wfn.org | United Religions Initiative Charter signed in Pittsburgh

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2000-125

United Religions Initiative Charter signed in Pittsburgh

by David Delman

     (ENS) At a few minutes before 5 pm, on June 26, 2000, in 
Pittsburgh's Carnegie Music Hall, Bishop William Swing of 
California, founder of the United Religions Initiative (URI), and 
Rita Semel, president of its Interim Global Council, signed their 
names to the charter that formally launched the worldwide network 
of religious faiths and spiritual traditions.

     They were joined by members of the council and nearly 300 
people who witnessed the charter signing, plus thousands more 
around the world who had already signed via the Internet. With 
the document signed, 79 Cooperative Circles or local chapters 
were formally recognized as charter members of URI.

     To begin the day's celebration, African and Asian drummers 
led a procession of more than 200 delegates from the Carnegie 
Mellon University Center down Forbes Avenue to the Carnegie Music 
Hall. Inside, as delegates and visitors took their seats, 
Manipuri drummers and a conch shell heralded the afternoon's 
proceedings.

     After playing a pre-recorded greeting, "Welcome to the birth 
of the United Religions Initiative" in several languages, formal 
welcomes were offered by the Rev. Charles Gibbs, executive 
director of URI and Mrs. Zeenat Ali, professor of Islamic Studies 
at St. Xavier College in India. The gathering intoned the mantra 
"Shalom, Salaam, Peace, Harmony," as part of a short meditation 
led by Mrs. Ny Geodong Oka from Indonesia.

A matter of trust

     Masankho Banda from Malawi, a U.S. Pathways to Peace 
representative, introduced the URI video by relating his 
experience four years ago, working with children in Croatia. Try 
as he might, Banda's dancing and playfulness could not win over 
one four-year-old girl, who simply stared or hid from him for 
three weeks. Then, during a final disco party, Banda, sitting on 
a table felt the girl's hands on his shoulders, just before she 
somersaulted onto his lap.  They danced together for the rest of 
the party.

     When Banda asked  the other workers what it was all about, 
they told him that her mother was raped by a Serbian soldier (she 
a Muslim, he a Christian) and that Banda looked very much like 
the rapist. Through three weeks of staring, she finally decided 
that anyone as happy as Banda, who danced the way he did, could 
not have raped her mother. At that point she felt she could trust 
him. URI, said Banda was a matter of trust: "face to face, heart 
to heart."

     Gibbs introduced Bishop Swing, bringing the audience to its 
feet in a standing ovation for the founder of the URI. The bishop 
recounted some of URI's beginnings, and how the "global 
constituency nourished on appreciative inquiry began to emerge." 
He told about the development of the Charter and the way it was 
critiqued through the Internet. "The Charter is unlike any in the 
world of religion," said Swing.

     Swing explained the retention of the word "Initiative," 
saying that calling it  "United Religions would be too 
presumptuous," adding that "our Initiative exists to cooperate, 
collaborate and coordinate."  He concluded, "God willing, fifty 
years from now people will flock to Pittsburgh to celebrate this 
signing."

     The concept for URI is modeled after the United Nations, 
according to an interview in the local press with Barbara 
Hartford, the operations manager for URI. "The nations came 
together to make peace but the religions of the world have never 
once come together to try and stop violence and wars," she said.

Building bridges

     The decision to sign the Charter in a special ceremony was a 
simple one, Hartford added. "There are more bridges here than 
anywhere else--and this is a bridge-building expedition."

     Following a second video that showed events around the world 
ushering in the millennium as part of URI's 72 Hours Project, 
Swing and Mrs. Semel signed their names to the Charter. Then 
members of the Interim Global Council and delegates in the 
auditorium (with the help of special signature forms) each 
affixed their names as well. 

     With the formal recognition by the Council of all the 
Cooperative Circles and a vision of hope expressed by members of 
the Interfaith Youth Corps, the ceremony ended as the Manipuri 
drummers led delegates and guests to the reception in the Music 
Hall foyer.

--David Delman is editor of The Pacific Church News in the 
Diocese of California.