wfn.org | Parliament of World's Religions Gives Mandela Tumultuous Welcome

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@wfn.org>]

 From Parliament of the World's Religions
Story by Jim Solheim
[Cape Town, 011, 27 21
media centre cell phone 082 858-6439

ROLE OF RELIGION CRUCIAL IN FREEDOM MOVEMENT
MANDELA TELLS RELIGION PARLIAMENT

CAPE TOWN, South Africa—Former President Nelson Mandela, icon of the freedom
movement in South Africa, received a tumultuous welcome by participants in an
evening plenary during the Parliament of the World’s Religions meeting here,
and made it clear that religion had played a crucial role in the struggle.
After receiving two awards—the third Juliette Hollister Award from the Temple
of Understanding and a Gandhi-King Award for Non-Violence—Mandela said that
the 20th century had seen a great deal of violence, suffering and pain,
leading to cynicism.

“This gathering counters that despairing cynicism,” he said, referring to the
non-legislative meeting of over 6,000 religious leaders and practitioners. The
eight-day meeting ends Wednesday (December 8) with a closing address by the
Dalai Lama.

Mandela accepted the awards with “humility and great appreciation” and said
that they “demonstrate that old age intimidates people into paying respect and
homage.” But he quickly added that the awards also honor “ordinary, unsung men
and women who in this century refused to bow to the baser instincts of our
nature.”

While “arrogant men set out to conquer the world and turn human beings into
slaves,” it was ordinary people who “saved the world from even more genocide.”
Ordinary people put an end to the designs of Napoleon and Hitler but they also
helped us to realize that “poverty is the single most dangerous threat to
society today.”

Mandela made it clear that the role of religious institutions was crucial in
building society. “My generation is the product of religious education,” he
said, expressing gratitude that the Christians, Hindus, Muslims and Jews had
supported education for non-whites in apartheid South Africa. “Without these
religious institutions I would never have been here today,” he said to loud
applause.

“To really appreciate religion you had to be in a South African jail under
apartheid,” he said, in obvious reference to the 27 years he spent in a small
cell on Robben Island, a short boat trip from Cape Town. It was the religious
leaders who regularly visited the prisoners who “gave us the hope that one day
we would return.”

Dismissing allegations that radical elements influenced the freedom movement
in South Africa, Mandela said, “Religion was one of the motivating forces of
everything we did.” He added that religion “will have a crucial role inspiring
humanity to meet the enormous challenges we face.” Those challenges, he
emphasized, are not only material development but spiritual as well, “nothing
less than a redefinition of values.”

But the former president, who retired last June after five years in office,
also had some sober warnings. While technological advances have made “a
smaller world,” they have also led to “a confusion of values.” He expressed
concern that “religion faces its own challenges,” in too many cases losing its
ability to hold people to a system of values. And in some cases religions have
even condoned intolerance and violence.
He thanked the Parliament for “honoring our country” and for acknowledging the
achievement of South Africans in “settling a deep and long-standing conflict.”
He suggested that the participants might even find a model in the experience
of South Africans rebuilding the nation, based on the conviction that “common
ground is greater than what divides people.”

After several raucous cheers from the audience, and a gift of flowers from
some children, the father of his nation, known affectionately as Madiba or
father, left Good Hope Centre on a wave of affection.

Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions
Mim Neal, 312 629 2990, mimneal@cpwr.org
John Dart, 818 363 3984, jdartnews@aol.com
http://www.cpwr.org