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