wfn.org | WCC NEWS: CORRECTION Religious leaders dialogue with Iranian President Ahmadinejad

["WCC Media" <Media@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches - News Release

Contact: +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org
For immediate release - 25/09/2008 15:36:50

[Correcting link to story on the third meeting in this series]

WCC CO-SPONSORS INTERNATIONAL DIALOGUE BETWEEN RELIGIOUS LEADERS
AND POLITICIAL FIGURES

The UN Liaison Office of the World Council of Churches (WCC) is
co-sponsoring an international dialogue between religious leaders
and political figures – including Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad – aimed at exploring faith perspectives and the role
of religion regarding global issues such as poverty, war and
prejudice while deepening mutual understanding.

“Religious leaders have an urgent role to insist on dialogue and
mutual understanding in addressing conflict and confrontation
between nations. This particularly is true in the context of the
United Nations,” says Rev. Christopher Ferguson, WCC
Representative to the UN. 

“The goal of this dialogue is to build bridges of peace and
understanding, in line with the vocation of religious communities
to play a central role in tackling global challenges and building
peaceful societies," he adds. 

The theme of the dialogue is “Has not one God created us? The
significance of religious contributions to peace,” and the event
will include an Iftar – a dinner to break the Muslim Ramadan
fast. It is scheduled to take place in New York on 25 September.
Participants will include religious leaders from Christian,
Jewish and Muslim and other faith traditions, as well as
political figures. 

The encounter is co-sponsored by the American Friends Service
Committee, the Mennonite Central Committee, the Quaker United
Nations Office, Religions for Peace and the WCC's UN Liaison
Office. 

This dialogue is the fourth in an ongoing series of
bridge-building encounters since 2006, which faith groups are
developing with Iranian political, religious and academic leaders
to encourage respectful conversation about the need for religious
involvement in peacemaking. The last one took place in New York
City on 27 September 2007. 

On that occasion, a panel of religious leaders posed a series of
questions to Ahmadinejad including queries about his
controversial remarks concerning the Holocaust, Iran's nuclear
development and human rights issues. 

"These encounters cannot be but a respectful exercise of
dialogue, but they do not in any way intend to honour any one of
its participants or mean that participants endorse each other's
views," says Ferguson. "Peace building may at times bring us to
meet people with whom we disagree on many important issues. This
dialogue is an opportunity for participants to share their
perspectives with each other directly." 

The WCC has a long history of dialogue and relationship building
with religious, cultural and political leaders in Iran. 

Each of the sponsors will distribute a press release after the
gathering. A limited number of media have been invited to cover
the event. 

Media contact in the US:  WCC UN liaison office  (+1)
212-867-5890

Questions and answers on this encounter at co-sponsor Mennonite
Central Committee website:
http://www.mcc.org/iran/meetings2008/index.html 

News story on the third meeting in this series:
http://www.oikoumene.org/en/news/news-management/eng/a/browse/21/article/1722/us-christian-leaders-met.html

>WCC UN Liason Office:
>http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=3257 

WCC Programme Strengthening inter-religious trust and respect:
http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=3143 

Additional information:

Juan Michel +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith,
witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical
fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings
together 349 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches
representing more than 560 million Christians in over 110
countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic
Church. The WCC generthe Methodist Church in Kenya. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.