A long-running Melbourne program bringing together secondary students from Muslim, Jewish and Christian schools has closed due to a lack of funding and community tensions over the war in the Gaza.
“It tells you what happens when we get out of our own bubbles. And that’s why the meals are so important, to have those conversations.”Under the program, more than 200 students from 19 Christian, Muslim and Jewish schools would visit each other’s campuses and talk about their lives – not politics. While the demise of the program still makes her sad, Sadler said she understood it was a huge ask for the students to have conversations that many adults considered too difficult.“Every religion teaches love, respect and tolerance. We need to show students how to actually do that, even when it’s difficult,” she said.
The Faith Communities Council of Victoria’s multi-faith officer, Sandy Kouroupidis, said governments poured money into interfaith cohesion in the aftermath of 9/11 and the Bali bombings. But he said this had petered out over the past eight years as money went into other areas such as family violence.