Messages

Dr Jagdish Gandhi & Dr Bharti Gandhi

Founder Manager & Founder Director

We are immensely pleased that City Montessori School Asharfabad Campus is organising the International Interfaith Conference on the theme "Unity of thoughts among religions, for a better world" with a view to promote interfaith harmony and unity in the world...

Prof. Geeta Gandhi Kingdon

CMS President and Managing Director

It is puzzling and paradoxical that religion – whose whole existence is meant to promote care for others – has become today one of the most formidable obstacles to peace because it is now identified as an important source of unrest and violence in the world...

Ms Susmita Ghose

Superior Principal & Head, QAID

Martin Luther King Jr, once said, “I have decided to live with love”. Love and tolerance should be the only way to move forward, especially when it comes to interfaith harmony within an environment of ‘Religious Pluralism’. Growing awareness of the idea of interfaith harmony...

Mrs Trapti Dwivedi

Convenor, Interfaith &
Principal, CMS Asharfabad Campus, Lucknow

In a world that often faces challenges rooted in religious or cultural differences, it is our responsibility as leaders and representatives of our respective faiths to come together,...

Our world faces mounting problems: global warming, ruinous conflicts, and global health challenges, with incalculable human suffering. Developments in AI, robotics, Infotech, and biotech pose new moral questions, and there continues to be a list of entrenched problems of hunger, rights violations, deep inequalities, loss of biodiversity, etc.

Global issues such as these have hitherto been considered the preserve of political leadership. And while political leaders will have to manage these concerns but they cannot do so alone. The issues are moral, not just technical; and they are generational in nature, demanding responses that are not just about the current moment. Today there is a growing understanding of the powerful role that civil society and religious and cultural leaders can play.

If religion is not treated as part of the solution, it will become part of the problem. There are many religious dimensions to the current agenda of global challenges. The issues involve deep questions about values, to which faith traditions have much to contribute. And religion often forms the basis of human identity, meaning that when people address these concerns they will often do so from the perspective of their community. And religious concerns can help turn the focus to the larger underlying issues. In those ways, it has an indispensable and positive role to play. While religion has immense potential to tap into the roots of human motivation for positive causes, it has sometimes also been made a cause of conflict. Simmering religious passions – aroused by a resurgence of religious fundamentalism and intolerance – often erupt into communal violence. Thus, what is needed is a constructive dialogue on the role of religion in fostering peace, by recognizing the common foundations of all religions and thus working towards inter-religious collaboration in contributing to the progress of communities and nations.

The Interfaith Conference will ask how organized religions can unitedly forge a common vision for humanity’s future, and thus contribute their share in the resolution of the problems, rather than remaining mute spectators in the global unfolding drama, unable to agree on directions that humanity should take in various fields.

Religion has a powerful hold on the human heart, and if its power to inspire can be tapped for positive causes, it can benefit humankind tremendously. Here the role of religious leaders is not only vital but critical.

If religion is not to lose its relevance, religious leaders must encourage their congregations to proactively engage in the practical application of the divine teachings of their faiths, at the base of which are common moral values such as service to others, compassion, brotherhood, and oneness.

State institutions, civil society, international organizations, etc., must join the mission because mutual and positive engagement results in workable and universally acceptable solutions and this is essential to living in peace and harmony.

The challenges facing the globe have been shaped by the choices of past generations but they will be managed by future ones. They will not be addressed overnight. So the most important task for the current generation is to equip emerging generations, helping them to discover and develop the tools they will need.

Teachers have great power to influence the hearts and minds of young people. Indeed, children tend to listen more to their teachers than to their parents. Mahatma Gandhi said: “If we want peace, and want to wage a real war against war, we shall have to start with the children”, and Nelson Mandela said: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”. Teachers have in their hands the most powerful weapon – education of the heart and the mind.

If the moral and spiritual precepts common to all religions can be united with the power of teachers to influence young people, the effect can be doubly powerful.

School is a lighthouse of society, and in many places on earth, and certainly, in India, the school is a multi-religious community and every classroom has children of different faiths – Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist, Baha’i, etc. Schools and teachers are able to nurture children against religious hatred and fanaticism, consciously fostering attitudes of respect for other religions, harmony, love, and brotherhood.

The objective of the CMS annual conference on ‘Interfaith dialogue in multi-religious communities’ is to bring together international, national, and local leaders of religion and expert analysts of religion, to dialogue together before an audience of children, teachers, and other stakeholders of society. In this open dialogue, they will acknowledge the profound influence that religious leaders exert on the thinking and motivations of countless people, and recognize the immense responsibility this influence places on their shoulders. The conference agenda will promote consultation about the directions ahead and about the values on which future directions should be based.

The participation of school children aged 12 and upwards in the interfaith conference will become the means of true education about some of the most important issues of the age, seen from the lens of religion. The event will help children understand the diversity of thinking within and across faiths, promoting critical thinking and greater awareness of the complexities of the world around them. Most importantly, it is hoped that participation as an audience and in the youth forum will give young people positive directions to work for the transformation of self and the community, to become part of the solutions to the problems besetting their communities and the world.

