Religions for Peace World Assembly Unites Religious Leaders

Religions for Peace World Assembly Unites Religious Leaders

August 30, 2006

-- Religious Communities Must Confront Violence in All its Forms --

    KYOTO, Japan, Aug. 30 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- The Eighth
World Assembly of Religions for Peace -- which began with
masterful swipes from a Japanese calligrapher's brush
across the convocation's massive banner -- concluded today
with 800 delegates from more than 100 countries and all
major religious traditions endorsing the Kyoto Declaration
on Confronting Violence and Advancing Shared Security. 

    "At a time when religion is being highjacked by
extremists, the religious leaders gathered in Kyoto
demonstrate for all the world the power of religious
communities to illuminate the path to peace when they work
together," said Dr. William F. Vendley, Secretary
General of Religions for Peace.  "The Kyoto
Declaration offers a new vision of shared security that
properly places religious communities at the center of
efforts to confront violence in all its forms."

    The Declaration issues a multi-religious call to
action, urging participants to continue the work of the
World Assembly: 

     "As people of religious conviction, we hold the
responsibility to 
      confront violence within our own communities whenever
religion is 
      misused as a justification or excuse for violence. 
Religious 
      communities need to express their opposition whenever
religion and its 
      sacred principles are distorted in the service of
violence."

    Assembly delegates adopted the Declaration's twenty
recommendations for religious leaders, governments,
international organizations and businesses to address
violence and advance shared security through advocacy,
education and partnerships with, and among, religious
communities.

    Religious leaders from Iraq, South Korea, Sri Lanka,
and Sudan illustrated the Assembly's unique capacity to
bring together delegates from zones of conflict. Today,
religious leaders from those nations presented statements
to the Assembly, invoking the positive and necessary role
religious communities must play in transforming conflicts
and building peace.  

    Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish religious leaders from Iraq
chose to meet during the Assembly after having bypassed
UN-sponsored and other established forums for negotiation.
Speaking in a single voice through its chosen
representative, Sheikh Seyed Saleh Mohammed Saleh
Al-Haidari, Imam of the Al-Khelani Mosque in Baghdad and
the Iraqi Government's Minister of Shi'ite Religious
Affairs, the thirteen members of the Iraqi delegation
stated: "We have talked not behind curtains and not
behind walls but we have talked like normal people. We have
talked with boldness and with courage and with confidence.
We are going on this path, God willing, and will reach a
green line of good for all of Iraq." 

    The World Assembly's sessions also highlighted the
multi-religious efforts of youth and women of faith. More
than 400 participants from 65 countries concluded the
Religions for Peace Women's Assembly on August 25 with a
Declaration affirming, "women of faith make available
strength and hope when all seems hopeless." The
Religions for Peace Youth Assembly from August 21 to 25
produced its own Declaration, proclaiming: "We choose
hope because that is the only way forward."

    World Assembly delegates included Buddhist, Christian,
Hindu, Jain, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, Shinto, Zoroastrian and
Indigenous leaders. Kyoto was the site of the first World
Assembly of Religions for Peace in 1970.

    Religions for Peace, a global network of
inter-religious councils and affiliated groups, harnesses
the power of cooperation among the world's religious
communities to transform conflict, build peace, and advance
sustainable development. Founded in 1970 as an
international, non-sectarian organization, Religions for
Peace is now the largest coalition of the world's religious
communities.

    For more information, please contact:

     Laurel Hart, Religions for Peace
     Tel:   [phone] (Japan, through 8/29) or
[phone]
     Email: [e-mail]

     Kim Assalone, Brodeur for Religions for Peace
     Tel:   [phone]
     Email; [e-mail]

SOURCE  Religions for Peace