Religions Working for Peace

Religions Working for Peace

The Eighth World Assembly of the WCRP,
Kyoto, August 26-29

The World Conference of Religions for Peace (WCRP), the largest international organization of representatives from the world's religions, will convene its Eighth World Assembly in Kyoto August 26-29, under the main theme of "Religions for Peace: Confronting Violence and Advancing Shared Security." An estimated five hundred senior religious leaders from eighty countries around the world are expected to attend. At plenary sessions and special commission sessions, the leaders will discuss the building of a global moral consensus on the forms of violence and the advancing of shared security through conflict transformation, peace building, sustainable development, and the mobilizing of action for that goal.

In the 1960s a handful of foresighted religious leaders first conceived of a world religionists' conference for peace. After several preparatory interreligious meetings, the project came closer to fruition with the establishment of the WCRP. Rev. Nikkyo Niwano, the late founder of Rissho Kosei-kai, was one of the founding fathers of the WCRP. The first World Assembly of the WCRP was convened in Kyoto in October 1970, sponsored by the Committee for International Affairs of the Japanese Association of Religious Organizations, of which Rev. Niwano was chairman. The assembly drew the participation of some three hundred representatives of the world's leading religions from thirty-nine nations, who discussed three major issues--disarmament, development, and human rights--and called for an end to the war then raging in Vietnam. Since that time, the WCRP has held world assemblies in Belgium, the United States, Kenya, Australia, Italy, and Jordan.

Throughout its thirty-six-year history, the WCRP has helped religious communities from all continents and diverse traditions work together for peace, proving that religions can work to eradicate the prevalent violence and denial of human rights, rather than themselves contributing to the causes of conflicts. The WCRP has been involved in the reconciliation of ethnic rivalries in the former Yugoslavia and has mediated talks between the government and rebel groups in Sierra Leone, negotiating with the rebels to release captive children.

During the upcoming Eighth World Assembly, religious leaders from areas where conflicts continue to take many human lives will come together in special working groups to cooperate for achieving peace. Senior religious leaders from WCRP-affiliated regional and national Inter-Religious Councils will share experiences and develop action programs for the next five years.

Prior to the assembly, youth leaders will also meet in Hiroshima and Kyoto and women leaders will meet in Kyoto for international interreligious conferences.

This article was originally published in the July-September 2006 issue of Dharma World.


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