WCC NEWS: Christians and Muslims want anti-crisis response group

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World Council of Churches - News

CHRISTIANS AND MUSLIMS WANT ANTI-CRISIS RESPONSE GROUP

For immediate release: 04 November 2010

An international consultation on Muslim-Christian relations ended 
with a
"call for the formation of a joint working group which can be 
mobilized
whenever a crisis threatens to arise in which Christians and Muslims 
find
themselves in conflict" today in Geneva, Switzerland.

Some 60 Muslim and Christian leaders and scholars had participated in 
the
4-day international consultation on "Transforming Communities: 
Christians
and Muslims Building a Common Future" at the Ecumenical Centre in 
Geneva,
site of the World Council of Churches (WCC) central offices.

In a joint statement presented to the media on 4 November, the 
participants
stated that "Religion is often invoked in conflict creation, even when
other factors, such as unfair resource allocation, oppression, 
occupation
and injustice, are the real roots of conflict. We must find ways to
‘disengage’ religion from such roles and ‘reengage’ it towards
conflict resolution and compassionate justice."

The statement also affirms the "importance of relevant and balanced
education about the religion of ‘the other’ at all levels" of
religious education. The group recommends that the organizers of the
consultation – the WCC, the World Islamic Call Society, the Royal Aal
al-Bayt Institute and the Consortium of A Common Word – should 
establish
a joint project in order to promote the sharing of experiences and 
best
practices "of living together constructively in plural societies" and
building a "culture of dialogue and inter-religious cooperation", and 
work
together on social and environmental issues.

Read the full text of the statement (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=ef881d93ade3947532bd
)

Visit the consultation's website for more information (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=2dc008ed1560b7af7d3f )


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 general secretary is Rev. Dr Olav Fykse 
Tveit, 
from the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, 
Switzerland.



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