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United Nations, New York. Rt. Rev. William E. Swing addresses the High Level Conference on Interfaith Cooperation at the United Nations on the
International Day of Peace, September 21, 2006.
 Any current
newspaper reader has to be struck by the rise in religiously motivated
violence. An editorial page cartoon or a scholarly papal lecture can
have the potential of setting off incendiary responses. Burning houses
of prayer might be the charge that explodes a country into civil war.
Madrid, London, New York – these cities mentioned together bring to
mind the fact of the worldwide religion-inspired terror. Clearly there
is an acceleration of individuals across the world participating in
violent inter-religious and intra-religious clashes.
That is part of the main inter-religious story today. The other part is an opposite reaction. There is an acceleration of individuals all over the world participating in non-violent, peace-making inter-religious events and dialogues. Organizing models to make this happen are being created daily, spontaneously. These models rarely make newspaper headlines because interfaith work is, at heart, an investment in the earth’s future. Its impact is long-range. Although in the near future interfaith forums may well become an immediate agency for addressing urgent civil matters. Religion and civil society are deeply intertwined, as we are relearning.
Inter-religious potential for violence will not be solved by military weapons or police action or the total conversion of everyone into one particular religion or another. As the Scotland Yard inspector said after the subway bombing in London, “this can only be solved ultimately by the community.” The community – in jungles, suburbs, inner-city or nation – the community absolutely must arrive at a place of healthy dialogue and common constructive action, everywhere.
What I admire so much about this High Level Conference on Interfaith Cooperation is that it raises to high visibility the local interfaith initiatives that make life livable, civilization attainable, and peace possible.
I represent only one of the multiple religious NGO’s of the United Nations. On a daily, enduring basis, we – the United Religions Initiative – self-organize into grass roots Cooperation Circles, made up of individuals of various religions, indigenous and spiritual traditions. There are such Circles in 65 nations now, which wherever possible carry out practical agendas, locally inspired. We clean up rivers, write appropriate interfaith education materials for children, build houses for the poor, deliver supplies in emergencies, play a role in peace talks, gather healing clusters for women whose children have been harmed in sectarian violence—and on and on. We have over 340 Cooperation Circles that have formed in the six years of our history, thousands of individuals who have reached about a million and a half people.
But throughout the URI Global Network, today we are pausing from our normal work to be in solidarity with the UN’s International Day of Peace. You, and this day, are special to us. Here are a few examples:
1. Today in Addis Ababa the URI leaders are bringing together representatives from the African Union, the European Union, the United Nations and local government leaders to observe, together, for the first time the International Day of Peace and to explore new avenues of interfaith peace-building. In addition, the URI leadership is making an official appeal to the African Union and the 53 heads of state of Africa to build upon the interfaith themes of this International Day of Peace.
2. Today in Central and Southern Malawi our Cooperation Circles are bringing together youth religious leaders with district assembly officials to celebrate IDP in five different locations.
3. Today in Pakistan, our Multiple Cooperation Circle is the chief organizer in a mega-event that includes 30 religious and civil service organizations celebrating the IDP. There will be peace candles, a peace walk, peace songs by children and youth, recitations about peace from various Holy Books, and letter-writing to national leaders urging that this day be proclaimed as a national holiday.
In February, 1993, the Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations, Gillian Sorenson, telephoned me in San Francisco. She announced that the UN was returning to San Francisco for its 50th anniversary and asked if I would host, at Grace Cathedral, a large worship service for all of the nations and all of the major religions of the world. With that telephone call the seed for the growth of the United Religions Initiative was planted. I cannot tell you how elated I am to be here today –13 years later—to be a small part of this historic partnership between governments, UN agencies and civil society, and NGO’s.
To the United Nations I want to say one thing: “Thank you for that phone call.”
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