The Multi-Faith Centre will operate according to the following principles:
- Recognition of the reality of religious pluralism, and the multi-faith and multi-cultural nature of Australian society.
- Respect for the rights of participants to their own religious traditions and practices.
- Promotion of dialogue between people of different religions, faiths and philosophies.
- Working co-operatively towards a fair and just society – locally, nationally and globally.
The Multi-Faith Centre serves as a facility for:
- Worship, practice and continuing education in religious traditions.
- Education for multi-faith dialogue.
- Working together for understanding, peace and harmony.
- Modelling religious citizenship.
- Promotion of research in religious co-operation and multi-faith dialogue.
- Service to the students and staff of the University and to the broader community.
History
In December 2000, the Venerable Master Chin Kung of the Amitabaha Buddhist Association of Singapore presented a cheque for One Million Dollars to Griffith University for the Multi-Faith Centre.The Venerable Master is shown here presenting the cheque to the Chancellor, Ms Leneen Forde, in the presence of the Vice Chancellor, Professor L.R. Webb, and the Chair of the Multi-Faith Centre Fund-raising Task Force, Mr Uri Themal.
This extraordinarily generous gift enabled the centre to be built.
At the time of the presentation, the Venerable Master spoke of his vision of multi-culturalism where the whole universe exists and co-exists as one and where all people are (sisters and) brothers of each other and therefore should respect each other. All religions, he said, share the fundamentals and like a tree with many different leaves and branches, there are different beliefs but all are from the same source. The Venerable Master said the purpose in his life, is to understand his religion, and to explain his beliefs and practices to others. He hoped that the Centre would be a starting point which would send a beam of light to all corners of the earth from Griffith University. "If we look beyond our own world, we will work for true peace and will work with each other and our love will reduce conflict with all people," the Venerable Master said.
In accepting the wonderful gift, the Vice Chancellor, Professor Roy Webb, said that the Venerable Master has indicated a greatly enlarged vision for the Multi Faith Centre beyond the wildest dreams in the past and had indicated a support which would endorse a world focus for the Centre.