Call to end violence against scholars

24 Apr Call to end violence against scholars

The 10th Doha Interfaith Dialogue conference concluded here yesterday with a call to the international community to strongly denounce all forms of violence and oppression against religious scholars and leaders in different parts of the world, especially in Syria.

The meeting condemned the kidnapping of two Christian leaders in Syria last week.

The Syria Orthodox and Greek Orthodox bishops of Aleppo, Yohanna Ibrahim and Boulos Yazigi respectively, who were kidnapped by armed groups in Syria and later released, were supposed to attend the Doha conference, said a statement issued at the end of the conference.

“We are deeply concerned about the current violence in Syria against civilians and religious places and kidnapping of the two archbishops who were expected to attend this conference. They were known for their significant contributions to interfaith dialogue,” said the statement.

Over the past three days, the conference discussed a range of issues under three main topics — Academic, Justice, conflict resolution and peace and Media culture.

The meeting came out with a series of proposals focusing on each of these areas.

The participants called on the universities and decision-makers in public education to introduce interfaith dialogue in the curricula, encourage research on the topic and work jointly with interfaith institutions to promote the culture of dialogue and tolerance.

The meeting stressed the importance of combating “institutionalised discrimination” by considering the issue of justice as a permanent concept for welfare of humanity.

The three religions represented in the conference — Islam, Christianity and Judaism — have been contributing to elimination of poverty all over the world, a fact which many who are not taking part in this conference are not aware of, said the statement.

The meeting called on religious communities to work together to create a common ground for achieving peace and justice.

The Doha Declaration urged religious leaders to play their role in garnering more support for communities suffering due to wars and conflicts. The meeting stressed the importance of using personal stories to inculcate the culture of dialogue among students and introduce a clear vision about religions in the schools.

In his concluding speech, Dr Ibrahim Salih Al Nuaimi, Chairman of the Doha Center for Interfaith Dialogue (DICID), which organised the conference, said the discussions were very objective and realistic.

The event attracted more than 300 delegates from 75 countries including religious leaders and scholars, researchers and representatives of interfaith institutions.