By Rev. Bill Crews
Hi Everyone,
It is well over 50 years ago since I first became involved in multi-faith activities through my work at the Wayside Chapel in Kings Cross, Sydney, Australia. In those days, the Wayside Chapel was, in many ways, the centre of people living alternative and experimental lifestyles.
I became exposed to a whole panoply of spiritual philosophies and ideas as everyone then went to the Wayside Chapel. It was a rare night when there weren’t followers of Hare Krishna, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Children of God, Rajneesh, astrology, etc., all jockeying for seats. Often, their leaders upon visiting Australia would make a beeline for the Wayside Chapel.
Every Sunday night, the Minister Ted Noffs held a question time, and these leaders would generally speak there. I would regularly fill in for Ted when he was away.
So, moving to Ashfield, I naturally continued in this vein. There, I had a congregation of people who basically hadn’t been exposed to a lot of different faiths, and so I invited my friends of different faiths to visit and share. It was a very successful move indeed, and I discovered many people were hungry to learn about other ways of seeing the world.
A short time after moving to Ashfield, I opened my Loaves and Fishes Free Restaurant, and out of that, I was able to have people of different faiths sharing with us in working with the most disadvantaged people in Australian society.
At the Wayside Chapel, I had learned that people might argue with one another about one philosophy or another, but if you gave them something to do together, they actually began to like one another in the sharing of the work.
The first group who came to help at Ashfield were Jewish people, many associated with the Emanuel Synagogue in Woollahra. Initially, they had come to help on our big free hot traditional Christmas Day lunch. With typical Jewish humour, they told me, “Look Bill, we Jews have a problem with Christmas, give us something to do on that day”.
After the event, they came back to me and said, “Look Bill, you’ve got enough volunteers on Christmas Day, so give us a special day and we will come and do all the work”. We talked it over, and we decided on Easter Sunday. So, while we were all in a church service, the Jewish people were serving the meal.
This tradition goes on to this very day.
Similarly, the Society of Engaged Buddhists volunteered to provide and distribute the meal to the homeless every Saturday for at least the next 14 years or so. I noticed the friendships that came out of this working together. Particularly between a Buddhist nun and one of our most straight-up and down, no-nonsense fundamentalist Christian women. Every Monday, they would go to the movies together, have lunch, and talk things over. I wouldn’t have believed that if I hadn’t seen it many times with my own eyes.
Our then congregation of mainly old ladies also became friends and grew very close with some Muslim families, and when 9/11 happened, took them in to make sure they were safe in the time of high anti-Muslim feeling.
Skipping over what happened over many years, we come to the current era.
After the horror of the Lindt Cafe siege, I was asked to bury one of the victims, Tori Johnson. I was also in France at the time of the Bataclan terrorist event. I met many victims’ families and others wanting to create a memorial, which the French authorities did not want to happen. I attended the 2016 memorial in Place de la République, which was conducted by President François Hollande alongside French superstar Johnny Hallyday.
In 2014, His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet visited my church, and together, he and I served over 400 meals to Sydney’s homeless people. He won them all over by saying, “I am homeless too.” It was a very moving time. I had first welcomed His Holiness to Australia in the 1980s and over the years we became firm friends. He often jokingly refers to me as “a good Buddhist” but I reckon he’s a really good Christian. Nowadays I visit him as often as I can, in Dharamsala.
At present, I am caught up with many people in their struggle for freedom; Kurdish people, Tibetan people, Uyghur people; Iranian people; those struggling for democracy in China, and many other places. Our international work goes on in many countries too. We tend to be where the bombs are falling.
I feel quite equipped to become an ambassador for peace, reconciliation, and freedom. In fact, in 2025 along with Christine Macmillan based in Canada and Sr Susan Francois CSJP l based in the USA, I was made one of three only international multifaith envoys for UNICEF.
Since the Bondi shooting, I have seen the fear in the eyes of Jewish and Muslim people. Jewish people are afraid to go out of their houses, and Muslim people are afraid of sleeping in their houses and so are sleeping in the mosque.
Spiritually, I have learned that the deeper one goes into one’s own religion, the more respect one has for others and discovers there is much learning that can take place from people of other religions.
I regularly come across many similar and other concepts, although expressed differently, which, in a positive way, challenge the very way I think. That involves open, mutually vulnerable, and honest conversations and practices. I am continually grateful to those of other religions who give me deeper insights into life and its meaning.
About 50 years ago, I had a girlfriend who was Jewish. She was flying to meet her family in London. I was absolutely shocked when she was told not to wear anything Jewish as she was going through the Middle East.
It’s a deep-seated feeling in me that no one should be ashamed of their heritage. We learn who we are through much of our heritage and culture; it stabilises us, and from that warm cocoon, we can venture out into the wider world.
We need to make sure the wider world is open, warm-hearted, loving, and accepting.
I actually know that it can happen because I experience it often. In 2023 I was a vocal advocate for the yes campaign. I was speaking at a rally in Parramatta where there must’ve been thousands of people present. These people were of all nationalities and colours and were all supportive of our Indigenous brothers and sisters. We all came together in a common cause.
In that moment I felt time stood still and all heaven was singing.
God Bless
Bill
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