Christian, Muslim leaders issue call to action for global peace
Episcopal News Service. March 4, 2010 [030410-01]
Matthew Davies
Christian and Muslim leaders, gathering for a historic summit at Washington National Cathedral, have committed themselves to "appeal to government and community leaders to promote peace and reconciliation efforts worldwide."
The March 1-3 summit culminated in a call to action and a two-hour public dialogue featuring four leaders from the Anglican, Shi'a, Sunni and Roman Catholic faith traditions: Washington Bishop John Bryson Chane; Ayatollah Dr. Ahmad Iravani, president of the Center for the Study of Islam and the Middle East and research scholar at the Columbus School of Law in Washington, D.C.; Professor Dr. Ahmad Mohamed El Tayeb, president of Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt; and Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue in Rome.
They were joined by 20 other religious leaders and experts – five from each of their respective faith communities – who had spent the three-day summit meeting strategizing on how to use their influence to promote peace.
The leaders acknowledged in their call to action that it comes at a time when the world is "threatened by the global economic crisis and inequitable distribution of resources, by humanitarian crises caused by natural disasters, food, water, and energy shortages, and climate change" and when "new and enduring political and religious conflicts are increasing violence at every level."
In particular, the leaders highlighted the unresolved conflict in the Holy Land as being "the cause of permanent instability and dramatic violence imposed on persons and peoples of an entire region of the world."
The Anglican Communion delegation included Clare Amos, director of theological studies in the Anglican Communion Office, London; Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem Suheil Dawani; Archbishop Josiah Idowu-Fearon of Kaduna, Nigeria; and Bishop Pierre W. Whalon of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe.
The Honorable Kjell Magne Bondevik, founder and president of the Oslo Center for Peace and Human Rights and the former prime minister of Norway, also joined the Anglican delegation. Bondevik is an ordained priest in the Lutheran Church of Norway, which through the Porvoo Agreement is in full communion with the Anglican churches in the U.K. and Ireland.
Two members of the American Jewish community attended the summit as observers.
Expressing "a firm conviction that believers must become active agents of concrete change, making the world a better place for all," the leaders committed themselves and appealed to fellow believers to develop deeper understandings of their respective religious heritages and engage in practical interfaith programs at all levels.
They also committed to promoting religious freedom as an integral part of human rights; fostering education for peace-building in churches and mosques; confronting issues of unjust treatment, violence, and oppression of women and children in many sectors of society; joining with government and community leaders to examine and refine public attitudes, policies, media coverage, and practices based on discrimination against others; and rejecting and condemning attacks on sacred places or using them for armed conflict.
"The worship of God who demands serious moral purpose is at the very core of Christianity and Islam; therefore, religious leaders must cooperatively work with each other and the political leaders in their respective countries in response to these crises," the leaders said, vowing to continue the process of dialogue initiated at the summit.
David Ignatius, associate editor for the Washington Post, served as moderator for the March 3 public dialogue, which was broadcast via satellite on television stations around the world.
The Very Rev. Sam Lloyd, dean of Washington National Cathedral, introduced the dialogue, noting that during their deliberations the conference delegates discussed four key questions: how can religious leaders of the Christian-Muslim traditions collaborate to support diplomatic and political efforts to achieve peace and reconciliation; in what way are religions and the work of justice and peace interrelated and how can they reinforce each other; in what ways can the interpretation of one's own religion trigger fundamentalism; in what ways can peace be promoted by the teaching and practice of religion in the context of today's political and social life.
The Rev. Canon John L. Peterson, canon for global justice and reconciliation at the cathedral, has been instrumental in organizing the summit, but he told a packed cathedral that the event would not have been possible without the "vision and leadership" of former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami.
During an address at the cathedral in September 2006, Khatami had emphasized the role that the three Abrahamic faiths – Christianity; Judaism and Islam – "can and should play in shaping peace," Peterson said. Khatami requested "that we establish an ongoing dialogue between members of our respective traditions to not only encourage the mending of Christian-Muslim relations, but to reinforce our shared commitment as faith leaders to more vocally address matters pertaining to international conflict and reconciliation."
Iravani described the summit as an "exceptional experience. I had not only the opportunity for interfaith dialogue, but also for interface dialogue. We had the opportunity not only to learn from our Christian brothers and sisters, I had the opportunity to learn from our Sunni brothers. Without establishing friendship, without establishing trust towards each other, we cannot go anywhere."
Iravani attended the summit in the absence of Ayatollah Dr. Seyyed Mostafa Mohaghegh Damad Ahmadabadi, professor of law at Shaid Beheshti University in Tehran.
Tauran echoed Iravani's comments, saying, "At the beginning of interreligious dialogue you have human friendship. Interreligious dialogue is not a dialogue between religions, but between believers. If there is not mutual confidence, the human values of brotherhood, attention to the other … interreligious dialogue cannot happen."
Speaking in Arabic through a translator, Tayeb said he was encouraged to find people on the other side of the Atlantic so committed to fostering peace.
Chane said that during the summit and throughout all his encounters with interfaith dialogue, he found the answer to the question: what does it mean to be a child of God? "A child of God grows up in a family, and a family doesn't necessarily see itself in agreement," he said. "We may be brothers and sisters; we may have different philosophical outlooks, theological concepts, concerns, a different way of interpreting culture; but we grow up in a family which is defined by the family of God."
Chane has traveled to Iran on many occasions as an invited guest of former President Khatami, speaking to and studying with numerous religious leaders at seminaries and universities in the cities of Tehran and Qom.
He said he will leave the summit continuing to be "clear with those who have been given the authority to lead this country that as we engage in the challenges of the 21st century, we need extraordinary 21st century diplomacy, and that diplomacy can no longer be devoid of the voice of religious leaders since religion is the fault line in so many of the conflicts that really challenge the global community."
Detailed biographies of the four participants, a list of the 20 delegates and more information on the summit are available here.
Peterson said that now, more than ever, "the global community continues to divide along lines of religion and culture. Religious leaders of all faiths, especially within the Abrahamic traditions, must intentionally and aggressively work in collaboration to seek reconciliation within religious communities and nations that are in disharmony or in violent conflict with one another."
Details of a follow-up summit, to which the leaders agreed, have yet to be announced.
An on-demand video of the dialogue is available here.