THE ROLE OF INTER-RELIGIOUS COOPERATION IN PEACE BUIDING

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "THE ROLE OF INTER-RELIGIOUS COOPERATION IN PEACE BUIDING"

Elwin White
6 years ago
Views:

1 INTERNATIONAL LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE FOR PEACE Songkhla 5-7 October 2012 THE ROLE OF INTER-RELIGIOUS COOPERATION IN PEACE BUIDING DR AMIR FARID ISAHAK Chairman INSAF (Interfaith Spiritual Fellowship) MALAYSIA

2 REASONS FOR CONFLICTS BETWEEN Persons Groups/Communities - Nations Opinions Material - Financial/property/business Love interests/partners Political/ideological Castes/social status Racial Religious Etc. [Between nations = ideologies, religions, territories and access to water/oil/other resources] In the past the powerful nations had conquered other lands in the name of their religion ( For God & King )

3 RELIGION & CONFLICTS Conflicts and wars directly or indirectly due to (intra & inter) religious conflicts have plagued humanity throughout history. Even in Modern times, religious conflicts continue unabated, and religiously-motivated violence continue to take its toll on us. Right now we have conflicts in many countries that are directly or indirectly religiously-motivated. Many conflicts may not start as being religious in nature, but end up becoming religiously skewed. Some have multiple factors, but the religious factor is always the most prominent.

7 TRILLIONS SPENT ON WARS & CONFLICTS WHICH COULD GIVE BETTER LIVES TO BILLIONS OF PEOPLE INSTEAD

8 WARS CAUSE POVERTY & SUFFERING

9 RELIGION IN SOCIETY Religions play different roles in different societies, and these roles are also evolving. In some societies, religion has been relegated to something that is private and personal, and play an insignificant role in the affairs of the entire society. In others, religion has significant roles not only in the daily lives of the adherents, but also in the affairs of the society, and even the nation eg. Saudi, Iran, Malaysia, Thailand, and many others.

10 THE PURPOSE OF RELIGION To guide us to become the best of human beings: To guide us in our daily affairs, throughout our lives For some religions guidance on ALL aspects of life (and not just personal matters) To become productive and successful in our endeavours (which should benefit ourselves, our societies, our nations and our world) To establish successful families, communities and nations To live in peace & harmony with all regardless of their beliefs and religions.

11 THE PURPOSE OF RELIGION THE PURPOSE OF RELIGION IS TO BRING PEACE & PROSPERITY TO HUMANITY & THE UNIVERSE.

12 MANY RELIGIONS - YET NO PEACE? There are many religions all of which teach PEACE Our religious greetings remind us of Peace Yet there are so many conflicts, and Peace is so elusive Many of these conflicts are among religious adherents, and are religiously-motivated Many fight in the name of their religion (or God) RELIGION SEEMS TO BE THE CAUSE OF CONFLICTS IN MANY INSTANCES!

13 Be good & do good to them love & respect them even if they don t believe what you believe All religions teach us to be good & do good All religions preach about peace All religions teach us to respect & love one another, including those outside our religion All religions teach us to treat others the best way (ie. The Golden Rule) All religions teach about religious freedom Why then, are religious people also among the worst perpetrators of mischief, conflicts and destruction?

14 CAN RELIGIONS BRING PEACE? YES, provided we return to the true teachings of our religions: That even though we may differ in the matter of GOD (does He exist? If yes, who is He? Is He One, or Trinity, etc.) and other teachings of our respective religions, all our religions command us to respect one another and live in peace and harmony. WE MUST RE-ESTABLISH RELIGION AS THE MOST POWERFUL PEACE-BUILDING FORCE, INSTEAD OF BEING THE MOST FREQUENT CAUSE OF CONFLICT!

15 Many religious people do not have the correct, wise understanding of their religious teachings Religious people need to be spiritual also To be spiritual means to be connected to the Oneness of The Creator, and the oneness of creation (humanity, all living beings, the Earth and beyond) Spirituality means being at Peace with the Creator, the created universe, humanity, and with the events that unfold in our lives even un-peaceful events, knowing that: The Creator (or The Universe for those who don t believe in a Creator GOD) is fully in control of everything, and that the outcomes of all events are good in GOD s Wisdom (to everything, there is a reason)

16 HOW CAN RELIGIONS BRING PEACE? As true followers of the great religions, we should have acquired peace internally (individual peace), which is the most important prerequisite to being a Peacemaker. How can you preach and promote peace if you are not peaceful yourself? When peaceful religious people work together, then we become a formidable peacemaking force. When un-peaceful religious people confront one another, they start wars!

17 Peace is the only Way Our common greeting is Peace We must be the Peace we want to see in the world - We must not only talk peace, but also walk the talk we must live peace, and promote peace Prof Hans Kung: There cannot be peace among nations without peace among religions There cannot be peace among religions without dialogue among religions There cannot be dialogue among religions without a Global Ethics < (The Golden Rule is an important part of The Global Ethics)

18 Peace-building is our Jihad Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him): Making Peace among people who are in conflict is of more value to GOD than additional prayer, fasting and charity, because if people continue to be in conflict, humanity itself will be destroyed. (Hadith) As religious/spiritual people, we can best serve GOD/Universe/humanity by working for Peace. To be effective Peacemakers, we must: - equip ourselves with the necessary skills, and - WORK AS A TEAM = INTER-RELIGIOUS COOPERATION

19 LET US JOIN HANDS for Peace & Harmony among Religions SO THAT TOGETHER WE CAN BRING PEACE TO THE WORLD! Until followers of the different religions make real efforts to understand and respect one another, religious conflicts will go on. This is why it is increasingly important for members of different faiths to get together to celebrate the similarities, and more importantly, to understand and respect the differences between our beliefs and practices and to work side by side to achieve our shared goals. Whatever is our religious background, if we want to help make this world a place where respect, cooperation and trust exist between people of different faiths and beliefs, we must join hands.

20 EXISTING INTER-RELIGIOUS COOPERATION National Interfaith NGOs National Interfaith Councils/Committees International Interfaith NGOs: Parliament of World Religions Religions for Peace (World Conference of Religions for Peace) Universal Peace Federation United Religions Initiative United Nations - Consultative status to international NGOs - World Interfaith Harmony Week (1 st week of February; since 2011) - World Interfaith Harmony Council?

21 Thank You UNIVERSAL PEACE FEDERATION & ORGANIZERS INTERNATIONAL LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE FOR PEACE Songkhla 5-7 October 2012 THE ROLE OF INTER-RELIGIOUS COOPERATION IN PEACE BUIDING

Nanjing Statement on Interfaith Dialogue

Nanjing Statement on Interfaith Dialogue (Nanjing, China, 19 21 June 2007) 1. We, the representatives of ASEM partners, reflecting various cultural, religious, and faith heritages, gathered in Nanjing,