Global Policy Forum

By Stephen Handelman

Can 1,000 religious leaders find peace and love by sitting down together in the same room?

The search for an answer to that question starts today, when representatives of most of the world's religions gather in New York for nearly a week of " frank and meaningful" discussions supported by the United Nations and private foundations.

The "millennium peace summit," billed as the largest ecumenical religious gathering in history, is expected to bring together spiritual authorities from over 90 nations. In a modern-day version of the Tower of Babel, the summit will represent a breathtaking - and combustible - mix of doctrines and dogma. There will be "mainstream" religions such as Christians, Buddhists, Muslims and Jews, as well as lesser-known faiths practised by aboriginals in North America, by Jains from the Indian subcontinent and by Shinto adherents from Japan.

Canada will field a delegation of more than 30 leaders, including Jim Boyles, General Secretary of the Anglican Church, Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Sodarkos and Clan Mother Carol Jacoba of the Cayuga Nation.

The proceedings will open at the U.N. General Assembly, a place more commonly associated with quarrelsome governments, with a ceremonial mingling of " waters from sacred rivers" of each faith.

After two days of speechmaking, the delegates move to New York's plush Waldorf Astoria Hotel for workshop sessions. They might have a hard time avoiding the biblical fate of the last Tower of Babel.

Skeptics note recent history underscores that religion has often been the problem, rather than the solution.

"The sad truth is that religion, as we begin this new millennium, still starts more conflicts than it resolves," complains Elliot Abrams, chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and a former top U.S. State Department official. Abrams, writing on a Web page connected with the summit, notes that the meeting was marred even before it started by the exclusion of the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, because of Chinese objections.

U.N. officials say the summit organizers' decision to link the summit with the world body made it impossible to avoid dealing with the political " sensitivities" of China - which refuses to recognize Tibet independence.

Those delegates who do show up will have to deflect accusations of hypocrisy.

"Will (Hindu Indian) leaders speak out about the persecution, even murder, of Christians by Hindu extremists in India?" asked Abrams. "Will the Secretary- General of the Muslim World League speak out about the deaths of nearly 2 million Christians in Sudan at the hands of the Muslim government there?"

Organizers believe the best response to such criticism is to turn the other cheek.

"No single conference is going to change everything," says Canada's Maurice Strong, who heads the advisory council for the event. "But at least it can set an example of religious leaders resolving differences peacefully."

This week's meeting is scheduled to end with a declaration condemning religious violence and an appeal for world peace and "mutual forgiveness" signed by every leader. The religious authorities are also expected to agree to serve as U.N. partners in establishing an "early-warning" system for averting religious and ethnic conflict, and to serve as mediators and healers when hostilities break out.

It amounts to, well, a leap of faith.

But there may be solace available in the rhetoric of the religious faiths who are attending the summit. "In the company of saints," reads a Sikh religious verse, "man learns how to turn enemies into friends."

Much of the conference funding comes from private philanthropy. U.S. tycoon Ted Turner, one of the original backers, contributed over $750,000 (Cdn).

"He telephoned me with the idea one day about two years ago from his car wondering how he could help support the U.N.'s activities," recalled Strong, who is a special adviser to Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Turner's interest eventually led to his decision to donate $1.5 billion to U. N. development work.

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