SOCIETY
Astana to host 4th Congress of World and Traditional Religions
Baku, May 20 (AZERTAC). Leaders of religious confessions from across the world will gather in the capital of Kazakhstan late this month to take part in the Fourth Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions.
They will work to deepen interfaith and inter-civilizational dialogue and seek to maintain and promote tolerance, mutual respect and understanding.
Azerbaijan`s delegation at the event will be led by chairman of the Caucasian Muslims Board Sheikhulislam Allahshukur Pashazade.
In 2012, the Congress will welcome spiritual leaders, prominent politicians, heads of state, other public figures and representatives of various international organizations. Invited guests include King Abdullah II of Jordan, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Cyril, Muslim World League Secretary-General Abdullah bin Abdul Mohsin al-Turki, UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova and Lutheran World Federation Secretary-General Martin Junge.
The Congress initiative has been a major contribution by Kazakhstan and world religious leaders to the global process of intercultural and interreligious dialogue. The first, second and third Congresses in 2003, 2006, and 2009 brought together authoritative religious leaders of the Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Buddhist and other faiths, as well as prestigious international political figures.
The two-day religious forum will be divided into four sessions: Role of religious leaders in achieving sustainable development, Religion and multiculturalism, Women and religion, spiritual values and contemporary challenges, and Religion and youth.
Leaders of world and traditional religions for the first time met in Astana on September 24, 2003 where they strongly condemned terrorism and prophecies of any clash of civilizations. They pledged to continue dialogue in the name of peace, harmony, and prosperity. The Congress drew widespread support from political leaders of both Western and Asian nations who agreed that Muslim majority Kazakhstan was an example of interethnic and interfaith harmony.