November 30 – December 05, 2008
White Rock, British Columbia, November 2008 -This November 29th – December 5th, 2008, in Mayapur, India, Four Worlds International Institute (FWII) Chairman Phil Lane Jr. and other Indigenous leaders and youth from across the Western Hemisphere will join 300 interfaith leaders from 44 countries at the United Religions Initiative (URI) 2008 Global Assembly.
The 2008 URI Global Assembly, which will also feature the first interfaith youth delegation, will serve as an opportunity for members, all of whom are working on interfaith projects worldwide, to speak face to face, learn from one another’s successes and to build further alliances within the URI network. Participants will converge in Mayapur, a small temple town on the banks of the Ganges, by the Srila Prabhupada’s Samadhi memorial where up to 10,000 pilgrims visit daily.
Lane, a globally recognized Indigenous visionary, humanitarian, educator, and spiritual leader, will share The Fourth Way, a culturally based, principle-centered path and strategy for change that seeks to unify the human family by transcending assimilation, resignation, and conflict. It is the central initiative of the Four Worlds International Institute, an international NGO led by Indigenous leaders and supported by a global advisory team of education, environmental, health, economic, development, and information technology leaders.
Lane, who was part of the URI Global Council who drafted the founding URI Charter said, “At this very critical time of deepening global economic insecurity and social conflict, our participation in this 2008 URI Global Assembly is another step in a global process that is, slowly but surely, laying and expanding an enduring spiritual and technological foundation for furthering Indigenous contributions toward building sustainable peace and prosperity in the Americas, the Asia Pacific, and beyond in harmony with all members of the human family.”
The five-day gathering in Mayapur, one of the spiritual capitals of the world, is based on the premise of being a pilgrim in one’s host country, rather than being a tourist. The Assembly’s theme this year ‘Pilgrims of Peace: Many Paths, One Purpose’ is a powerful notion, representative of the diversity of projects and faiths, as well as the dedication of URI members and delegates, all of whom, and some at great financial expense, are coming together to participate in an unprecedented grassroots global gathering for the sole purpose of furthering worldwide interfaith cooperation.
While participants in URI’s projects have included leaders such as the Dalai Lama, URI’s primary constituents are common citizens working on a grassroots level in their own communities. These individual community and spiritual leaders connect to the URI network though one or more of URI’s 400 local groups based in 70 countries worldwide, called Cooperation Circles. Developed to directly assist and further the work of these interfaith Cooperation Circles, the 2008 Global Assembly in Mayapur will address questions and share experiences of respected and recognized leaders in grassroots organizing, in order to further the work of world wide interfaith peace-building.
Four Worlds International Institute (FWII), is an international NGO dedicated to promoting the empowerment and constructive development of Indigenous peoples worldwide, and more broadly, the well-being of all Members of the Human Family.
With The Fourth Way and its Sixteen Guiding Principles as a strategic culturally and spiritually based foundation, FWII is focused on fostering personal, community, and global change through diplomatic work that heals broken trusts and relationships, partnership building, the creation of participatory governmental institutions, and social and economic development assistance.
Towards this vision, FWII has been working with Certiport,DirectPointe, and Utah Valley University, who are partners in the Skilled2Succeed program, to develop a strategy that offers educational opportunity, life skills, and digital learning through a global networking initiative called “IndigeNet.” This initiative will serve as a key communications component for implementing The Fourth Way.
United Religions Initiative (URI) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of enduring and daily interfaith cooperation in order to end religiously motivated violence, and to the creation of a culture of peace, justice and healing for the Earth and all living beings. Founded in 2000, with a central hub in San Francisco, California, URI has 400 Cooperation Circles representing over 100 faiths working on community-based projects, which serve over one million people, in more than 70 countries worldwide. Having attained special consultative status with the Social and Economic Council of the United Nations in 2007, URI’s network continues to grow and expand in areas of interfaith peace building, conflict resolution, economic development, heath, ecology and education. For more information about URI visit: www.uri.org