Dr. Mahan Mirza addresses the Global Ethic in Action Assembly at the 2023 Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago, USA.

So this is my first Parliament and it’s an honor for me to be here representing the Ansari Institute and the University of Notre Dame. As a Muslim at a Catholic University that values diversity, I recognize the importance of respecting norms that are different from one’s own, but also of having norms that are shared and universal. There was a time when Catholics and Muslims were at war. Today we are here at the Parliament together as one delegation which also comprises Hindus, Sikhs, and Baha‘is.

The Ansari Institute calls it the world as it should be. As an institute housed in a research university, the Rafat and Zoreen Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion is dedicated to research, teaching, outreach and interaction with religious communities, faith and civic leaders, academics and journalists and the general public. We offer training, implement global transformative educational programs and generate ideas on how religion can continue to serve as a force for good in the world.

At the Parliament this year, in addition to participating in the programs of the Global Ethic Symposium, we are celebrating the Nasser Book Prize which recognizes an outstanding work of scholarship that is rooted in a particular tradition, addresses an issue in global affairs and has the potential of generating a wide-ranging multi-faith conversation on the world as it should be.

Last year we recognized an Aboriginal author from Australia, Tyson Yunkaporta, for his magnificent work Sand Talk, How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World. This year’s prize winner is Anthony M. Annett, who invites us to rethink global economics from the perspective of virtue ethics and Catholic social teaching. To honor both scholarship and service, we have also partnered with Religions for Peace to confer a parallel Lifetime Service Award, which this year goes to Ravinder Kaur Nijjar, who is also busy providing lunch at the Langer all week with the Sikh community.

Please join us on Thursday at 1 p.m. for our awards and a reception to follow. Learn more at the Ansari Institute booth in the exhibit hall, and you are all invited to Notre Dame’s campus in South Bend, Indiana, next spring, February 14th and 15th, to deepen the conversation.

It is a joy and privilege to be partnering with the Parliament’s Global Ethics Symposium. I wish you all a wonderful week of fellowship and learning.