wfn.org | WCC: Khatami lectures at WCC

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World Council of Churches
Update Up-03-50
For Immediate Use
12 December 2003

Religious dialogue is necessary alternative to extremism, says
Iranian leader

Cf. WCC Press Information Info-03-16 of 4 December 2003

Free high resolution photos available (see below)

Speaking during a visit to the World Council of Churches (WCC)
in Geneva, the Iranian president Sayyid Mohammad Khatami made a
forceful appeal for inter-religious dialogue to be seen as an
alternative to religious fundamentalism, and as a source of
international peace and stability.

Speaking as a religious personality and an intellectual,
President Khatami addressed an audience of religious leaders,
diplomats, academics, journalists and staff of the WCC and other
ecumenical organizations based in Geneva on 11 December 2003 on
the theme of "Religious dialogue and international relations".
The prime minister of Norway, H.E. Kjell Magne Bondevik, and the
WCC general secretary, Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser, responded to his
presentation.

Faced with international tensions that can appear to have a
religious dimension, "the dialogue of civilizations, but also the
dialogue between religions, particularly between Islam and
Christianity, seems to be an absolute and vital necessity,"
President Khatami said. The Islamic leader noted that it was
precisely during the 2001 UN Year of Dialogue among Civilizations
that terrorism showed its "ugliest face" with the "tragic
attacks" in the USA. "The future of religion will depend on the
abandoning of fanaticism, and on (...) mutual comprehension and
openness," he stressed. "No religion can hold claim to absolute
Truth (...). Dialogue is the foundation which allows for unity in
diversity," he said.

The WCC general secretary, Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser, welcomed the
commitment to an "open and truthful encounter" manifested by the
Iranian leader, and denounced the instrumentalization of
religious sentiments by political interests. "We, in the World
Council of Churches, are committed to seeing voices of faith
defeat those of bigotry, fear and nihilism. Voices of fraternity
are called to drown 
those of hostility, racism and ignorance. We reject the
tendency, not uncommon in many Western countries, to perceive
Muslims as a threat and to portray Islam and some Islamic nations
in negative terms."

Echoing these sentiments, the Norwegian prime minister Kjell
Magne Bondevik, who is an ordained minister of the Lutheran
Church of Norway, agreed that "we in the West sometimes treat the
Islamic world with unforgivable arrogance," but he warned against
the danger of religious fundamentalism. "Extremists are trying to
spread the message of hate in the name of God (...). Religious
leaders can - and must - combat, in words and deeds, the poison
spread by extremists in the name of religion. Those who have a
strong belief can better understand others with strong belief
(...). In many conflicts, religion is considered to be part of
the problem. I uphold the idea that religion should be seen as
part of the solution". 

The visit of the Iranian leader was made in the context of a
long-standing involvement of the WCC in inter-religious dialogue.
Since 1995, the WCC has sought to foster regular contacts and
conversation with Iranian Islamic leaders and intellectuals, with
Christian-Muslim seminars being organized alternately in Teheran
and Geneva. According to Dr Tarek Mitri, in charge of
Christian-Muslim relations at the WCC, these encounters revealed
a genuine desire for dialogue and were received with wide
interest among Iranians. While focusing on challenges faced today
by people of faith, discussions included sometimes divisive
issues that preoccupy Muslims and Christians, including human
rights and the role of women.

The texts of the speeches by Sayyid Mohammad Khatami, Kjell
Magne Bondevik and Konrad Raiser, as well as high-resolution
photos of the event are available on our website:
http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/interreligious/khatami-anchor.html

Additional photos are available on the Photo Oikoumene website:

http://www.photooikoumene.org/photo.nsf/3fc947933bc3f8e2c1256d480040a0be?Open
View

For further information, please contact Juan Michel, WCC  media
relations officer,  tel: +41 22 791 6153, mobile +41 79 507 6363,
media@wcc-coe.org  

 

**********

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a fellowship of churches,
now 342, in more than 100 countries in all continents from
virtually all Christian traditions. The Roman Catholic Church is
not a member church but works cooperatively with the WCC. The
highest governing body is the assembly, which meets approximately
every seven years. The WCC was formally inaugurated in 1948 in
Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Its staff is headed by general
secretary Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church in Germany.

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