September (Web-only) 2000

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Konrad Raiser, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), has criticized key elements of the Millennium World Peace Summit in New York—a major gathering of 1000 religious leaders at the United Nations headquarters from August 28 to 31. The meeting brought to New York representatives of a wide range of religious faiths and traditions, and resulted in a formal "Commitment to Global Peace"—a pledge by the religious leaders to respect other religious traditions, condemn religious violence, and work for more equality between women and men.The summit also committed itself to creating a religious advisory council for the UN, but the details of such a panel remained unclear, with conference organizers saying a steering committee would have to be formed first.However, Raiser said that many aspects of the proposed panel remained vague, and that insufficient details about its formation and implementation had been presented at the summit, which was not an official UN event but was the first gathering of a large group of religious leaders at UN headquarters.Raiser also said the summit did not have a "clearly discernible focus" beyond providing a forum for people to acknowledge the great diversity of the world's religious and faith traditions, but he added that it was good to show religious support for the work of the UN. "This is important, and is something that should be welcome," he said, though he added the summit had not yet "found the consensus" on ways in which faith communities could work with the UN. However, he said that it had "helped to clarify the agenda."Sponsors of the event—which included foundations with close ties to the UN—said that the historic summit was a ground-breaking event enabling religious leaders ...