WORLD> Asia-Pacific
Religious leaders call for peace, harmony
By Xie Chuanjiao (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-10-28 23:03

MANILA -- Leaders from China's five big religions pledged to play a further role in fostering peace and harmony at the recent 7th Assembly of Asia Conference of Religions.

Themed Peacemaking in Asia, the assembly attracted more than 370 religious leaders from 30 countries and regions before it wrapped up last Wednesday.

The participating Chinese delegation was headed by Liu Bainian, Vice Chairman of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, and included 28 other Chinese religious leaders.

During an inspirational speech, Liu said constructing Asian peace is of profound significance, as religion could be a spiritual source of peace and at the same time could be the deep root of generating conflict.

"It can not be ignored that wars, disasters, terrorism, the gap between the rich and the poor, deteriorating environment as well as the conflicts among countries, nations and religions still pose great challenges in Asia," Liu said.

:The conflicts today have more or less a religious background," he added.

"To solve these issues will need the efforts of religious organizations all across Asia."

In China, all religions have equal social status and develop under the country's policy of freedom of religious belief.

"All religions in China coexist harmoniously and never have had any inter-faith disputes," he said.

Chinese religious circles will continue to intensify international exchanges and cooperation to maintain national unity as well as world peace and development, he added.

The call for peace was echoed by other Chinese religious leaders.

Ren Farong, President of China Taoist Association, said Daodejing of Laozi, concentrates on the merits of oriental wisdom and the fundamental principle of letting everything take its natural course.

"Just imagine all local wars, regional conflicts and environmental degradation in the world are caused by human errors. Therefore, Taoism advocates governing by doing nothing that goes against nature," Ren said during a keynote speech.

Dao Shuren, Vice President of China Buddhist Association, said Buddhism popularizes many ideas, such as "all living beings are created equal" and "instructing and inspiring all living things in the world", which encourages the common people to build a peaceful world.

"Buddhism also calls for 'protecting a life, doing good, equality and peace, all awaken people's minds and finally achieve a peaceful world," Dao said.

Chen Guangyuan, President of China Islamic Association, said once religion is involved in conflicts, they become much more complicated and sensitive to deal with, making it important to improve understanding among religions and keep away from conflicts.

"Chinese Muslims love peace and always pursue peace and will play a bigger role in maintaining world peace and fight against terrorism, extremism and separatists," Chen said.

Jin Wei, Vice President of Three Self Patriotic Movement Committee of the Protestant Churches in China, said human rights and peace express the core values of all religious faiths, including Christianity.

"Peace is the common goal of all faiths and it offers a common ground for dialogues among all faiths," Jin said.

China Committee on Religion and Peace (CCRP) was established in July 1994, and involves leading figures in the country's five major religions: Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholic and Christianity.

CCRP joined the World Conference on Religion and Peace in 1994, and became a member for Asia Conference of Religions for Peace in 1996.