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IN KAZAKHSTAN, LUTHERAN WORLD LEADER URGES END TO ISLAMOPHOBIA
Anli Serfontein
Ecumenical News International
2 July 2009 | 09-0527 |
Astana, Kazakhstan (ENI). Renounce Islamophobia, the general secretary
of the Lutheran World Federation, the Rev. Ishmael Noko, has urged
world religious leaders at an inter religious congress in Kazakhstan.
Noko, a Zimbabwean, commended U.S. President Barrack Obama for reaching
out to Muslim communities and moving away from the language of the
"war against terror".
"President Obama's overtures, while addressed to the Muslim world,
also challenge other religious communities to reject Islamophobia,"
said Noko in the Kazakhstan capital.
He was speaking at the opening ceremony of the Third Congress of
leaders of World and Traditional Religions in Astana, Kazakhstan,
on 1 July. The two-day event was attended by leaders of the world's
main religions.
It included 77 delegations from 35 countries. The congress adopted
an appeal calling on religious and political leaders, public figures
and the mass media to "counteract the manipulation of religions or
religious differences for political ends so as to preserve the unity
of the society in the respect for legitimate diversity".
The general secretary of the World Council of Churches, the Rev. Samuel
Kobia, said, "The young people of today are not as burdened as we
are with the differences they see in each other. In a more globalised
society and in communities which are much more pluralistic than when
we grew up, they are getting to know people from different religions
already from a young age."
Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev opened the conference. The
Kazakhstan leader has established an inter-religious dialogue forum
in the multi-ethnic and multi-religious country, surrounded by states
that are mostly Muslim, and where there is limited religious freedom.
He said that inter-confessional dialogue is the most important
instrument to counter religiously inspired violence.
Nazarbayev called on participants to unite in efforts to create
a non-nuclear world. Resource-rich Kazakhstan is a former nuclear
testing ground of the old Soviet Union, which disposed of its nuclear
arsenal 18 years ago.
President Shimon Peres of Israel hailed the recent Arab peace plan
for the Middle East brokered by Saudi King Abdallah. Peres and the
secretary general of the Muslim World League and the Grand Sheikh of
Al-Azhar, Mohammed Sayed Tantaway, had conciliatory messages.
"We should separate religion from terror. This should be a common
effort by all believers, regardless of faith, creed or gender," Nobel
Peace Prize Laureate Peres told the gathering. He joined President
Nazarbayev's call for the abandoning of nuclear weapons.
The secretary general of the Muslim World League, Abdullah bin Abdul
Mohsin Al-Turki, expressed the hope that the meeting will foster
understanding.
"We should go forth addressing the world whose organisations represent
the different religious strata," said Al-Turki. "Our goals should
be to protect the efforts of the religious institutions and preserve
them from falling prey or tools in the hands of unscrupulous people
using them for personal ends, means of financial gains, and wicked
thoughts that feed the spirit of transgression, thus justifying acts
of violence and terrorism.o The Christian delegation included Roman
Catholics, Orthodox, Lutherans and Armenian Apostolic churches.
Islam sent delegations from 15 countries. Other faiths represented
were: Judaism, Hinduism, Taoism, Shintoism, Zoroastrianism and
Buddhism.
ENI featured articles are taken from the full ENI Daily News
Service. Subscribe online to the Daily News Service and receive around
1000 full-text articles a year. Unless otherwise stated, ENI featured
articles may be re-printed, re-posted, re-produced or placed on Web
sites if ENI is noted as the source and there is a link to the ENI
Web site www.eni.ch
Anli Serfontein
Ecumenical News International
2 July 2009 | 09-0527 |
Astana, Kazakhstan (ENI). Renounce Islamophobia, the general secretary
of the Lutheran World Federation, the Rev. Ishmael Noko, has urged
world religious leaders at an inter religious congress in Kazakhstan.
Noko, a Zimbabwean, commended U.S. President Barrack Obama for reaching
out to Muslim communities and moving away from the language of the
"war against terror".
"President Obama's overtures, while addressed to the Muslim world,
also challenge other religious communities to reject Islamophobia,"
said Noko in the Kazakhstan capital.
He was speaking at the opening ceremony of the Third Congress of
leaders of World and Traditional Religions in Astana, Kazakhstan,
on 1 July. The two-day event was attended by leaders of the world's
main religions.
It included 77 delegations from 35 countries. The congress adopted
an appeal calling on religious and political leaders, public figures
and the mass media to "counteract the manipulation of religions or
religious differences for political ends so as to preserve the unity
of the society in the respect for legitimate diversity".
The general secretary of the World Council of Churches, the Rev. Samuel
Kobia, said, "The young people of today are not as burdened as we
are with the differences they see in each other. In a more globalised
society and in communities which are much more pluralistic than when
we grew up, they are getting to know people from different religions
already from a young age."
Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev opened the conference. The
Kazakhstan leader has established an inter-religious dialogue forum
in the multi-ethnic and multi-religious country, surrounded by states
that are mostly Muslim, and where there is limited religious freedom.
He said that inter-confessional dialogue is the most important
instrument to counter religiously inspired violence.
Nazarbayev called on participants to unite in efforts to create
a non-nuclear world. Resource-rich Kazakhstan is a former nuclear
testing ground of the old Soviet Union, which disposed of its nuclear
arsenal 18 years ago.
President Shimon Peres of Israel hailed the recent Arab peace plan
for the Middle East brokered by Saudi King Abdallah. Peres and the
secretary general of the Muslim World League and the Grand Sheikh of
Al-Azhar, Mohammed Sayed Tantaway, had conciliatory messages.
"We should separate religion from terror. This should be a common
effort by all believers, regardless of faith, creed or gender," Nobel
Peace Prize Laureate Peres told the gathering. He joined President
Nazarbayev's call for the abandoning of nuclear weapons.
The secretary general of the Muslim World League, Abdullah bin Abdul
Mohsin Al-Turki, expressed the hope that the meeting will foster
understanding.
"We should go forth addressing the world whose organisations represent
the different religious strata," said Al-Turki. "Our goals should
be to protect the efforts of the religious institutions and preserve
them from falling prey or tools in the hands of unscrupulous people
using them for personal ends, means of financial gains, and wicked
thoughts that feed the spirit of transgression, thus justifying acts
of violence and terrorism.o The Christian delegation included Roman
Catholics, Orthodox, Lutherans and Armenian Apostolic churches.
Islam sent delegations from 15 countries. Other faiths represented
were: Judaism, Hinduism, Taoism, Shintoism, Zoroastrianism and
Buddhism.
ENI featured articles are taken from the full ENI Daily News
Service. Subscribe online to the Daily News Service and receive around
1000 full-text articles a year. Unless otherwise stated, ENI featured
articles may be re-printed, re-posted, re-produced or placed on Web
sites if ENI is noted as the source and there is a link to the ENI
Web site www.eni.ch