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On Thursday 12 February 2015, the Monash University Chaplaincy and Religions for Peace Victoria Branch hosted a public event at Monash University in celebration of World Interfaith Harmony Week. Guest Speaker Associate Professor Nasir Butrous gave an address on Ethnicity, Religions and Harmony: Exploring Christian Muslim Relations in Iraq Today.

Associate Professor Nasir Butrous is a Chaldean Catholic and a native of the city of Mosul (Biblical Nineveh) in Iraq. He is the Associate Professor of Management at the Australian Catholic University-Faculty of Law and Business in Melbourne. Nasir was previously a member of the Commission for Ecumenical and Interfaith Relationships in the Archdiocese of Brisbane. He has regularly spoken on his perspective on Islam from his lived experience of Catholic-Muslim relations both in Iraq and in Australia. In his presentation, Prof. Nasir Butrous addressed Iraq's political, cultural, social, economical and Administrational background, the Christian and Muslim communities of Iraq.

There is an excellent background explaining the balance of Sunni and Shi'ite and the Kurds and how the automomous province was originally created. He then went on to examine the current situation in Iraq and its background. The rise and nature of the "Islamic State" was discussed and the conclusion examined Ethnicity, Religions and Harmony. Dialogue is explored as a keystone to harmony and understanding. Prof. Nasir also gives accounts of how and why multiculturalism works in Australia.

A video of the event can be seen below:

Professor Desmond Cahill OAM, Chairperson of Religions for Peace Victoria, gave a vote of thanks afterwards.

Article source:

http://religionsforpeaceaustralia.org.au/index.php/1085-ethnicity-religions-and-harmony-exploring-christian-muslim-relations-in-iraq-today