Leaders of the World's Religions Denounce All Religious Violence

More than 200 leaders of the world's major religions gathered in Assisi, Italy, on January 24, 2002, to denounce all religious violence.

Attendees included: Pope John Paul II and a number of cardinals, Bartholomew I (spiritual leader of all Orthodox Christians) a dozen Jewish rabbis (including some from Israel), 30 Muslim imams (from Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Pakistan), dozens of Protestant ministers (representing Baptists, Lutherans, Anglicans, Methodists, Presbyterians, Pentecostals, Disciples of Christ, Mennonites, Quakers, Moravians, The Salvation Army and the World Council of Churches), numerous monks, gurus, and others, representing Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Zoroastrians, and native African religions.

The breadth of diversity of this meeting was extraordinary, yet the most interesting aspect of this event is that most newspapers didn't carry it. Apparently, the largest meeting of world religious leaders in history was deemed un-newsworthy by the media. If it was included, the story was buried in a back page, without any photographs.

And yet this is what this meeting accomplished: a unanimous agreement to condemn "every recourse to violence and war in the name of God or religion." They also said, "No religious goal can possibly justify the use of violence by man against man." And "Whoever uses religion to foment violence contradicts religion's deepest and truest inspiration."

In a statement called the "Assisi Decalogue for Peace," the participants made 10 mutual commitments to work for peace and justice in the world, including: "We commit ourselves to stand at the side of those who suffer poverty and abandonment, speaking out for those who have no voice, and to working effectively to change these situations" (the full decalogue can be found at http://www.simbahayan.org/jp2/2002/jp2-decalogueforpeace.html).

On March 4, 2002, the Pope sent a copy of the Decalogue to all of the world's heads of state. This, too, did not appear in the newspapers. No world leader appears to have even publicly acknowledged receipt of this agreement.