Before a huge throng of peace advocates at the Rizal Park, Speaker Jose de Venecia declared that the “moral influence” of the great religions and dialogue among the faiths tempered by the Golden Rule ...
Speaker Jose de Venecia, addressing a huge peace rally at the Rizal Park Wednesday night, said the "moral influence of the great religions" should be brought to bear on ethnic and religious conflicts in the 21st Century and there should be dialogue among the faiths to "bring about global peace that will endure." The occasion was the Global Peace Festival 2007 Rally of the Universal Peace Federation, a global alliance of religious, academic, political and civic leaders aimed at bringing about harmony, cooperation, and shared prosperity among all peoples of the world. The Global Peace Festival attracted some of the world′s most renowned peacemakers, among them Dr. Martin Luther King III, who runs the Centre for Non–Violent Social Change founded by his martyred father, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Dr. Hyun Jin Moon, President of the Youth Federation for World Peace. The Federation, founded by the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, is an inter–religious peace movement guided by the vision of humankind as one global family under God, called to live in accordance with universal moral principles. In a well–applauded speech before a crowd that peaked at 250,000, de Venecia said that "understanding among the great religions and the great civilizations has become the only basis for global peace that will endure." The Speaker said the Interfaith Dialogue, a dialogue among the faiths, can take place based on one moral value and ethical standard that all could share "above and beyond their surface differences in dogmas, symbols, and rituals." The core of that global ethic can be found in the Golden Rule, "treat others as you would like to be treated." This principle he said has been suggested by the Catholic philosopher and theologian Hans Kung. "As the mother of ethics for the whole of humankind, this Golden Rule could therefore become the core of initial agreement around which interfaith dialogue in our time could build a thousand years of peace," de Venecia said. He said accepting the Golden Rule as the global ethic will "ensure that all our nations and all our faiths embrace pluralism in culture and in society." He said peace among the nations can never be achieved without peace among the religions. "So that we are called on to stimulate Interfaith Dialogue between the great religions," he told the peace rally, with the aim of "strengthening the forces of moderation in every society and isolating the extremists who advocate violence and terror." To carry this out the interfaith dialogue, he said, "we must mobilize churches, temples, synagogues, and mosques Buddhists, Confucians, Hindus, and Jews no less than Christians and Muslims." De Venecia, one of Asia′s leading parliamentarians and peace advocates, said East Asia nations are comparatively lucky, compared to many parts of Africa, Southern Europe, and West Asia that are beset with genocidal wars "set off by quarrels over ethnicity, religion, language, and raw material resources." These places include Angola, the Congo, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan Kosovo, Chechnya, Georgia, Azerbaijan Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Palestine, Kashmir and Sri Lanka, he said. De Venecia added that some parts of the region are currently in the middle of some form of strife. "Muslims and Buddhists are killing each other in Southern Thailand; Christians and Muslims have been fighting in Eastern Indonesia; while soldiers brutalize Theravada monks marching against the military rulers of Burma," he said. The Philippines is also saddled with a separatist Muslim movement in portions of Mindanao and Sulu, and the terrorist Abu Sayyaf on Basilan Island, de Venecia said. Stressing the urgency of Interfaith Dialogue, de Venecia said the world′s people have depended on each other for their welfare. "From the treatment of HIVAIDS to the melting of the polar icecaps; from nuclear proliferation to environmental degradation; from income inequality to hunger in the midst of plenty; we are confronted with problems that we must deal with together," he said. "Because the social, ecological and moral problems we face are global in their implications, we must also ′globalize′ our moral values and ethical standards, if we are to deal adequately with them," he added. He said that the Federation′s teaching show that the present age of materialism "may soon yield to an age of spirituality to a new universal culture of unselfish service to others to a new universal culture of God centered families." "The Reverend Moon teaches that global peace begins simply and naturally with peace in the family," he said. "And harmony, peace, and happiness within the family begin with a relation to the Creator a relation similar to that of children to the parent. Hence the solution to world peace is to renew to re–establish and to re–strengthen the relationship between the Creator and each family."
