Religious Olympics coming to Australia

Melbourne’s multicultural reputation has helped it clinch the right to host the “Olympic Games of spirituality”, more formally known as the Parliament of the World’s Religions, in 2009.

The world’s largest inter-faith event is expected to draw 10,000 visitors to Melbourne and inject more than $75 million into the local economy.

The Victorian capital edged out Singapore and New Delhi for the right to host the fourth parliament since 1993.

Reverend Dirk Ficca, executive director of the parliament’s organising body in the US, met with local religious figures in Melbourne to congratulate them today.

Rev Ficca told the gathering he had been struck by the city’s hospitality and pluralism when he had assessed it during an earlier visit.

“Why Melbourne? Well, you could not have paid everybody we met with that week to say that Australian society was intentionally multicultural,” he said.

Melbourne was a winner because of the way the city tackled issues that had “local relevance and global significance”, he said.

Those issues included how to maintain social cohesion in a diverse society, the plight of indigenous people, and the climate change crisis, he said.

The Parliament of the World’s Religions was first held in Chicago in 1893, at the time of the world fair there, and was revived 100 years later.

In the past the event has attracted religious leaders including the Dalai Lama whom organisers hope will also attend the 2009 event.

The eight-day event in December 2009 will include more than 400 programs and cost $8 million to host, with funds coming from government and the private sector.

And while the parliament should be a bonanza for the state’s tourist industry, Rev Ficca hopes its most important dividend is the goodwill it generates.

Trust is more important than agreement, he told the gathering today.

“This parliament will be a place where first and foremost people of different religions, traditions and places in the world will come together and establish that trust.”

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