wfn.org | Faith leaders respond to Baha'i appeal on religious tolerance

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

Religious leaders worldwide respond positively to message on eliminating
religious prejudice

Baha'i World News Service
http://www.bahaiworldnews.org
22 July 2002

NEW YORK - The Baha'i community has been greatly encouraged by the response
of religious leaders to the April 2002 message from the Baha'i Faith's
international governing body, the Universal House of Justice.  The message
calls for decisive action to eradicate intolerance and fanaticism.

Delivered so far to at least 1,600 leaders in more than 40 countries by the
worldwide Baha'i community's network of national and local level governing
councils, the message warns that the "rising fires of religious prejudice"
threaten to "ignite a worldwide conflagration" of "unthinkable"
consequences. It urges the leaders of all religions to condemn fanaticism,
to renounce claims to exclusivity or finality, and to undertake a wider
interfaith dialogue.

The response as of the end of June has been overwhelmingly positive, with
religious leaders, academics who study religion, and specialists in related
fields saying that the message is a much needed and timely summons.

"This is the message. This is the moment," said Professor Jonathan Sacks,
Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of Great Britain and the
Commonwealth. "We are facing the greatest challenge that God has ever given
us and this is the message we need."

Moreover, in line with general increase in interfaith activity and
cooperation worldwide, many leaders -- whether Buddhist, Christian, Hindu,
Jewish, Islamic or other -- have praised the message's call for a greater
interfaith discourse.

"Multiple paths to the Divine is something we promote," said Dr. Karan
Singh, the New Delhi-based chairman of the Temple of Understanding. "I do
appreciate the statement and the role of the Baha'i Faith in trying to bring
about religious harmony and understanding."

Reports from Baha'i communities indicate that delegations bearing the
message were well received. "We felt an extraordinary courtesy from them
all, a response not so much to us in particular, but to the occasion itself
and the inherent weight of the message," said Amy Marks, a member of the
local Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Cape Town, South Africa, which
presented the message to a dozen local religious leaders.

The message points to a general trend towards oneness over the last century,
noting that prejudices based on gender, race, or nationality have been
widely recognized as unacceptable by people everywhere. Despite humanity's
integration on other levels, however, religious prejudice persists.

"Tragically, organized religion, whose very reason for being entails service
to the cause of brotherhood and peace, behaves all too frequently as one of
the most formidable obstacles in the path; to cite a particular painful
fact, it has long lent its credibility to fanaticism," writes the Universal
House of Justice.

"With every day that passes, danger grows that the rising fires of religious
prejudice will ignite a worldwide conflagration the consequences of which
are unthinkable," continues the message. "The crisis calls on religious
leadership for a break with the past as decisive as those that opened the
way for society to address equally corrosive prejudices of race, gender and
nation." [The full text of the message can be found on the World Wide Web
at: http://www.bahai.org/article-1-1-0-1.html]

National Baha'i communities focused first on distributing the message to
national religious leaders, along with academics and journalists who
specialize in religion. In Brazil, for example, the National Spiritual
Assembly prepared a list of some 44 national religious leaders, theologians,
and religious academics, and then sent the message by mail or personal
delivery. As a second step, some 330 copies of the message were sent to 66
local Spiritual Assemblies in Brazil, for distribution to local religious
leaders.

"In Brazilian society, religious divisions are a problem," said Roberto
Eghrari, secretary of external affairs for the Brazilian National Spiritual
Assembly. "So we believe the distribution of this message is very timely,
that it has the potential to bring new understandings. And so far, the
reaction has been very positive."

A number of religious leaders indicated that they will distribute the
message among other leaders in their own organizations. In one African
country, the national Muslim council requested additional copies for
distribution to all mosques in the capitol. An academic dean at a
Catholic-run Latin American university expressed interest in working with
the Baha'i community to develop a program for professors and students at the
university that makes use of the message.

In many countries, leaders wrote back to Baha'i communities with letters of
appreciation.

In the United Kingdom, George Carey, the Archbishop of Canterbury and head
of the Anglican Church, wrote: "I very much share your view that we all need
to address the question of how our different faiths can become forces for
peace and justice. Much honest discussion between the communities will be
required as we pursue this goal."

In Tanzania, Biharilal Keshavji Tanna of the Hindu Council of Tanzania
wrote: "I have read the document with great interest and feel that it
contains a supremely important message not only to the leaders of the faith
groups, but to all thinking individuals, who must shoulder the duty and
responsibility of breaking down barriers amongst the various groups of the
family of mankind."

  - end -

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