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Springvale South is home to Melbourne’s first Buddhist primary school. Hoa Nghiem Primary School, which opened earlier this year, has 16 students from prep to grade 4, but will expand to grade 6 next year.  

While it is the only Buddhist primary school in Melbourne, there is another one in Daylesford and there are some high schools across Australia.

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Source: Leader

Diane Moore, director of Harvard Divinity School's Religious Literacy Project to The Huffington Post, and five other religion professors from Harvard University, Harvard Divinity School and Wellesley College are kicking off a free online series on world religions open to masses.

The series will include six classes on different subjects that will each run for four weeks.

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Source: The Huffington Post

Forty religious leaders have written to the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, urging him to drop the proposal to hold a plebiscite on marriage equality, saying a public campaign on the issue would be damaging to same-sex couples and religious people alike.

The group of Buddhist, Baptist, Anglican and Uniting church leaders sent the letter to the prime minister on Tuesday.

Turnbull supports changing the Marriage Act to allow same-sex unions but vowed to stick with the Coalition’s plan to hold a plebiscite on the issue after taking the prime ministership from Tony Abbott in September.

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Source: The Guardian

Victoria's first interfaith service celebrating the legal profession took place at Government House in the first week of February.

The event saw rabbis joining representatives from the Victorian Council of Churches, the Islamic Council of Victoria, the Buddhist Council of Victoria, the Hindu Community Council of Victoria and senior judges, barristers and other law professionals from many backgrounds.

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Source: Jewish News

Churches across Australia are invoking the historical concept of sanctuary, opening their doors to asylum seekers facing removal back to offshore detention centres.

One of Australia's senior Anglican leaders said places of worship were entitled to offer sanctuary to those seeking refuge from brutal and oppressive forces.

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Source: ABC

The gathering here of about 300 muftis, theologians and scholars last month responded far more broadly by issuing the Marrakesh Declaration, which calls for Muslim countries to tolerate and protect religious minorities living within their borders — among them Christians, Jews, Hindus and Bahais as well as Yazidis and Sabians.

They cited the Charter of Medina, established by the Prophet Muhammad after he fled to Medina, in what is now Saudi Arabia, from Mecca in the seventh century to escape an assassination plot.

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Source: The New York Times

The Victorian Government is implementing a professional program which will make learning about key premises of world views and major religions an important part of a contemporary Victorian school curriculum.

Learning about the key premises of world views and major religions is an important part of a contemporary school curriculum. It enables students to be more informed and engaged at both a local and global level, supporting an understanding of the perspectives of diverse local communities and the beliefs and practices of diverse traditions.

It assists students to recognise and appreciate both areas of commonality and difference between diverse faith groups and secular perspectives.

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Source: Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority

When is it?  World Interfaith Harmony Week is celebrated annually on the first week of February (February 1st to February 7th).

What is it about? World Interfaith Harmony Week aims to promote harmony between all people regardless of their faith and non-faith. It provides a platform, one week in the year, where people of every group can recognize their common values, build ties with each other, and work alongside one another to bring peace and harmony to their communities.