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EKD - Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland

Frieden lebt von gegenseitigem Respekt Ratsvorsitzender spricht vor 65 religiösen Führern aus aller Welt Es gilt das gesprochene Wort

Hannover (ots)

Bei dem Treffen von 65 Religionsführern in Moskau
hat der Vorsitzende des Rates der EKD, Bischof Wolfgang Huber, die 
Konfessionen und Religionsgemeinschaften zu gegenseitigem Respekt 
aufgerufen. Der "world summit of religious leaders" im Vorfeld des G 
8-Gipfels könne zur Botschaft des Friedens werden, wenn auch die 
Religionen untereinander sich in Frieden und mit allem gebotenen 
Respekt begegnen. Als Christ begrüße er, dass die in Moskau 
vertretenen Weltreligionen wie Christentum, Islam, Judentum und 
Buddhismus gemeinsam zum Frieden aufrufen, denn Christus segne alle 
Friedensstifter.
Nachfolgend die Stellungnahme des Ratsvorsitzenden, Bischof 
Wolfgang Huber, im englischen Original-Wortlaut:
Bishop Dr. Wolfgang Huber
Chairman of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany
Bishop of Berlin
Statement for the Summit of Religious Leaders
Moscow, July 3 - 5, 2006
First of all I join all those who have already expressed our 
common and sincere gratitude to His Holiness, Patriarch Alexej II., 
and to the Interreligious Council of Russia for the invitation to 
this summit and for the initiative of organizing it. Let me highlight
very briefly my most urgent concerns at this very specific historical
moment.
We live in a globalized world. Decisions in one part of the world 
have immediate implications for other parts. The fact that economy 
today is globalized urges the nations to find ways to deal with the 
new challenges as well as with the new dangers included in the 
process of globalization.
Globalization is not only an economic phenomenon. It has many facets.
Globalization allows to organize in a couple of days a worldwide 
action of charity for the victims of a natural disaster like the 
Tsunami of 2004. But it also allows to organize hate internationally 
and to spread out it very quickly. International trade is an 
instrument to promote wealth and to create jobs. But economic power 
can also be used in an egoistic manner which spreads poverty and 
injustice. Whoever wants to discern the signs of our time has to be 
aware of both sides: the opportunities and the dangers of our planets
development at the beginning of the 21. century.
The great religions take part in those processes. We have in common 
the experience that even religion can be used for good or for bad 
purposes. Religion can be used in order to proclaim the glory of God 
and to promote the dignity of every human being. But the name of God 
can also be misused and human beings can be mistreated in the name of
a religion. Religion can foster peace and justice. But it can also be
misunderstood as instrument of hate and conflict. In a globalized 
world also the interaction of religions is increasing. And the 
awareness for the role of religion is growing. Therefore it is the 
historical duty of world religions to explain the common 
understanding of their task and to explore the ways in which they can
deal constructively with their respective differences.
We can summarize our common concern with the key word 'peace'. As a 
representative of a Christian church I feel a special responsibility 
in this respect. Because we as Christians confess Christ, who blessed
the peacemakers, as our Lord. But it is my hope that this summit will
express a common commitment of us as religious leaders for peace.
The overall task to preserve or to establish peace includes many 
different aspects, of which I would like to emphasize only a few 
here, which seem to me especially important for our meeting.
In Christian churches I observe a growing convergence in the 
conviction, that the peace needed for our time is a just peace. It 
has to provide an equal access to resources and opportunities. It has
to be a peace guided by the rule of law. It can rely on the means of 
military violence only as a last resort. The intervention in favour 
of groups who are not able to defend their basic rights themselves - 
a task which attracts in our days growing awareness - has primarily 
to use other means than the means of violence. But violence is one of
the big issues of difference in our time. The lines of conflict in 
the moral judgement on the use of violence run even through the 
different religious communities of today. The actual situation in 
Israel/Palestine shows the necessity of a common call of religions 
for peace and reconciliation.
Peace needs respect for personal freedom as well as respect for 
personal responsibility. Therefore the protection of human rights and
among them the necessary respect for religious freedom stay at the 
center of actual disputes. Religious freedom includes the respect for
religious convictions, feelings and practices. But this respect 
cannot be promoted in an atmosphere of hate and violence. What is 
needed is a process in which Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and
other religions get to know each other better, instead of judging 
each other too quickly. That is for me the lesson which has to be 
learned from the international disputes on the case of caricatures in
a Danish newspaper earlier this year.
If we want to live together in one world, we need an attitude of 
mutual respect. Wherever this respect is denied, peace in the world 
and the living together are put at risk. The concept of mutual 
respect should lead to a new way of cooperation between religious 
communities, media, education, sciences, civil society and political 
authorities.
Mutual respect includes tolerance. But tolerance may not lead to or 
support a general relativism. Everybody needs clarity in his or her 
own convictions, in order to respect others with their convictions. 
But the basis for this is, that we keep the preconditions for such 
tolerance, namely respect for a person's dignity and freedom and 
resistance to the use of or the threat with violence. This means, 
that there is no tolerance for intolerance.
The way in which religions behave towards each other and how they 
shape their dialogues, will be of great importance for the question 
whether our world is able to address its problems peacefully or 
whether it will end in chaos.
Freedom of conscience and freedom of religion stay closely together. 
If people cannot practise their religion freely, they are hurt in 
their most inner freedom. Faith - and this we learnt in the history 
of Christianity against many opposite attitudes - requires such free 
selfdetermination. But the respect for human dignity calls also for 
the guarantee of religious freedom by the state. It is a 
misunderstanding though, if religious freedom is understood only as 
freedom from religion. It is first of all freedom for religion.
Religious freedom has also a corporative aspect. Religious practice 
is realised in community with others. Therefore also the practice of 
religion has to be free from impediments by the state under the 
condition that the respective religion accepts the rule of law 
itself. In our western experience the necessary precondition for that
is that the state does not identify itself with one single religion, 
but allows his citizens to follow their own religious convictions. 
There was a time in Europe in which people who disagreed with the 
religious convictions of the majority had to leave their country. It 
is a widespread conviction that this is not compatible with basic 
human rights. There are therefore good religious reasons to expect 
from the state religious neutrality. Therefore Christian churches 
which went through this experience do not only accept but promote the
secular character of the political order. That does not mean that 
they proclaim the secularisation of personal life or the social 
order. In the contrary: as religious communities we should emphasize 
the worth of religious values for the common good. But we should 
avoid the use of political pressure in order to promote a certain 
religion and to hinder the adherents of other religions to listen to 
the voice of their conscience. In this way we could give a good 
example for the peaceful coexistence of people with different 
convictions. And that is what our world needs most.
Für die Richtigkeit
Hannover/Moskau, 4. Juli 2006
Pressestelle der EKD
Christof Vetter
Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland
Hans-Christof Vetter
Herrenhäuser Strasse 12
D-30419 Hannover
Telefon: 0511 - 2796 - 269
E-Mail:  christof.vetter@ekd.de

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