UN InterFaith Consortium
The Division of Jerusalem
United Nations General Assembly
ONE WORLD REGIGIOUS CONSORTIUM ???
Religious Leaders Start Signing Peace Declaration
By Reuters
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Religious leaders began signing on Wednesday a declaration committing themselves to global peace, declaring all religions equaland recognizing equality between women and men.
The document, titled, ``Commitment to Global Peace,'' condemns all violence committed in the name of religion and is to be signed by the 1,000 envoys before they end their four-day meeting on Thursday. .
The gathering of muftis, swamis, rabbis, prophets, monsignors, patriarchs, sheiks and chieftains, many wearing gloriously colorful vestments from their respective faiths, was often overshadowed by the absence of the Dalai Lama, the 1989 Nobel peace laureate, whose presence in the United Nations was opposed by China because of his call for an autonomous Tibet.� The Dalai Lama, a Tibetan Buddhist leader, turned down an invitation by summit organizers to attend the last two days of the conference outside the United Nations and sent eight monks instead who were allowed to speak. .
Earlier media mogul Ted Turner, whose Better World Fund underwrote much of the meeting's expenses, received an enthusiastic response despite his often irreverent remarks.
``What disturbed me is that my religious Christian sect was very intolerant,'' he said. ``We thought that we were the only ones going to heaven.''� ``It just confused the devil out of me because I said heaven is going to be a might empty place with nobody else there. So I was pretty confused and turned off by it,'' Turner said.'' .
``War has traditionally been man's work. Even at this summit, the majority of people up here speaking have been the male of the species,'' said Betty Williams, a Roman Catholic from Northern Ireland who shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976.
``We women say 'we love you men, we really love you, but we say to you move over', and if we take the world and we make it any worse than you have, then we will give it back,'' she said.
UN hears from American Mogul
Media mogul Ted Turner, whose U.N. Foundation, Better World Fund, helped pay for the conference, struck a more informal note.� ``I was born in a Christian family,'' said Turner, who once said publicly that Christianity was ``for losers.''� He dreamed of becoming ``a man of the cloth,'' he said, but was bothered that his religious group taught that only Christians were going to heaven.
``I thought heaven was going to be a mighty empty place,'' he said. ``Now I believe there may be one God who manifests himself in different ways to different people. ... And I can't believe God wants us to blow ourselves to kingdom come. He wants us to love each other and live in peace.''� Sadhvi Shilapiji, a Jain nun, said she found Turner's speech ``fascinating.''� ``It was the feeling of the common man not burdened by any religious or political affiliation,'' Shilapiji said. ``It came from his heart.''
Other speakers Tuesday included Cardinal Francis Arinze, president of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue; and Abdullah al-Obaid, secretary-general of the World Muslim League.
Participants say they hope the summit will result in a declaration on peace, poverty and the environment, as well as the formation of a council of religious leaders to advise the United Nations on preventing and settling disputes. Sessions were scheduled on the role of religion in conflict resolution.
Religion's Many Faces Meet in New York for Peace
UNITED NATIONS
INTER-FAITH
CONSORTIUM
By GUSTAV NIEBUHR
Funded largely by corporations, the conference has brought together people as distinguished by their professed good intentions as by the diversity of their theologies and the different hues and shapes of their dress.� Talking about how they might work together to stifle conflict, ease poverty and help the environment are Shiite Muslims in dark turbans, Buddhist monks in saffron robes, black-suited Christian clerics and men and women from tribal groups.�� After a formal opening at the United Nations, group discussions have been closed.
"This is very important," said Gensho Hozumi, chief priest of a Zen Buddhist temple in Kyoto, Japan. "For the first time, to be heard in the United Nations."� But a major shadow over the conference has been the absence of the Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of Tibet, whose participation at the United Nations was blocked by China's objections. .
Among participants, a frequent theme is that government officials need to know that religious leaders still carry considerable influence and thus could help in large-scale good works.
Sayyed Mohammed Musawi, secretary general of the World Ahlul Bayt Islamic League, a Shiite Muslim organization based in London, said that "the United Nations' noble causes cannot be implemented by governments only, unless there is participation" by people within those nations. "And nobody can influence the people of the nations more than the religious leaders," he said. ������������������������
"If there's a thing that all people have in common, regardless of race or income level, we all live on the same planet," said Mr. LaRocque, whose eagle feather headdress, rabbit bone vest and beaded moccasins made him a person with whom a stream of delegates wanted to have their pictures taken. Rabbi Ren� Samuel Sirat, former chief rabbi of France and currently vice president of the conference of rabbis of Europe, said, "There are so many people here who would like to express themselves, and they're only given a limited time to get their message across." He suggested that another such meeting, perhaps in two or three years, could build on the momentum. And at least one person at the conference voiced concern about the challenge posed by religious leaders not attending, whose views are antithetical to peaceful encounters between faiths.
"We have to marginalize religious leaders who are peace spoilers and are inciting hatred and nationalistic passions, which destroys life," said Rabbi Arthur Schneier of New York, president of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation, which has sought to foster interfaith dialogue. "It's nice to come together here," he said, "but we have a lot of those who are out there who are not in sync, and who are seeking to undermine our peacemaking, bridge-building efforts."
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