wfn.org | Baha'is Call for Religious Leaders at the UN to Identify Core Values

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

Bahá'í World News Service
News from the Bahá’í International Community
Date: 29 August 2000
For more information, contact: Brad Pokorny, 212-803-2500 or
bpokorny@bic.org

BAHA’IS CALL FOR RELIGIOUS LEADERS GATHERED AT THE UNITED NATIONS TO
IDENTIFY “CORE VALUES” THAT CAN LAY THE FOUNDATION FOR PEACE

UNITED NATIONS (29 Aug 2000) ­ Calling for a “global community based on
unity in diversity,” the representative of the Bahá’í International
Community to the Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual
Leaders today called for the world's religious leaders to take on the task
of identifying “core values that are common to all religious and spiritual
traditions.”

Addressing religious and spiritual leaders gathered at the United Nations
for an historic four-day meeting aimed building tolerance, fostering peace
and encouraging interreligious dialogue among all of the world's religions,
Albert Lincoln, the Secretary General of the Bahá’í International Community,
urged fellow religious leaders to put aside differences and to work together
in the cause of peace ­ and for the sake of the world’s children.

“Our disordered world is in desperate need of a moral compass that is above
passing fashion and untainted by the pervasive materialism of the modern
era,” said Dr. Lincoln, addressing the first such gathering of high-level
religious leaders ever held in the United Nations. "The convening of this
summit suggests that the world has become aware of this need and of the
capacity latent in the world’s religious traditions.”

Dr. Lincoln said that one of the greatest dangers facing mankind comes from
a generation of children growing up in a moral vacuum.

“Each child is potentially the light of the world, and its darkness,” said
Dr. Lincoln. “Lighting the lamps of these souls is a responsibility we must
collectively assume if civilization is to thrive. Children must not be
deprived of the light of moral education, especially the girl-child, who is
the transmitter of values to future generations. Indeed, educated women are
one of the most important keys to world peace.”

Attended by more than 1,000 religious leaders from around the world, the
Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders is
scheduled to run from 28 to 31 August. Representatives of virtually all of
the world's religions are in attendance, including leaders from the Bahá'í
Faith, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Jainism, Judaism, Islam, Shintoism,
Sikhism, and Zoroastrianism, as well as indigenous religions.

Dr. Lincoln said the convening of such a gathering was an historic event,
reflecting a new level of interaction between the world’s secular and
spiritual institutions.

“Above and beyond a remarkable maturation in inter-religious dialogue, this
meeting of spiritual leaders in the Chamber of the United Nations General
Assembly, on the eve of the Millennium Summit of the world’s Heads of State
and Government, marks an historic and vital step forward in creating the
necessary mutual respect and cooperation between religious and political
leadership, conditions without which world peace and the prosperity of
humankind are probably unattainable,” said Dr. Lincoln.

Organizers of the Summit include a wide range of interfaith groups, private
foundations and non-governmental organizations. Organizers say they hope
that religious leaders will end the meeting by issuing a joint "Declaration
for World Peace." They also expect to establish an ongoing International
Advisory Council of Religious and Spiritual Leaders, which they hope will
serve as an ongoing interfaith resource for the United Nations in its quest
for peace, global understanding and international cooperation.

Dr. Lincoln endorsed the concept of such an International Advisory Councils
of Religious and Spiritual Leaders, saying they “could function as a most
effective vehicle to channel the power of religion to bring about a better
world, for all, including the children.”

“Essential to all the functions of the Advisory Councils would be the task
of identifying the core values that are common to all religious and
spiritual traditions,” he said. “This would form a firm foundation for
united effort in the spirit of service to humankind as a whole.”

The Councils could also serve in helping to develop appropriate curricula
and delivery systems for the moral education and training of children and
youth. “The Regional Councils could be instrumental in nurturing
consultative processes at the national and regional levels, involving
educational experts and representatives of the religious and spiritual
traditions espoused by the relevant populations,” said Dr. Lincoln.

Dr. Lincoln is the highest-ranking officer of the Bahá'í International
Community, an international non-governmental organization that represents
and encompasses the worldwide membership of the Bahá'í Faith. Dr. Lincoln
reports directly to the Universal House of Justice, the elected governing
body of the Bahá'í Faith. With a membership of more than 5 million people
and significant communities in more than 235 countries and territories, the
Bahá'í Faith is the second-most widespread independent world religion.

For more information about the Summit, visit www.millenniumpeacesummit.org

For more information about the worldwide Bahá'í community, visit
www.bahai.org

Contact Brad Pokorny at 212-803-2500 or by email at bpokorny@bic.org

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