Speeches
- Written by: Tyler Hendricks, UTS Interfaith Seminary, New York, USA
I’d like to reflect on why it has proven so difficult to establish a religious council at the UN. The problem the council is supposed to solve is to get everyone to agree. And once everyone agrees about who should rightfully compose the council, then you already have the seed of peace in the world. So such a representative council is a result of peace. It is not the cause of peace.
- Written by: Guillermo Reyes, Former Counselor, Permanent Mission of Colombia to the United Nations
It is my intention to give a legal opinion and perspective on the establishment in the United Nations organization of an interreligious council. I plan to address this issue from a United Nations perspective, including legal and political elements, so as to enrich the discussion regarding not only religious and national state concerns, but also those coming from the Charter resolutions and decisions of the UN which must be considered crucial for the future of this proposal.
- Written by: Marcus Braybrooke, President, World Congress of Faiths, UK
Religion at last is being taken seriously. Much health care/relief work and education is delivered by faith-based organizations. The partnership between UN agencies and NGOs and civil society needs to be strengthened, because religions often reach down into local communities more effectively than many governmental or international bodies.
- Written by: HRE Valentine Sunday Akpati, World Royal Ambassador of the ATR (AOFW); Priest King of Egbe Oloria Parapo Agbaiye, Nigeria
The traditional religious leaders will bring wisdom, gentle leadership, and the peaceful ways of the ancestors—something fresh and real. They promote respect, dignity, and honor to complement the other religions. There is much to learn from each other. In sitting together to talk, we become friends and brothers, which will manifest in new bonding.
- Written by: Gordon L. Anderson, Secretary General, Professors World Peace Academy, USA
The role of religion in issues of international peace and prosperity came to the front of intellectual consciousness after the collapse of the Soviet Union and became apparent to the media and mass culture after the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States. Religion is a force that can no longer be ignored or circumvented by those concerned with issues of peace and prosperity, either within nations or the global society.
- Written by: Michael Lenaghan, Jenrette Endowed Chair of Teaching Excellence Professor, Miami Dade College, Florida, USA
As a current witness to and participant in contemporary local and global history, I am most enthusiastic about the faithful, spiritual, cultural, theological, intellectual, social, environmental, ethical, and economic information, insights, and inspiration that may be made available to improve upon the prospects of social justice, shared prosperity, and sustainability of our planet from the organizations that represent my brothers and sisters of faith communities (religions). And I do firmly believe the United Nations is an appropriate, representative, operational, and effective intermediating institution through which to share multiple religious perspectives.
- Written by: Ambrose Mong Ih-Ren, Chinese University of Hong Kong
Hans Küng and others have given us an interesting model to begin our work to establish peace among the religions and spread outward from them. We shall need to refine and extend that model for the third millennium.
- Written by: G. Dastagir, Jahangirnagar Univ., Dhaka, Bangladesh; R.I. Molla, Multimedia Univ., Melaka, Malaysia
Philosophical ethics, or secular ethics, as it is known in the West, is primarily a part of the quest for truth. Ethics aims at finding out the rightness and wrongness of the conduct of human beings living in societies, and conduct is a collective name for voluntary actions. The basic questions raised in ethics include: what does it mean to be right or wrong? How can one differentiate good from bad? Are morals objective or subjective? Are morals relative or universal?
- Written by: Sir Lloyd Sandiford, former Prime Minister, Barbados
In the seventy-third year of my own existence, I have come up with the precept that prudent living is the fundamental essence of life. By prudent living I mean the pursuit of a lifestyle that is satisfying and beneficial to each man, woman, and child, and to the family, community, nation, humanity in general, and the environment. It begins with the belief that all things and all creatures primordially were created by the Divine One.
- Written by: Kessai Note, former President, Marshall Islands
One of the greatest challenges we face in the Marshall Islands is how to persuade our best and brightest youth to serve their country rather than travel far away to seek their careers, rarely to return. We are a small nation. However, we are a people who trust in God. I hope that the Marshall Islands can become a model nation.
- Written by: Massa Amelia Washington, Commissioner, Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Monrovia, Liberia
Pursuant to its core mandate to promote peace, justice, and reconciliation, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia for three years embarked upon series of processes in the implementation of its mandate.
- Written by: John W. Gehring, Director, Religious Youth Service
A story of reconciliation between two African participants in a Religious Youth Service project in Italy: Stephen from Ethiopia and Christine from South Africa.