wfn.org | President Khatami of Iran urges religious leaders to rescue language of belief

[ENS@ecunet.org]

2001-329

President Khatami of Iran urges religious leaders to rescue language of belief 
from terrorists

by Jonathan Cummings

     (ENS) Linking the distortions of religion employed by Osama bin Laden and 
other terrorists with the nihilist philosophies of Friedrich Nietzsche, President 
Mohammad Khatami of the Islamic Republic of Iran told a panel of American 
interfaith religious leaders meeting in New York that they must wrest the 
language of belief away from those "who concoct weapons out of religions."

     Khatami, who has been president of Iran since 1997, keynoted a symposium 
convened by the World Conference on Religion and Peace (Religions for Peace), and 
hosted by the Right Rev. Mark Sisk, Episcopal Bishop of New York, at the 
Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York November 13. 

     Along with numerous other heads of state, Khatami was in New York for a 
special session of the United Nations General Assembly on the Year of Dialogue 
Among Civilizations, which he proposed in 1998 with the goal of achieving greater 
understanding and respect among the world's diverse peoples. He said that 
religious communities must play a vital role in the dialogue.

     Referring to terrorists, Khatami noted, "What we are witnessing in the world 
today is an active form of nihilism in social and political realms, threatening 
the very fabric of human existence.  This new form of active nihilism assumes 
various names, and it is so tragic and unfortunate that some of those names bear 
resemblance to religiosity and self-proclaimed spirituality," he said.

     "Vicious terrorists who concoct weapons out of religionsare utterly 
incapable of understanding that, perhaps inadvertently, they are turning religion 
into the handmaiden of the most decadent ideologies," he added.  "While 
terrorists purport to be serving the cause of religion and accuse all those who 
disagree with them of heresy and sacrilege, they are indeed serving the very 
ideologies they condemn."

Safe haven

     Khatami's remarks were echoed by Bishop Sisk, who noted that "for too long, 
we in the religious community have been far too willing to allow those with the 
loudest voices to define the religious traditions that we each hold so dear.  It 
is time--it is past time--when we should take this most treasured gift from those 
who use it for their own hate-filled purposes."

     In the wake of the September 11 attacks and in a world that he said is "on 
the verge of social chaos," Khatami noted that "the role of religious scholars 
has become even more crucial, and their responsibility ever more 
significant...Religion goes beyond philosophy, theology and rituals.  Religion 
provides both an origin and an end, a safe haven."

     In his response to Khatami's speech, Dr. William F. Vendley, secretary 
general of Religions for Peace, added, "Our religious communities are the deepest 
repositories of human memoryIt is a memory that calls us to labor to build 
communities of justice and mercy in every time and place.  Partnership among the 
world's religions must be a hallmark of our shared future."

     Rabbi Arthur Schneier, President of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation and 
spiritual leader of the Park East Synagogue in Manhattan, identified education as 
the key way in which religious leaders can help bring down the barriers that 
separate the world's peoples.  "The challenge for the children of Abraham is not 
only to face heaven, each in our own way in our own tradition, but to face each 
other as brothers," he noted.  "This is not just a time for prayer; this is not 
just a time for discussion.  This is a time for religious leaders not to lag 
behind the statesmen and the politicians, but to come forward and lead.  And 
above all, teach.

     "Many of [us] have been poisoned with messages of divisiveness, hatred, 
intolerance, racism, anti-Semitism.  We need a new educational approach that will 
clearly tell our followers we are all the children of God, and we want to help 
God perfect an imperfect world."

Deeper layers

     President Khatami and the other panelists agreed that religions must be 
fully engaged in political efforts to resolve the Middle East crisis and the 
current terrorist threat, and that discussions of human rights must also take 
into account their groundings in religious belief.  "Purely materialistic 
concerns cannot suffice in laying the foundation for human rights," Khatami said.  
"The discourse of human rights is apparently a secular discourse, with no 
essential connection with the religious outlook.  However, for those familiar 
with the deeper layers of religious reason and understanding, it is clear that 
the concept of human rights is both ontologically and historically rooted in 
religious thoughts," he said. 

     "We should free human rights from the bounds of diplomatic negotiations and 
regard it as a discourse for defending human life, dignity, and culture.  Doing 
so, we ought to realize its deep religious aspect.  Christian, Jewish, Muslim, as 
well as thinkers from other divine traditions can collaborate on this important 
issue."

     Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, primate of the Archdiocese of the Armenian 
Church of America, added,  "Religious leaders can intervene in dangerous 
situations, and have had some successes in averting violence in the past.  As we 
know, the opposite influence is also possible, where religious leaders direct 
their followers to further violence, thus escalating violence between groups or 
against an ethnic, political or religious minority."

     The Very Rev. Leonid Kishkovsky, director of ecumenical affairs for the 
Orthodox Church in America, noted that the "Dialogue Among Civilizations" must 
necessarily be "a spiritual engagement, a spiritual commitmentnot simply a 
conversation, but a spiritual encounter [and], finally, a dialogue among people 
of faith and among religions."

     He said that "there are some who perceive interfaith dialogue as a 
commitment of those who are weak in their faith," he noted.  "In fact, authentic 
dialogue between and among religions occurs only when its participants are strong 
in their commitment to the fundamentals of their faith."

     The World Conference on Religion and Peace is the largest international 
coalition bringing together key leaders of the world's major religions who are 
dedicated to achieving peace.  Religions for Peace mobilizes religious 
communities to collaborate on programs in conflict transformation, children and AIDS, 
human rights, disarmament, and peace education.

--Jonathan Cummings is director of communications for WCRP. Additional 
excerpts from the participants' remarks may be obtained by contacting him at 
(212) 687-2163 or jcummings@wcrp.org.