INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE
Madrid: Christians, Muslims and JewsAn Interreligious Conference convened by the Saudi King Abdullah from 16 to 18 July has ended in Madrid after three days of debate. It was attended by 250 representatives of the three great monotheist religions: Christianity, Islam and Judaism. The Holy See was represented by the President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran. Orthodox Metropolitan for Western Europe Emmanuel addressed the meeting on behalf of the World Council of Churches (representing the Orthodox, Protestant and Anglican Churches). At the end of the Conference a joint statement was issued, the so-called “Madrid Declaration”, which rejects the idea of a clash between civilizations, and urges an international accord to combat terrorism, which it considers “one of the major obstacles to the development of dialogue and peaceful co-existence”. “Terrorism – says the declaration – is a phenomenon that must be seriously combated, in a just and responsible way through a common international effort”. The religious representatives therefore ask the General Assembly of the UNO to convene a special session to promote understanding between religions and cultures. They affirm that dialogue is “the best way to foster mutual understanding and cooperation in human relations as in peaceful coexistence between nations”. The conference was sponsored by Saudi king Abdullah who is head of one of the monarchies considered most ultra-conservative in religious terms, inspired by wahhabism, a doctrine of strict Muslim observance (deriving from an Islamic movement of religious reform in the 18th century). The idea of the Conference was explained by King Abdullah himself, the “custodian of the two Holy Mosques”, during an historic meeting with Benedict XVI in the Vatican last November. London: a march against world povertyCatholics, Anglicans, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus and Sikhs, headed by their leaders, will march through the centre of London on next Thursday to remind the 189 Heads of State of the whole world that they ratified the Millennium Declaration in 2000 with its eight Objectives, including halving world poverty and providing universal basic education by 2015, who are not keeping their promises. The “March of Testimony”, as the event has been called, will be attended by Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, the Catholic Primate, and Rowan Williams, the Anglican Primate, the head rabbi of the United Kingdom Jonathan Sacks, and the president of the Muslim Council of Great Britain Ibrahim Mogra. The one thousand five hundred religious leaders will include the 670 Bishops who are now in Canterbury for the Lambeth Conference, the ten-yearly meeting of the Anglican leaders. The UN secretary general, Ban Kyi Moon, organised a meeting on September 25th to discuss the non-fulfilment of the promises that had been made by signing the Millennium Development Objectives. During the march, the religious leaders will carry placards with “Keep your promises. Halve poverty by 2015” written on them, and the residence of the Anglican Primate, Lambeth Palace, will be covered in placards bearing the same slogan.Moscow: Russian-Iranian meeting The 6th Assembly of the Russian-Iranian Commission for Dialogue between Orthodoxy and Islam was held in Moscow from 16 to 17 July. It was chaired on behalf of the Russian Orthodox Church by Bishop Alexander of Baku and on behalf of Islam by Ayatollah Ali Akhbar Rachchad. Theme of the meeting was “The teaching on God and on man in Orthodoxy and in Islam”. In a final communiqué – released by the Russian Interfax press agency – it is affirmed that, according to the Russian Orthodox and Iranian Islamic representatives, human rights and civil liberties must necessarily be linked to moral norms. “The history of humanity – says the communiqué – proves that the destruction of morality causes a crisis at both the personal and social level, and induces an interior void in persons. It is therefore our duty to affirm through the means of education and the mass media that moral values have their foundation in the Creator”.
