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World religious leaders strongly condemn terrorism
Hard-line group the Islamic State (IS) movement is using religion to justify its activities, which include the killing of Muslims, Christians and others
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ard-line groupthe Islamic State (IS) movement is using religion to justify its activities,which include the killing of Muslims, Christians and others.
But Islam and other religions have come together to condemn the brutal killings of innocent people in the name of religion.
'We strongly condemn terrorism. No religion supports violence and anarchy,' leaders of Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Shintoism and Taoism from 16 countries said on Thursday evening after a two-day meeting in Astana, Kazakhstan.
They gathered in Astana to attend the 13th session of the Secretariat of the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions to set the agenda for the Fifth Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions. The congress will be held in Astana in June 2015.
The congress, a global initiative to promote dialogue among religious leaders to promote peace and harmony, was launched by Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev in 2003.
In his opening speech, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, head of the congress' secretariat and chairman of Kazakhstan's Senate of the Parliament, said that constructive dialogue among religious leaders would promote mutual understanding but was not enough.
'We should invite political leaders to next year's congress to make it more effective. Together we can do much more,' Tokayev said.
For the first time in 11 years, Astana will be inviting very influential leaders from various countries.
'We will be inviting presidents and prime ministers of several countries for the next congress. But we will be selective. Of course, we will invite Indonesian leaders,' Kazakhstan Deputy Foreign Minister Yerzhan Ashikbaev said.
Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim-majority country, recently hosted the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations in Bali. Kazakhstan Foreign Minister Erlan Idrissov attended the meeting.
'We have good relations with Kazakhstan. Both can work together in this field,' Indonesian Ambassador to Kazakhstan Foster Gultom told The Jakarta Post in Astana on Friday.
While commenting on the latest situation in Iraq and Syria, a representative from the Vatican said terrorists had lost their sense of humanity.
'Religious leaders should be unanimous in condemning violence in general and especially violence in name of religion. We can't kill a brother or a sister,' Khaled Akasheh, Islam Political Council for Interreligious Dialogue of the Vatican City bureau chief, said.
'And if this happens in name of religion, this is a double-crime. Because we are offending human beings, the Creator and at the same time we are offending the religion to which we belong'.
All religions do not associate Islam with violence.
'Islam is a religion of peace. There is no doubt it,' Yuriv Novgorodov, Bishop of Kazakhstan's Evangelical-Luthern Church, said.
Echoing a similar view, a representative from Saudi Arabia lambasted the IS movement and its ideology.
'IS has nothing to do with Islam and it is tarnishing our religion's name by killing innocent people, including Muslims, in the name of religion. They (IS members) are criminals,' Abdullah Fahad A.Al Lheedan, advisor to the Saudi Arabian Islamic Affairs Minister, told the Post on the sidelines of the meeting.
Abdullah praised Indonesia for taking the right measures to curb IS activities.
'I heard the Indonesian government and Islamic organizations such as Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama have joined together to work against IS. This is good,' said Abdullah, who knows Indonesia's top religious leaders personally.
