WCC Inter-Religious Conference Looks for Breakthrough in Dialogue

Over 120 Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu and other religious leaders, academics, human rights activists, humanitarian workers and journalists working across religious traditions, will gather in Geneva, Switzerland, on 7th-9th June for the World Council of Churches (WCC) Inter-religious Conference.

The "Critical Moment Conference" aims to address the difficulties facing inter-religious relations in many contexts provoked by conflict and migration in recent years.

With the WCC’s three decades of active engagement in interfaith dialogue, the WCC will assess the achievement so far and identify the lessons learned from past experience so as to lay down better plans for the future.

Secondly, the conference is expected to affirm the commitment of the WCC in facilitating the bridge-building conversation between those who tend to focus on inter-religious dialogue and those who concentrate on cooperative efforts on social justice issues despite religious differences.

As a more advanced step, WCC will identify creative ways and means, priorities and opportunities for future work in inter-religious relations and dialogue.

Leaders of the WCC have expressed hope that the event will lead inter-religious dialogue into a new phase, according to a press release yesterday.

"The question is no longer why do we need dialogue but rather how do we transform dialogue into peaceful coexistence; how do we translate dialogue into common action?" underlines Catholicos Aram I, Moderator of the WCC Central Committee. "It is our hope that this conference will initiate a process aimed at deepening and enlarging the scope of inter-religious reflection and collaboration."

WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia echoed, "Dialogue between faiths remains a high priority for the WCC, but now there is a need to move into a new phase, into a dialogue of life, society and ethics which all people struggle with."

The conference programme will include a series of presentations and dialogue sessions on the themes of "thinking together", "assessing the present", and "imagining the future". A vision statement will set out a framework for future dialogue efforts.