Ballarat Interfaith Network commemorates United Nations World Interfaith Harmony Week

The global scale event, which kicked off on February 1, was commemorated in the region with a ceremony led by the Ballarat Interfaith Network (BIN) at the historic St Peter's Anglican Church.

Celebrations featured a variety of keynote speakers including those from Muslim, Baha'i and Hindu backgrounds who provided prayers from each of their faiths, as well as some of the experiences they've faced practicing their religion.

For Muslim man Obaid Noor who spoke on Wednesday, he said the Ballarat community had been nothing but "respectful" towards him and his beliefs.

"'I've never encountered any such hate speech or any such incident," Mr Noor said.

"People have always been very nice, very accommodating, very respectful, very careful, very loving."

In his speech, Mr Noor said while he had not interacted with many people of other faiths other than his own before moving to the country in 2013, he said exposure to different religions in Australia had helped him develop "positive thoughts" towards other members of the community.

"If you're not across something, or if you haven't experienced something in life, then in theory, you know about those things, but you don't see them implemented in real life, and what can be the effects of such things or such an environment, on your personal well being and developing for society as a whole, that's something which I learned here, and I try to do good, be good," he said.

"Just like I would expect to be done to me, I would want to do the same for other people."

Similarly, Lucas Primary School year 6 student Mahathi Giri, who spoke on behalf of the region's Hindu community, said people had generally been quite accepting of her religious practices.

Mahathi used her address to dispel some of the myths Hinduism faced, including it being based on fables rather than fact.

She specifically spoke of examples of why their religious songs were chanted at a higher pitch and the science behind this decision making.

While the event was well received by residents, with most pews in the church lined with people of all cultures, Ballarat Interfaith Network chair Margaret Lenan Ellis said there was still underlying prejudice within the community.

She said acceptance was "reasonable," but more ceremonies like Wednesday's celebrations were needed, as well as advocacy from notable figures.

"It's important for the City of Ballarat councillors and leaders of our community to be heard and seen to promote all people and projects that foster harmony, because prejudice is ever present beneath the surface," Ms Ellis said.

"It requires more than just one organisation, so more and more people hear from all of these different inputs, whether that's from the council, the press or something from the Interfaith Network, so that people who harbour prejudices feel 'I better modify my voice, perhaps it's not right to be out there shouting abuse'."

Tying in with the international week, which began in 2010 after King Abdullah II of Jordan made the proposal at a UN conference in 2010, BIN also commemorated their 20th anniversary as an organisation on the day.

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This year's theme for WIHW is "unity in diversity, and the divine connection between people and their faith."

Ms Ellis said unity to her meant being able to "embrace differences of all sorts" while also being respectful of the deep connections to culture for the nation's Aboriginal Australians.

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