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Vale - St. George's College

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Faith, Globalisation and Wandong Noodles<br />

L-R JADE ROBERTS (2007), JON BAKER, MICHAEL SHELDRICK, TONY BLAIR, AKRAM AZIMI, DANIEL STEPNIAK (2000)<br />

My experience of the National University of Singapore’s<br />

Faith and Globalisation Conference (30 July to 2 August<br />

2010) was life affirming.<br />

Made possible by the Tony Blair Faith Foundation (TBFF), the<br />

spiritually and intellectually rich, intense and vibrant gathering<br />

represents for me a quintessential fl ashbulb memory.<br />

With its vision of faith as a potential unifying global force in the 21th<br />

century and with the aid of cutting-edge internet technology, the TBFF<br />

is devoted to promoting understanding of the major religions and<br />

connecting young people around from around the world.<br />

This vision is based on the understanding that constructive<br />

interfaith dialogue is the most effective and peaceful means to<br />

a more harmonious world, because the opposite, silence and<br />

miscommunication, has clearly been the cause of much disharmony.<br />

A prerequisite for conference attendance was a deep passion for<br />

interfaith issues. Fortunately, I have received much experience of<br />

this during my residence at <strong>St</strong> George’s (with its very strong focus<br />

on fostering inter-faith education and discussion).<br />

As for Singapore, it was everything I had expected: perennially well<br />

lit, humid and bursting with life in everything direction. This was<br />

perhaps epitomised by my accommodation, the immense high rise<br />

student residences of NUS, which like most buildings in Singapore,<br />

attempted to conquer the sky.<br />

On the fi rst day of the conference I met some exceptional and<br />

inspiring students from universities from all over the world,<br />

including McGill, Peking, Monterrey and Yale University. I listened<br />

to the insights of esteemed professors on faith and globalisation.<br />

I explored fi rsthand the different places of worship in Singapore<br />

(a truly multicultural society) and studied how people of different<br />

faiths interact, confl ict and accommodate each other when their<br />

sacred spaces are often within earshot of one another.<br />

Interestingly, all these centres of worship expressed, in words<br />

and actions, genuine respect and appreciation for the “others”;<br />

I think this “we are all in this together” mentality, can partly be<br />

explained by the fact that everyone is, to some extent, a foreigner<br />

in Singapore.<br />

On the second day of the conference, I had the pleasure of<br />

meeting and conversing with Tony and Cherie Blair.<br />

On our last night together, we had an eight course Asian meal that<br />

I am still savouring—what a way to say goodbye to new friends!<br />

The next logical step following the conference is the<br />

commencement of a unit called Faith and Globalisation at UWA,<br />

which will feature cutting edge technology utilising Internet based<br />

global collaborative education.<br />

Finally, the conference made me refl ect on my own spirituality<br />

and I have reached the following conclusion: I am not certain that<br />

Gods exists, but I am certain that God is not non-existent either.<br />

Perhaps this is the lawyer in me playing it safe—Pascal style!<br />

AKRAM AZIMI<br />

AKRAM IS A FOURTH YEAR COLLEGE RESIDENT AND IS STUDYING<br />

SCIENCE/LAW<br />

The Georgian | December 2010 7

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