BBC film about Prince Philip and ARC now on Youtube
June 20, 2011:
ARC's founder, HRH the Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, is 90 today. Happy Birthday!
A BBC film about Prince Philip, also featuring interviews with ARC's Martin Palmer and some rare early footage from Assisi in 1986 can now be seen on Youtube.
In The Duke at 90, Fiona Bruce talked to Prince Philip, the longest-serving consort in British royal history, about his life and his greatest achievements.
As well as the Duke of Edinburgh's Award scheme, which has helped an estimated seven million young people in 132 countries since 1956, and his role as International President of the WWF from 1981 to 1996, Prince Philip also discusses his work with ARC.
Prince Philip, a committed Christian, explains how ARC came into being after, with the help of Martin Palmer, he invited leaders of five major faiths (Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism) to attend a conference in Assisi, Italy, in 1986, as part of WWF’s 25th anniversary activities.
In The Duke at 90, Prince Philip says: “We asked leaders of the main faiths to discuss amongst themselves what their attitude was to the natural creation or to the natural environment, with a view to, if they then thought that they had any responsibility for it, to try and disseminate that within their community.”
At the end of the Assisi Conference, Prince Philip proposed creating ARC to encourage faith traditions to feel their responsibility for ‘God’s Creation’ and to care for the natural environment. Martin Palmer became its director.
Today ARC works with 11 major faiths and Prince Philip remains deeply committed to its work helping the major faiths develop environmental programmes based on their own teachings, practices and beliefs.
As he explained to ARC: “If you believe in God – which is what Christians are supposed to do – then you should feel a responsibility to care for His Creation.”
Interview with Prince Philip “If you believe in God, which is what Christians are supposed to do, then you should feel a responsibility to care for His Creation.” ARC's founder, the Duke of Edinburgh gives a rare interview about his beliefs in conservation.
The Independent newspaper, 25 November 2002: ARC’s celebration of Creation: fit for a Queen A gathering of the leaders of the world’s 11 major religious faiths, at an international religious celebration of Queen Elizabeth's Golden Jubilee, could have profound repercussions around the world.
April 25, 2012: Making Buddhist teachings on protecting nature more relevant "Sometimes we in the faiths strive too hard to make our teachings and traditions relevant to the modern world. In the case of Buddhism I don't think this is necessary. The core teachings of Buddhism about illusion, reality and the nature of compassion are eternal. They are truths we need to hear today as much as in the time of the historical Buddha" - Martin Palmer at the 3rd World Buddhist Forum, Hong Kong
