Interreligious Council at the UN

The Need for an Interreligious Council at the United Nations Universal Peace Federation www.upf.org

The Significance of Religion
Religion is an essential part of human consciousness and human identity.
Religious ideas form the basis for human worldviews and worldly action.

The Significance of Religion
Religion guides us to understand about:
our ultimate origins
our condition in the world
our ultimate purpose and destiny
Religion shapes civilizations, cultures and social, political, and economic systems.

Positive Impact of Religion
Religion inspires and guides individuals and movements in truthful, constructive, beneficial, and morally upright ways, giving meaning, purpose, hope.
Religion inspires compassion, giving, service, humanitarian action, sacrifice for others.
Good, enlightened religious leadership is essential to achieving world peace.

Negative Impact of Religion
Religion can, and often does influence and guide individuals and movements in untruthful, destructive, harmful and morally problematic ways
Poor religious leadership gives rise to manifold problems and contributes to both division and great suffering in our world.

Overcoming Interreligious Conflict
Religion has too often been a source of division, and many conflicts around the world: Middle East, Kashmir, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Indonesia, Balkans, Caucasus, Thailand/Cambodia, Nigeria, etc.
This pattern should be reversed, through dialogue, good leadership, and cooperation.
Religions should provide peace leadership.

Preamble to the UN Charter
We the peoples of the United Nations determined, to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war , which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind.…

Preamble to the UN Charter
… and to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,
AND FOR THESE ENDS to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours, and to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security, and to ensure, by the acceptance of principles and the institution of methods, that armed force shall not be used, save in the common interest, and to employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples….

The Ongoing Scourge of War
Despite tremendous efforts to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war , history recalls
The Korean War (1950-53)
The Vietnam War (1959-75)
The Balkan Conflicts (1991-96)
The Middle East
Rwanda
Darfur
Sri Lanka
The Caucasus

The Case for an Interreligious Council
The vast majority of “we the peoples” are persons who identify strongly with a religious worldview.
Non-state actors are increasingly relevant and important: civil society, faith-based organizations, religious movements.
Religion can be an ally for peace, and an ally for socio-economic development and conflict resolution.

Value of Religious Teaching
All religions teach compassion toward those in need and love for one another.
Religions have the potential to foster forgiveness, reconciliation, restoration, and peace, bringing an end to cycles of resentment and violence.

Mahatma Gandhi Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Mother Teresa

Interreligious Voices Contribute to Peace

Call for UN Renewal
World peace can be fully accomplished only when the wisdom and efforts of the world's religious leaders work cooperatively and respectfully with national leaders.
Serious consideration should be given to forming a religious assembly or council of religious representatives within the structure of the UN.
Rev. Sun Myung Moon Address at UN Headquarters August 18, 2000

UN General Assembly Resolutions
“ Promotion of Interreligious Dialogue” (A/RES/59/23, November 2004)
“ Promotion of Interreligious Dialogue and Cooperation for Peace” (A/RES/60/10, Oct. 2005)
“ Promotion of Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue, Understanding and Cooperation for Peace” (A/RES/60/L.11/Rev.2, December 2006)

Sponsoring Nations
Spearheaded by the Philippines. Sponsored by
Azerbaijan Bangladesh Belarus Belize Benin Burkina Faso Cambodia Cameroon Comoros Congo Costa Rica Djibouti Dominican Republic Egypt El Salvador Gabon Gambia Guatemala Guinea Haiti Honduras Indonesia Iran Kazakhstan Kuwait Philippines Qatar Russian Federation Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Senegal Sudan Suriname Tajikistan Thailand Timor-Leste Uzbekistan Madagascar Malaysia Marshall Islands Micronesia Mongolia Morocco Myanmar Nicaragua Oman Pakistan Panama Papua New Guinea

Focal Unit to Aid Dialogue
… insures the systematic and organizational follow-up of this dialogue through the designation of a focal unit in the Secretariat to handle these matters.
December 2006 GA Resolution
RESULT: Focal unit was established in 2007.

Call for High-Level Dialogue
Call for a “high-level dialogue on interreligious and intercultural cooperation for the promotion of tolerance, understanding and universal respect….”
RESULT: High-level Dialogue on Interreligious and Intercultural Understanding and Cooperation for Peace was held October 4-5, 2007.

