Webinars

To mark Interfaith Week the British Chapter of the International Association for Religious Freedom presents: Religious Freedom of the Other - A Sikh perspective with Charanjit Singh. On 25th November 2025, the Sikhs across the world are commemorating the 350th anniversary of the supreme sacrifice of the ninth Sikh Guru, Tegh Bahadur to protect the religious freedom of the other. This is especially significant as there was unparalled persecution and forced conversion of subjects, whose religion was different from the rulers to the state religion. In this talk Charanjit would share her thoughts about the circumstances leading to the martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur and what can we learn from this tragic event in the context of human rights and religious freedom today.

This question - How Do We Become Human(e) - has been growing in importance as so much changes in the world: in culture, politics, mentality, relationships… Together with the participants, Esther will explore it, inspired by the thought of Fritz Buri.

Fritz Buri (1907-1995) was a liberal Protestant Pastor, Professor of Systematic Theology and disciple of Schweitzer and Jaspers. His theology and background were connected with the IARF, “Freies Christentum” and Unitarianism. He bridged various backgrounds, also in interfaith dialogue, especially with Zen-Buddhism and Confucianism. His philosophical approach to Jaspers and to existentialist philosophy influenced his reflexions on Symbol and Self and he described the symbol of a universal cosmic Christ in “The Buddha-Christ as the Lord of the True Self. The Religious Philosophy of the Kyoto School and Christianity”.

Esther published her doctoral thesis about the understanding of existence in the theology of her former teacher, Buri, in May 2025, and is working on an English translation. She is the main representative of the IARF at the UN in Geneva, and serves as the president of the International Association of Liberal Religious Women (IALRW, 1910).

Because Svāmī Vivekānanda popularized the 4 spiritual practices (yogas) and paths (margas) in the West, we must thank him. Yet, IARF also must thank Raja Rammohan Roy, Shin’ichirō Imaoka, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. This class will honor their contribution as we see these Four Spiritual Paths uniting us in IARF.

We continue exploring interfaith dialogue practices as we see that even the understanding obtained in studying the Four Spiritual Paths involves both dangers and misunderstandings. It can be imagined as the religious puzzle of the Ladder or the Wheel – discovering how we may privilege our own religious path.

The flame of liberal religion, often called the Hindu Renaissance, is flickering in the face of global nationalistic use of religion. Are liberative voices still being heard in India today?

Beginning with such promise, how could liberal, rational religion all but disappear as Yuniterian faith and practice? What lessons can be learned, if any lessons can be learned from an honest history?

The first webinar on Zen and the Middle Path by Rev. Ming Po, held on 22 October 2025.