World Council of Churches: Heal Obsession of Converting Others

krsna · May 18, 2006

www.oikoumene.org

LARIANO/VELLETRI, ITALY, May 16, 2006:

The following statement was issued by the World Council of Churches today at the conclusion of a meeting organized by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, Vatican City, and the Office on Interreligious Relations & Dialogue of the World Council of Churches, Geneva.

A partial list of participants included: Rev. Canon Dr. Andrew Wingate, UK; Prof. Anantanand Rambachan, USA; Dr. Renu Rita Silvano, India; Rev. Sr Nirmala Mary Joshi, India; Venerable Bhiksuni Chuehmen Shih, Taiwan; Rev. Yoshiharu Tomatsu, Japan; Dr. Alice Shalvi, Israel; Rev. Dr. Hans Ucko; Imam Dr A. Rashied Omar, USA; Rev. Yoshiharu Tomatsu, Japan; Professor Wande Abimbola, Nigeria; and Rt. Rev. Kumara Illangasinghe, Sri lanka. Excerpts follow, full text is at URL above:

We, the participants in the inter-faith reflection on "Conversion: Assessing the Reality," met at Lariano (Italy) on May 12-16, 2006.

We, 27 of us, belong to Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Yoruba religion.

Our deliberations were intense, and took place in an atmosphere of cordiality, mutual respect and commitment to learn from one another's spiritual heritage, which together constitute the common inheritance of the entire humankind.

We hold that inter-religious dialogue, to be meaningful, should not exclude any topic, however controversial or sensitive, if that topic is a matter of concern for humankind as a whole or for any section's thereof.

Freedom of religion is a fundamental, inviolable and non-negotiable right of every human being in every country in the world. Freedom of religion connotes the freedom, without any obstruction, to practice one's own faith, freedom to propagate the teachings of one's faith to people of one's own and other faiths, and also the freedom to embrace another faith out of one's own free choice.

We affirm that while everyone has a right to invite others to an understanding of their faith, it should not be exercised by violating other's rights and religious sensibilities. At the same time, all should heal themselves from the obsession of converting others.

Freedom of religion enjoins upon all of us the equally non-negotiable responsibility to respect faiths other than our own, and never to denigrate, vilify or misrepresent them for the purpose of affirming superiority of our faith.

A particular reform that we would commend to practitioners and establishments of all faiths is to ensure that conversion by "unethical" means are discouraged and rejected by one and all. There should be transparency in the practice of inviting others to one's faith.

While deeply appreciating humanitarian work by faith communities, we feel that it should be conducted without any ulterior motives. In the area of humanitarian service in times of need, what we can do together, we should not do separately.

No faith organization should take advantage of vulnerable sections of society, such as children and the disabled.