All religions of the world will meet in Astana!

The regular third Congress of leaders of world and traditional religions will take place on May 30-31 in the capital of Kazakhstan Astana.

The modern reality of our world shows that the hatred and violence are often in control of the guise of religion, in favor of certain political forces, which causes the growth of political and religious extremism in many “hot spots” and substantially complicates the search for a compromise. In the most different regions of the planet people continue to kill each other, breaking the main Commandment of the God. Thousands of peaceful, innocent people are sacrificed to the illusive goals and interests.

The growing aggressiveness becomes clear, when we see how “religious figures” openly talk about the superiority of one religion over the other, when the media is transformed into a sensation of mockery of the spiritual senses of the people of other faiths, when the rulers issue the orders of destruction, seeing only the only way out of the decision ethno-religious conflicts in them. This picture can cause the concern not only of the political, but also religious leaders all over the world.

In this situation the fact is obvious that the dialogue between the religions in the modern world should become an important instrument in achieving unity and consent. Without any doubt, the world community has made some progress in the preservation of peace and tolerance, but it is far away to a radical reduction in the number and intensity of armed conflicts and contradictions, many of which are of the religious character.

The modern intensive political, economic and military turbulence in the world brings forth the new tasks, which include the provision of conditions for the civilization development, the maintenance of stability and security. Achieving this is not easy, but if there is good will, reasonable compromises and concerted actions, the world community has the potential for a positive solution of these problems.

Similar activities as the Congress of the leaders of the religions of the world, were quite frequent in the life of the planet: such meetings were organized by Pope John Paul II in memory of St. Francis of Assisi, famous for his tolerance and peacemaking. Quite a lot of such events were held under the aegis of the UN. In due course the proposals on the establishment of a dialogue of religions sounded from the mouth of the Czech President Vaclav Havel, who proposed to create a second chamber in the UN, where the concrete personalities, the spiritual leaders of mankind free from the private interests of one state or another will meet.

The Congress of the leaders of world and traditional religions of Kazakhstan type exists since 2003. Namely then it was held the first meeting, which was attended by 17 representatives of religious organizations of Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, Shinto, Taoism and other faiths. The purpose of the first Congress was the creation of a permanent international inter-confessional Institute for the dialogue of religions and concerted decision-making.

The exchange of views about the role of religion in the modern world and the universal character of the basic moral values of any religion was held among the participants. The problems were raised associated with identifying the reasons of conflicts on religious grounds, the need for improving interreligious harmony, mutual respect to each other, ability to learn on the traditions of other peoples. The idea of the Congress was supported by influential politicians of the world: Kofi Annan, George Bush, Margaret Thatcher, Jiang Jieming, Nelson Mandela, G. d'Estaing, Boris Yeltsin and others.

In 2006, the II Congress of leaders of world and traditional religions was held in Astana and at the regular third Congress in 2009, the number of participants increased up to 80 delegations from 35 countries of Europe, Asia, the Middle East and America. It says that this international forum has become an integral and efficient part of a global dialogue between religions of modern world. In the future such meetings in the framework of the Congress can play a significant role, contributing to the growth of understanding among the spiritual leaders, religions and nations.

Why Kazakhstan has been selected as the venue for the event? Most likely, for the simple reason that Kazakhstan's experience of interethnic and interfaith consent is recognized as one of the most successful in the post-Soviet space. There are representatives of more than 130 nationalities and ethnic groups, almost 3200 mosques, churches and prayer houses work in a stable country on the principles of mutual respect. The Palace of peace and consent works in the republic as a spiritual centre of the country, as well as the international center of cultures and religions and the Fund of Islamic culture and education, which promote the implementation of humanitarian and religious and educational purposes.

Today the people of Kazakhstan, enriched with spiritual heritage of various ethnos and religions, demonstrate such qualities as tolerance, toleration and openness to the new.

According to Nursultan Nazarbayev, who suggested the initiative of holding such event, “...today, the religious extremism and terrorism are being fuelled by a completely new system of extremist views, which becomes the traditional and irrational ideological weapon. Therefore, the destructive ideology of terrorism should be opposed with the ideology of tolerance, harmony and dialogue....”

As the main theme of the IV Congress of the leaders of world and traditional religions, the following theme is determined: “Peace and consent as a choice of humanity”. Four thematic blocks identified for a discussion: “The role of religious leaders in achieving of sustainable development”; “Religion and multiculturalism”; “Religion and the woman: spiritual values and modern challenges”; “Religion and the youth”. The arrival of more than eighty delegations of the participants is expected at the forum, among which there will be the spiritual leaders and major figures of the political world arena.

Let’s hope that the dialogue in the framework of the forthcoming Congress will be successful – won’t be a dialogue of “deaf with the blind”, after which the parties had left, once again being convinced in his own infallibility...