Academics, clerics and leaders from 60 nations, including India, recently gathered in Astana, the Kazakhstan capital, for a global conference of faith and civilizations where they deliberated on prospects of peaceful coexistence among the world's religions amid growing extremism and violence. The Congress of World and Traditional Religions is a bold reminder to the world that people of different faiths and ethnic backgrounds can and should live together in peace, its organizers said. At the end of the inaugural Congress in 2003, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Jew, Hindu and Tao leaders ahad dopted a declaration stating that "extremism, terrorism and other forms of violence in the name of religion... are threat to human life and should be rejected". The second Congress was held in 2006. A nine-storey monument - Palace of Peace and Concord - rising more than 200 feet high has been built specially for the meeting of world religions.
Inaugurating the 3rd Congress, Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev welcomed the participation of the representatives of ancient religions of the East - Buddhism, Judaism, Taoism, Shino and Zoroastrianism in the Congress. "We are glad that the prominent public figures accepted our invitation and take part in the forum", he said. He termed Kazakhstan's experience of interethnic and inter-confessional consent as one of the most successful in the post-Soviet space. It was noted that there are 3,200 mosques, churches and chapels in Kazakhstan. "The day before yesterday I laid the capsule at the construction site of new cathedral mosque in Astana. Besides, next year the construction of one of the biggest orthodox churches in our region will be finished. Over three years the Palace of Peace and Accord has become a real spiritual center of our country. It regularly holds different conferences and forums", the President noted."As I promised at the previous forum, we have created an international center of religious culture, which is also headquartered in the palace. The fund of Islamic culture and education is being created in Kazakhstan with the state support", he added.
"Kazakhstan stands for prevention of religious and ethnic conflicts" it was highlighted. The President noted that Astana, built at the interface of Asia and Europe, West and East, has turned into a center of effective interaction between different nations and religions. "We are proud of the tolerance of Kazakhstan's people that succeeded in keeping interconfessional consent and interethnic friendship. We try to share our positive experience with the world community", it was stressed. Speaking of Kazakhstan's non-proliferation efforts, it was underlined that "It is important to join efforts of the mankind in the global movement toward a nuclear weapons free world".
"The Nuclear Weapons Non-Proliferation Treaty adopted forty years ago has not still become a universal mechanism of ensuring of nuclear safety. It failed to prevent both formation of new nuclear weapons states and improvement of mass destruction weapon. Thus the international community should immediately proceed to reviewing the mechanisms of nuclear nonproliferation, create a universal treaty on total horizontal and vertical nonproliferation of nuclear weapons", the President said.
"Being aware of its responsibility to the world community our country voluntarily abandoned its nuclear arsenal. Unfortunately, only a few states followed our example. Thus, Kazakhstan will further continue activity directed to the total elimination of nuclear threat on the planet. We suggested the UN declaring August 29 the day when the world's largest Soviet nuclear testing ground in Kazakhstan was closed down - as the World Day of Renunciation from Weapons of Mass Destruction ", he emphasized.
President Nazarbayev also called for better coordination of counter-terrorism efforts. "People must unite in struggle against terrorism. This union will give us more information and a more effective work against terrorism. We need to unite our efforts in global movement to the denuclearized world," he underlined.
Dwelling on the current global crises, President Nazarbayev said that "the new world model - fair economic model - should be based on fair world financial currency system where there will be no place for deceit, wastefulness, where the material welfare made by mankind will be used for development and progress of each person, its spiritual growth and improvement."
In his opinion, for creation of fair political model of mutual relations between the states, "the interests of the whole world, instead of some countries" should be taken into account. "In the modernized system of the international relations, there should be no division into big and small countries, into good and bad people. The new world should become the world of trust, respect, partnership and dialogue," the President underlined.
"We are enthusiastic about aspiration of the new American leadership to establish mutual understanding with the Muslim world. It is a sign that the important changes have started to occur in the world," he added.
Indian delegates, including Muslims, Hindus, Parsis say India should replicate the concept of faith-based dialogue in the times of growing religious intolerance. "Every nation should show interest in holding such gatherings. It will only promote balance and moderation," said Maulana Salman Nadvi of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board and head of the Indian Muslims' delegation to the two-day Congress.
"When people meet, they recognise each other. This helps in a better understanding of their viewpoints. It becomes a meeting of hearts and minds. What we have to understand that religion is being grossly misused. In the end, there is only one father and one God," Nadvi told IANS.
J.M. Dave, who is heading the Swaminarayan faith delegation at the Congress, agreed with Nadvi that the concept needed to be taken forward. "What we need is a permanent setup in all countries to take the world of the Congress forward," he said. Dave also gave the example of the Catholic church to drive home his point.
"Whenever the Vatican releases information, it is immediately distributed worldwide by the Catholic church through its vast network. It also has a very active website. We need to replicate this," said Dave, who is the chief spokesperson for the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS).
The delegates to the summit included Israeli President Shimon Peres, the Supreme Imam of the University of Al-Azhar Sheikh Mohammed Said Tantaui, Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Secretary General Mark Perren de Brishambo, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos and former Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Bondevik. Kazakhstan looks forward to the opportunity for three consecutive years of interfaith dialogue on a prominent global stage.
In 2010 Kazakhstan is chairing the OSCE as the first Central Asian country to lead the 56-member organization whose center of gravity is the West and whose purpose is the advancement of human rights. There Kazakhstan intends to use its chairmanship to promote interreligious dialogue.