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We urge the revival of the Global Interfaith Dialogue, through an “Interfaith Summit,” among Christians, Muslim Shiites and Sunnis, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, and other religious groups to reduce political-religious tensions and conflicts in various parts of the world.
Religion and violence have been linked together in humankind and history. Various religious beliefs have justified violence or failed to condemn acts of violence and many have found themselves enmeshed in long-prevailing violent conflicts.
In the modern world, large-scale emigration has brought many Muslims into close contact with other Muslims from distant lands. While all Muslims are united by Islamic law and daily prayer, many Muslims have discovered that some of the things they thought were law, were really local custom or local culture.
Although post-modernism arose as a means of re-interpreting and re-understanding script, observations made are not limited to the sphere of exegesis. What do hermeneutics and dialogue have in common?
Our global agenda has increasingly been marked by a societal dimension of both challenges and needed responses. The traditional role of sovereign states and national governments has been complemented by a rising impact of the citizen, civil society, the private sector and academia as non-state partners in addressing our global issues.
If we empower women, we help build better, more equal and more prosperous societies. I commend the commitment of the African Union to gender equality and the empowerment of women as part of its Agenda 2063, and I welcome the declaration of 2015 as the year of women’s empowerment in Africa.
What Africa do YOU want to see by 2063? Agenda 2063 is the resulting mandate from the people of Africa here and in the diaspora; it is an intergenerational mission, an inclusive African strategy to use Africa’s resources for the benefit of all Africans.
Today provides an opportunity to celebrate the many successes taking place on the African continent, while also reflecting on our hopes for the future.
UPF secretary general Dr. Taj Hamad’s remarks at the Africa Day celebration at the Manhattan Center in New York on May 27, 2015.
"It is indeed auspicious and noteworthy that we gather at this time, as so many important dates seem to converge: 70 years of the UN, 70 years since WW II ended, 70 years since Korea was liberated from occupation, 200 years since the Congress of Vienna, 800 years since the Magna Carta."
Remarks by a representative of Korea at a seminar for Korean Ambassadors for Peace at the UN in New York on May 13, 2015.
"You are starting your tour today on May 13, and exactly 22 years ago on May 13, 1993, the Founders of UPF started a historical speaking tour to 33 cities in the USA."