BODHI-TREE DAY and INTERFAITH ACT OF COMMITMENT DAY were, for the very first time, jointly celebrated on 9th September 2017 in London.
Other than building inter-faith understanding and tolerance, the interfaith community’s achievements were:
1) A historic initiative taken by a London Ambedkarite, Shekhar Bodhakar, resulting in drafting of The Interfaith “Act of Commitment” document, which includes the Ambedkarite principles of “Liberty, Equality and Fraternity”.
The Act of commitment, led by Shekhar, was recited as a pledge, at St Anslem Church in West London. Present were representatives of all major religions in UK and members of the general public.
Recitation of this pledge will be an annual event taking place on the “INTERFAITH ACT DAY ” held every September.
2) For the first time in Interfaith history, a sapling of an off-shoot of the historical BODHI-TREE WAS PLANTED in the fields of a London school, high-lighting the Ambedkarite principle of education, by representatives of different faiths as a token of friendship, solidarity and loving kindness.
This too will be an annual event called the “BODHI-TREE DAY” and held on the same day as the Interfaith Act of Commitment Day
3) ANOTHER FIRST was a presentation cum lecture titled:
“A Buddhist Perspective on Creationism, Nature and Ecosystem”,
delivered by another Buddhist Ambedkarite anthropologist in a non-Buddhist place of worship.