City Montessori School (CMS), Lucknow, India, was founded in 1959 with the motto ‘Jai Jagat’ meaning ‘Victory to the World’, and was inspired by the concept in Indian scriptures of Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam, which means ‘the whole earth is one family’. It is affiliated with the United Nations as an NGO and is recognized by the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s largest school in a city, with currently 60,000 students Click here

Over the past 63 years, CMS has striven to inculcate in its generations of students the values of the oneness of humankind through a wide variety of programs, including those promoting the idea of the oneness of the source of all religions. It was in recognition of these efforts that CMS was awarded the 2002 UNESCO Prize for Peace Education at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, for which it was nominated by the Government of India. CMS organizes the annual interfaith dialogue conference in furtherance of the principle of Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam.

The objective of the conference is to inspire CMS students and teachers and society, in general, to work for uniting the hearts of people from different faiths, spreading the message of Jai Jagat and Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam into the wider society and the world in general.

* Religion, the Climate Crisis and Sustainable Development

  1. Green theology – the Environmental teachings of the faiths.
  2. Energy use and the warming goals: Consumerism versus asceticism.
  3. Achieving the SDGs – the role of religion

* Religion, Conflict and Global Ceasefire

  1. Revisiting Tolstoy: Reconciling religious teaching with actions of avowed believers
  2. Does religion teach pacifism?
  3. Notions of territorial justice and righteous conflict
  4. Politics and religion - a relationship to shape society and influence human rights and freedoms

* Religion and an ethical code for Infotech and Biotech

  1. A moral code for AI and robots – drawing on ethical principles common to all religions
  2. A moral code for Bio-engineering – Can we agree on ethical principles common to all religions
  3. The governance structure for the evolution of such codes as these technologies develop further

* Role of Media and Parliamentarians in Interfaith Dialogue

  1. Bridging or Creating a gap
  2. Religious Conversion versus Freedom of Belief
  3. Protecting Minorities
  4. A virtual religious world created digital religious teachings on social media

* Religion: Youth Interfaith Forum

  1. Educational Institutions and Interfaith Activities
  2. Religion and the promotion of gender, racial, and caste equalities
  3. Atheism and Secularism - in support of recognized religious values
  4. The possible global acceptability of 'Abrahamism' and how it could affect international peace

* Religion and Education

  1. Case Study Presentations: Schools making a difference; teachers bridging the gap
  2. Distinguishing being Spiritual from being Religious - Spirituality binds, Religion divides
  3. Religion-centricism versus a universalist synthesis: identifying common core values of all faiths

* The Role of Judicial and Legal Traditions in Enhancing Interfaith Dialogue

  1. Spiritual Harmony of Justice
  2. Restorative Justice as Healing
  3. Legal Practices as a practical problem-solving approach to justice

  1. Tentative schedule of the 3-day conference

    1. 14th July - Cultural Evening at 04:00 pm.

    2. 15th July and 16th July - Interfaith Conference from 09:00 am to 04:00 pm.

    3. 16th July - 04:30 pm - Prize Distribution.

  2. It will be our pleasure to provide hospitality free of cost to all outstation participants which includes Boarding and lodging & transport to and from the airport/railway station.

  3. Railway or Airfare etc. will be borne by the participants.

  4. Outstation participants will be required to supply the organizers with complete travel details in advance, so that arrangements can be made for their boarding, lodging and transport.

  5. A Help Desk would be set up at the Lucknow Airport and Railway Station for the assistance of the participants (if required).

  6. The average temperature in July ranges between 40 to 45 degrees centigrade.

  7. The Venue for the conference is World Unity Convention Centre which is a part of a larger complex of CMS Kanpur Road Campus, LDA Colony, Kanpur Road, Lucknow. This five storied building has its own kitchen, bedrooms with all modern amenities, elevator, Swimming Pool, Conference Halls and an auditorium to accommodate 3000 persons. Communication Centre and Internet facilities will be available. The School is situated in the western part of Lucknow. It is located about 6 kms. from the Lucknow Railway Station (also called Charbagh Railway Station) and about 3 kms. from Lucknow Airport which is also called Lucknow Chowdhary Charan Singh Airport.

  8. Contact details: +91-7355 430604

  1. The team should reach the venue latest by 8:00am on 16th July, 2023 and report at the Help Desk set up in the lower basement.

  2. Kindly go through the brochure carefully and check the spelling of the names of the participants before filling up the registration form.

  3. On reaching the venue, the teams must report to the control room and get themselves registered.

  4. Students will wear white color uniform at all times during the competition.

  5. Kindly send your Registration Form at the earliest, latest by 01.05.2023 at asharfabad[AT]cmseducation[DOT]org after which a code will be shared with the registered participants.

  6. The link of the registration form is: Click here

  7. Team Leaders must take care of the belongings of the Team members and be responsible for the safety and security of their team members.

Note: Kindly note that all the events will be held simultaneously in the basement rooms of WUCC Kanpur Road Campus. Therefore, the participating students should not be common.

Contact Us

Mrs Trapti Dwivedi

Convenor - IIC and
Principal of CMS Asharfabad Campus
Unity Building, Lucknow, India
Phone No: +91-0522-2654840, 2653661
Email: interfaith[AT]cmseducation[DOT]org
Website: https://www.cmseducation.org/interfaith/