a parallel “people’s event” during
the two weeks of the Earth Summit. The idea was to gather as many religious
groups as possible to celebrate the sacredness of the earth, during an entire
night.
Eight planning meetings brought 25 religions and spiritual paths together
to work in such a way that every group could participate without feeling disrespected.
Throughout the large bayside park, each group was assigned a meeting tent where
members would do their own practices throughout the night — be it an hourly
mass by the Catholics or chanting by the Hari Krishnas. Joint opening and closing
ceremonies, including major personalities like the Dalai Lama, were planned
for a large outdoor auditorium. At the first planning meetings, participants
felt nervous and cold, but everyone warmed up as the planning continued.
In the end, some 25,000 people attended the vigil that became a lively, inspiring
all-night festival of art, music, sharing, and spiritual communion. It was the
first time ever that such a number of people from different religious communities
joined together in common celebration. The Brazilian and the international media
covered the “One Day for the Earth” vigil as a major event of the Earth Summit.
The religious leaders brought attention to the spiritual side of the ecological
crisis, bringing up the concept of inner ecology. “Without a balanced, healthy
relationship with our inner nature, we will not be able to have a healthy relationship
with the environment,” was an often-echoed comment.
