November/December 2002 Spirituality
World Religious Leaders Pledge Peace

More than 200 leaders of a dozen of the world’s religions got together on January 24, 2002, in Assisi, Italy to pray for peace and to renew their commitment to working for peace. This was the largest meeting of world religious leaders in history. Convened by Pope John Paul II, the gathering included Eastern Orthodox Christians, Jewish rabbis, Muslim imams, ministers representing Baptists, Lutherans, Anglicans, Methodists, Presbyterians, Pentecostals, Disciples of Christ, Mennonites, Quakers, Moravians, The Salvation Army and the World Council of Churches, gurus, monks, and others representing Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and Zoroastrians and native African religions. They convened and talked and prayed, and at the end of the day, committed unanimously to a ten-point program for working for peace.

Pope John Paul II sent a copy of this agreement, the "Assisi Decalogue for Peace" (see below), with a covering letter to all of the world’s heads of State and governments. In his letter, signed on February 24, 2002, the Pope affirms that "the participants in the meeting of Assisi were inspired more than ever by one common conviction: humanity must choose between love and hate."

 

A Common Commitment to Peace

Gathered here in Assisi, we have reflected together on peace, a gift of God and a common good of all mankind. Although we belong to different religious traditions, we affirm that building peace requires loving one's neighbor in obedience to the Golden Rule:
Do to others what you would have them do to you.

With this conviction, we will work tirelessly in the great enterprise of building peace.
Therefore:

1. WE COMMIT OURSELVES to proclaiming our firm conviction that violence and terrorism are opposed to all true religious spirit and we condemn all recourse to violence and war in the name of God or religion. We undertake to do everything possible to eradicate the causes of terrorism.

2. WE COMMIT OURSELVES to educate people about respect and mutual esteem in order to achieve peaceful coexistence and solidarity among members of different ethnic groups, cultures and religions.

3. WE COMMIT OURSELVES to promote the culture of dialogue so that understanding and trust may develop among individuals and peoples as these are the conditions of authentic peace.

4. WE COMMIT OURSELVES to defend the right of all human beings to lead a dignified life, in accordance with their cultural identity, and to start their own family freely.

5. WE COMMIT OURSELVES to engage in dialogue with sincerity and patience, without considering what separates us as an insurmountable wall, on the contrary, recognizing that facing our differences can become an occasion for greater reciprocal understanding.

6. WE COMMIT OURSELVES to pardon each other's errors and prejudices of the past and present, and to support one another in the common struggle against egoism and abuses, hatred and violence, and in order to learn from the past that peace without justice is not true peace.

7. WE COMMIT OURSELVES to stand at the side of those who suffer poverty and abandonment, speaking out for those who have no voice and taking concrete action to overcome such situations, in the conviction that no one can be happy alone.

8. WE COMMIT OURSELVES to make our own the cry of those who do not surrender to violence and evil, and we wish to contribute with all our strength to give a real hope of justice and peace to the humanity of our time.

9. WE COMMIT OURSELVES to encourage all initiatives that promote friendship between peoples, in the conviction that, if a solid understanding between peoples is lacking, technological progress exposes the world to increasing dangers of destruction and death.

10. WE COMMIT OURSELVES to ask the leaders of nations to make every possible effort so as to build, at both national and international level, a world of solidarity and peace founded on justice.

We, as persons of different religious traditions, will tirelessly proclaim that peace and justice are inseparable, and that peace in justice is the only path which humanity can take towards a future of hope. In a world with ever more open borders, shrinking distances and better relations as a result of a broad network of communications, we are convinced that security, freedom and peace will never be guaranteed by force but by mutual trust.

May God bless these our resolutions and grant justice and peace to the world.

Violence never again! War never again! Terrorism never again!
In the Name of God, may every religion bring upon the earth
Justice and Peace, Forgiveness and Life, Love!