Outcome of the World Summit of Religious Leaders (Baku, 26-27 April 2010)

Translated Using Google Translate Service

26-27 April 2010 in Baku hosted the World Summit of Religious Leaders. The work of the first plenary session was headed by His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Kirill.

We, the members of the World Summit of Religious Leaders – heads and representatives of Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist and Hindu communities from 32 countries – have gathered in Baku to discuss topical issues of our time, among which we at this meeting highlighted the theme of the impact of globalization on religion and traditional values.

Globalization of the economy, politics, law, culture remains ambiguous process. She brought a lot of practical use for the development, production, trade, science and education, for answers to common challenges in the field of security and environmental protection. International contacts to help protect the rights of believers in modern multi-ethnic and polireligioznyh societies. However, the impact of global processes in the spiritual sphere of many critically evaluated.

In the context of globalization often made calls to abandon the identity and integrity of cultures and religions, to come to a syncretic system of views, to the “confusion of faith. However, history late last year and the beginning of this century has shown that this approach does not lead to unification, but an even greater separation of people.

Knowing this, we consider it essential to preserve the opportunity for a person free route to his world view, even if they do not like the world’s elite, but for the people – their way of life, even if someone finds it insufficiently “progressive.”

New information technologies facilitate the relationship between people and gave them new opportunities for self-expression. Thus, believers become easier to communicate with co-religionists from other countries. Contacts, which previously required several months of travel, now installed in seconds. Virtually every religious community today can tell about myself in the global network. On the other hand, the common information space more and more voices of extremists, fanatics, lzhemissionerov, heralds of war and terror, those calls to hatred and violence, insults, or general feelings inakoveruyuschih all believers.
Globalization has not eliminated threats to the security of States, peoples and individuals. In today’s world do not overcome such challenges of the past centuries, such as hunger, social inequality, environmental pollution, armed conflicts on ethnic and religious grounds. Moreover, these problems add new ones.

Rich countries are getting richer and the poor – poorer. Unfair allocation of world income is becoming more critical. In the dominant political and economic value of human culture and the people leveled greedy pursuit of material well-being, comfort, entertainment. In a small number of countries built a high-society, and sometimes excessive consumption. Many believe that this is due to long-standing and current exploitation of the “second” and “third” world. Today, religious communities are able to give an adequate response to this challenge by proposing alternative models of economic development, based on common for many people the spiritual values – justice, solidarity, love and respect for the man to the centuries-old traditions and culture of our peoples. Religious leaders can make an important contribution to solving the world’s economic and social problems at both the macro-level international contacts, and at the level of their country and a particular community.

Terrorism, once tied to specific regions, now acquired an international character, and fight with him much more complicated. People who sow death and destruction, trying to use religious slogans to conceal their objectives. Some of them call themselves “religious leaders” and have created entire alternative “theological theory” to justify the killing of people based on religious and ethnic grounds. Even more cynical behavior by those who finance terrorism or ensure distribution of the associated ideology.

Religious leaders have repeatedly stated that acts of terror – it is a crime under any traditional doctrine. But we should not think that the leaders of religions in a position to fix the world only on their own. Their calls are only for people that are open to the arguments of faith and reason.

Hardened criminals are the same, unfortunately, much better understand the language of force. That is why the religious-political doctrine, justifying aggressive violence against innocent people should be banned throughout the world, as prohibited in many countries of Nazism. At the same time, we know: the idea may win only an idea, so it is the traditional religious communities are designed to resist the distortion of religious values in favor of extremists and terrorists. For this purpose, in particular, must not only maintain or revive the tradition of religious education and education, but also fill it with the spirit of peace and tolerance.

A major problem for the whole world is addiction, which annually kills millions of human lives. International drug cartels operate like terrorist organizations, constantly expanding the circle involved in the drug use of people and billions of profit from their suffering and death. As in the case of terrorism, the fight against drug trafficking must be carried out consistently and without compromise, by the entire international community.
Many in the modern world are trying to oust religion to the periphery of public life. These people insist on secularism of public space, except there any expression of religiosity.

At the same time deny that the presence of man and society unchanging moral precepts. This opens the way to full moral nihilism. If moral standards and will continue to erode, and vary according to fashion, the benefits of practicality, humanity would die. No knowledge or technical achievements, nor the laws will not save the world in which there is no moral dimension of life, not eternal and immutable moral law, given to people by the Creator.

In the current context as more important than ever collaboration of traditional religious communities. Responsibility for the future of the world encourages us to work together to declare the inadmissibility of compromises in the choice between sin and virtue, to stand together against selfishness, greed, hostility.
We call for a world in which each state would have preserved the integrity of its territory. At the same time in this world, every nation should develop freely and without constraint, deciding their own destiny and taking adequate participation in the adoption of all international instruments affecting his life. Emerging conflicts should be resolved fairly, taking into account the interests of all participants, based on norms and principles adopted by the international community.

Over the past century, believers were able to make spiritual values of inspiring, even for diplomacy. On the political summits are increasingly invited religious leaders, many countries are promoting interfaith dialogue one of the priorities of its policy. Yes, calls for peace are heard much less often appeals to fight. However, it is thanks to people of goodwill to the planet is engulfed a new world war. In this light, highly commendable recent initiatives by UN and UNESCO to promote cooperation between religious communities and their dialogue with politicians. We support the proposals for the religious dimension of the panel of the UNESCO Peace and Dialogue of Cultures “, which were adopted by a high level in partnership with UNESCO, held at the present summit. We believe that an effective mechanism for dialogue with the international community will contribute to finding ways to overcome the negative effects of globalization, changing to a better world political, economic and legal order.

We encourage the development of interfaith cooperation at all levels and in all formats – in particular, we consider useful to establish in our countries and their regions of inter-religious councils. Joint action can be practiced in the field, especially in the field of social work and education of youth.

More than half a century of regular meetings between religious leaders demonstrated how much they can do together. Alternatives to interfaith dialogue was not in the XX century, there is none now. And we, the religious leaders, must do everything in our power to maintain peace between nations and peoples.

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