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Interfaith Programs

London Declaration on Interreligious Cooperation

Written by Council of Religious Youth Delegates, UK

Saturday, November 22, 2008

We, the assembled young leaders of the world’s religions and faith communities, united in the conviction that world peace is attainable, conscious of our responsibilities towards this goal, affirming the principles of the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to go beyond tolerance, and to embrace diversity, in order to create a global family, hereby declare that religions and faith communities can and should:

  1. Recognise faith and spirituality as an intrinsic component of human civilisation;
  2. Incorporate an attitude of selfless service and humility into policy making, assessing how best to serve the world, rather than best serve self interests;
  3. Bring about a new mindset of interfaith communication, dealing with greater humility, compassion and divine courage working positively towards a better future;
  4. Democratically elect representatives of each faith to discuss human rights in interfaith dialogue, not just religious leaders, to allow for religious values to happily coincide with democracy.
  5. Give mandates to special rapporteurs to investigate alleged human rights abuses within religious contexts and report to the human rights council.
  6. Uphold the Millennium Development Goals and advance and inspire respect for the environment, the planet and resources we all share.
  7. Work towards creating a world where individuals are encouraged to understand the true meaning of their faiths, rather than either being in confusion as to their faith background or being victim to radicalisation;
  8. Focus on building on the commonalities between difference faiths whilst  still respecting the differences;
  9. Endeavour to translate  thought and dialogue on peace and tolerance into tangible action;
  10. Work in partnership with faith based institutions in order to achieve the MDGs;
  11. Encourage young children to culture an outlook of tolerance and appreciation of the diversity of the world's religions, faiths and traditions;
  12. Take people’s faith backgrounds into account and be  sensitive to their parameters of belief rather than applying ‘one size fits all’ policies;
  13. Enter into dialogue with faith bodies on a local, national and international level instead of treating them as an ‘other’;
  14. Recognise that faith education should form a part of mainstream schooling in order to promote a culture of understanding and discourage intolerance which often stems from ignorance;
  15. Recognise that religion is about teaching and that mainstream schooling has a lot to gain from taking on board the experiences of teaching from faith bodies;
  16. Understand that faith offers an opportunity for personal development and an instilment of moral and ethical values. Therefore the state needs to seek their help in creating a more harmonious society.

Declared in the Guoman Tower Hotel, London, on 22nd November 2008.

London Declaration on Inter-Religious Cooperation
Programme of Action


In light of  the London Declaration on Inter-Religious Cooperation, the leaders and members of the world’s religions and faith communities are called on to undertake the following:

  1. Provide a greater access to ‘middle ground’ faith bodies in order to limit the scope for radical groups which prey on those who are relatively confused or unaware of the truth of their religion;
  2. To promote open but respectful dialogue regarding the role of faith in human advancement;
  3. To foster a culture of appreciation of faiths not simply at a superficial level, but of proactively building bridges between communities of different faiths;
  4. Change education policy in order to create a more peaceful future, helping our children gain a greater depth of knowledge about faith, humanistic and universal values, and gain a deeper moral understanding that is built throughout their time in education.

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