The KAICIID Board of Directors, consisting of representatives of five religions - Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism – issued the following statement entitled: “Standing Together in a Time of Terror”:
We utterly deplore terrorists’ deliberate inhumanity in Cairo, Karak, Ankara, Zurich, Berlin, and too many other places around the world. These unacceptable acts are a repellant and corrosive attempt to kill tolerance, respect, empathy and understanding between different peoples. When people and religions become the object of hatred, then not only are the people who cherish a religious tradition at risk of exclusion from society, rather every one of us can find ourselves branded as a scapegoat to be driven by the mob into the wilderness.
We stand for respect for all religions and social cohesion, especially when our solidarity is challenged by ever louder calls for hatred and finger-pointing. History, ethics, morality, and our religious tenets tell us that only by caring for each other’s welfare can we find the treasury of values common to all religions. These common values are the foundation of resilient societies that combat the virus of prejudice, correct stereotypes and reject violence.
Hatred of the Other spreads virally through our societies. To stop this destructive tendency, we reject and denounce any attempt to claim violence is justified by any religion. We call for unity in diversity at a time when forces are at work in all of our societies that wish to foment war between religions and civilizations. These forces can be opposed successfully only when we do not allow ourselves to be driven apart by fear of the Other.
In this season when many religions celebrate holy days, we wish all peace loving people time for reflection and the strength of conviction to stand together. On our part, we stand together to witness that dialogue brings respect, trust and ultimately peace between peoples.
About the Board of Directors
KAICIID is an intergovernmental organisation mandated to promote dialogue among different religious and cultural groups to promote justice, peace and reconciliation and to counteract the abuse of religion to justify violence. The Centre is governed by a multi-religious Board of Directors, consisting of representatives of five religions - Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism.
They are, in alphabetical order: Swami Agnivesh, Dr. Hamad Al-Majed, His Excellency Bishop Miguel Ayuso, His Eminence Metropolitan Emmanuel, Dr. Sayyed Ataollah Mohajerani, Reverend Kosho Niwano, Reverend Mark Poulson, Chief Rabbi David Rosen, Dr. Mohammad Sammak.