Address to High-Level Dialogue
It is time to promote the idea that diversity is a virtue, not a threat. It is time to explain that different religions, belief systems and cultural backgrounds are essential to the richness of the human experience. And it is time to stress that our common humanity is greater-–far greater-–than our outward differences.
Ban Ki-moon
UN Secretary-General

General Assembly and Interreligious Dialogue
As a follow-up on an interfaith conference held in Madrid in July 2008, organized by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and King Juan Carlos of Spain, the General Assembly convened a high-level dialogue on November 12-13, 2008 with major world leaders in attendance.

A UN Interreligious Council: Mission
As an organ of the UN, an interreligious council could contribute to the UN’s broad mission, as described in its Charter, bringing the unique wisdom, insight, and capacities of religion in support of the UN’s efforts to achieve peace and human development.

A UN Interreligious Council: Functions
Convene, dialogue, and confer together on the critical challenges facing humanity
Advise, guide, and pass resolutions by consensus on issues relevant to peace and human development
Encourage grass-roots service, volunteerism, and activism
Guide nations and people to act in accordance with universal spiritual and moral principles

A UN Interreligious Council: Membership
Possibly 40 councilors representing major and, on a rotating basis, smaller religions, as well as spiritual “eminent persons”
Possibly three-year terms

The world must teach its children the wisdom of all cultures. Dr. Musa Bin Jaafar Bin Hassan (L) President, UNESCO General Conference UNESCO

In today’s era of global travel and instant satellite transmissions, people everywhere are encountering less of the familiar, and more of ‘the other.’ This reality has fed rising intercultural and inter-religious tensions, as well as growing alienation among vast segments of the world population.
Ban Ki-moon

Today’s gathering also comes at a particularly auspicious time, as Jews mark the celebration of the Torah and Muslims approach the end of the holy month of Ramadan. Such occasions remind us that men and women of faith around the world can be brought together, rather than separated, by their convictions and their belief in something greater than themselves.
Ban Ki-moon

Compassion
All men are responsible for one another.
Talmud, Sanhedrin 27b (Judaism)
Give and it will be given to you.
Luke 6.38 (Christianity)
All [human] creatures are God’s children, and those dearest to God are those who treat His children kindly.
Hadith of Baihaqi (Islam)
The Great Compassionate Heart is the essence of Buddhahood. Gandavyuha Sutra (Buddhism)

Love for the Enemy
Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 5.43-48 (Christianity)
The good deed and the evil are not alike. Repel the evil deed with one which is better, then lo! He with whom you had enmity shall become a bosom friend. Qur’an 41.34 (Islam)

Love for the Enemy
Aid an enemy before you aid a friend, to subdue hatred.
Tosefta, Baba Metzia 2.26 (Judaism)
Hatreds never cease through hatred in this world; through love alone they cease.
Dhammapada 3-5 (Buddhism)
Do good to him who has done you an injury.
Tao Te Ching 63 (Taoism)

What is UPF?
A broad, civil society movement
Made up of individuals and organizations
Guided by universal principles
Working together to solve critical global problems and build a world of lasting peace
Promoting one family under God

UPF’s Guiding Principles
All human beings share a common origin, God, the source of the value of human beings and nature.
Unselfishness service, living for the sake of others, is an essential pre-requisite of peace.
The reconciliation that is necessary to achieve peace requires that we learn to love our enemies.
The family is the primary school of love and ethics.
Interfaith cooperation is necessary for lasting peace.

Call for UN Renewal
We must supplement formal institutions with informal policy networks, bringing together international institutions, civil society and private-sector organizations, and national governments, in pursuit of common goals.
Kofi Annan
former UN Secretary-General
“ We the Peoples,” April 3, 2000

Call for UN Renewal
The time has come for the United Nations to outline its working relationship with civil society organizations.
H.E. Anwarul K. Chowdhury
former UN Under-Secretary-General

Religion Contributes to Peace
The negotiations between Menachem Begin, Anwar el-Sadat, and myself at Camp David in 1978 were greatly influenced by our religious backgrounds. This was evident in the fact that a joint appeal for prayer preceded our discussions… Begin and Sadat were deeply religious men.
Jimmy Carter
Former President, United States

An Idea Whose Time Has Come
We believe the creation of an interreligious council or a specific unit on interfaith understanding within the UN system is an idea whose time has come.
Hon. Jose de Venecia, Jr.
Former Speaker, House of Representatives
Philippines

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Interreligious Council at the UN

by Universal Peace Federation International on Mar 04, 2010

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Interreligious Council at the UN — Presentation Transcript