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The world’s religions aspire to peace. However it is a sad fact that they are often involved in conflict and violence. This paradox was the subject of intense discussion at a multi-faith consultation on violence, peace and religions held in June. Forty participants – Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and Christians from Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, North and South America – gathered for eight days at the World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, near Geneva. The elimination of violence, they declared, is a challenge to all religions. The consultation was the first in a series on the topic of religions and violence to be organized by the Ecumenical Institute.
At the consultation, participants resolved to network, share information, be involved in awareness-raising activities, and engage in acts of solidarity. They also committed themselves to organize and mobilize for events such as interfaith fasting for peace, non-violence days, and acts of celebration for life.
Addressing the consultation, the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser said that “religious communities and their leaders should… work towards solemn mutual commitments to withdraw any moral or ethical legitimation from the use of violent means in response to conflict or in the pursuit of political, economic, cultural and even religious ends”. He reminded participants that Christianity, once a persecuted minority religion, came to be the persecutor once it was the dominant religion of the Roman Empire. It used violence to maintain the unity of the church and empire. “The traces of this unholy alliance of religion and violence are still with us in the crusading language of the ‘war on terrorism’,” Raiser said.
Consultation participants came from countries where violence and devastation are rampant. Yehezkel Landau, a Jew who co-directs a centre for Jewish-Arab reconciliation and co-existence in Israel, said that in the Holy Land, Jews and Muslims are fighting for control of territory. Christians are either squeezed in the middle, or looking on in pain from the outside. “I appeal to Christians, chastened by their own violent history, to exemplify the gospel teaching of pre-emptive forgiveness, so as to shock us into seeing how destructive our own behaviour has become,” said Landau.
“When it comes to peace, we need to get beyond the preaching and the chanting,” said Dr Zeenat Ali, a Muslim woman who teaches Islamic Studies in Mumbai, India, and was speaking out of the politically motivated conflict between Hindus and Muslims in her country. “It would be more constructive if religions focused on acts of peace-making, appreciation of the other, and acceptance of the plurality and diversity of humankind.” Ali, who heads a multi-faith women’s movement for peace in India, maintains that world religions can create a vision and action plan for global peace and survival through non-violent means. She believes that the wisdom of women can play a vital role in the peace-making process.
Theoretical presentations were followed by three regional case studies – on the Middle East, Rwanda and India. Discussion then centred on themes – the logic of violence; the use, misuse and abuse of power; the search for justice; and religious identity in pluralistic societies.
Asked what was the most significant thing about the consultation, Yehezkel Landau said it was “Coming from a very intense conflict situation to this serene place where people of different faiths and nationalities listened appreciatively to one another and offered to help each other for the sake of humanity as a whole.” For Dr Zeenat Ali, it was “the wisdom of the participants, which showed that the core values of all religions can be used to resolve conflict".
For more information, please contact Rev. Hans Ucko, WCC programme executive for Christian-Jewish and Interreligious Relations and Dialogue, tel.: +41(0)22 791 6381 (office); mobile: +41 (0)79 476 28 09; e-mail: [email protected]