Speaker Jose de Venecia, addressing a huge peace rally at the Rizal Park Wednesday night, said the "moral influence of the great religions" should be brought to bear on ethnic and religious conflicts in the 21st Century and there should be dialogue among the faiths to "bring about global peace that will endure." The occasion was the Global Peace Festival 2007 Rally of the Universal Peace Federation, a global alliance of religious, academic, political and civic leaders aimed at bringing about harmony, cooperation, and shared prosperity among all peoples of the world. The Global Peace Festival attracted some of the world′s most renowned peacemakers, among them Dr. Martin Luther King III, who runs the Centre for Non–Violent Social Change founded by his martyred father, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Dr. Hyun Jin Moon, President of the Youth Federation for World Peace. The Federation, founded by the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, is an inter–religious peace movement guided by the vision of humankind as one global family under God, called to live in accordance with universal moral principles. In a well–applauded speech before a crowd that peaked at 250,000, de Venecia said that "understanding among the great religions and the great civilizations has become the only basis for global peace that will endure." The Speaker said the Interfaith Dialogue, a dialogue among the faiths, can take place based on one moral value and ethical standard that all could share "above and beyond their surface differences in dogmas, symbols, and rituals." The core of that global ethic can be found in the Golden Rule, "treat others as you would like to be treated." This principle he said has been suggested by the Catholic philosopher and theologian Hans Kung. "As the mother of ethics for the whole of humankind, this Golden Rule could therefore become the core of initial agreement around which interfaith dialogue in our time could build a thousand years of peace," de Venecia said. He said accepting the Golden Rule as the global ethic will "ensure that all our nations and all our faiths embrace pluralism in culture and in society." He said peace among the nations can never be achieved without peace among the religions. "So that we are called on to stimulate Interfaith Dialogue between the great religions," he told the peace rally, with the aim of "strengthening the forces of moderation in every society and isolating the extremists who advocate violence and terror." To carry this out the interfaith dialogue, he said, "we must mobilize churches, temples, synagogues, and mosques Buddhists, Confucians, Hindus, and Jews no less than Christians and Muslims." De Venecia, one of Asia′s leading parliamentarians and peace advocates, said East Asia nations are comparatively lucky, compared to many parts of Africa, Southern Europe, and West Asia that are beset with genocidal wars "set off by quarrels over ethnicity, religion, language, and raw material resources." These places include Angola, the Congo, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan Kosovo, Chechnya, Georgia, Azerbaijan Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Palestine, Kashmir and Sri Lanka, he said. De Venecia added that some parts of the region are currently in the middle of some form of strife. "Muslims and Buddhists are killing each other in Southern Thailand; Christians and Muslims have been fighting in Eastern Indonesia; while soldiers brutalize Theravada monks marching against the military rulers of Burma," he said. The Philippines is also saddled with a separatist Muslim movement in portions of Mindanao and Sulu, and the terrorist Abu Sayyaf on Basilan Island, de Venecia said. Stressing the urgency of Interfaith Dialogue, de Venecia said the world′s people have depended on each other for their welfare. "From the treatment of HIVAIDS to the melting of the polar icecaps; from nuclear proliferation to environmental degradation; from income inequality to hunger in the midst of plenty; we are confronted with problems that we must deal with together," he said. "Because the social, ecological and moral problems we face are global in their implications, we must also ′globalize′ our moral values and ethical standards, if we are to deal adequately with them," he added. He said that the Federation′s teaching show that the present age of materialism "may soon yield to an age of spirituality to a new universal culture of unselfish service to others to a new universal culture of God centered families." "The Reverend Moon teaches that global peace begins simply and naturally with peace in the family," he said. "And harmony, peace, and happiness within the family begin with a relation to the Creator a relation similar to that of children to the parent. Hence the solution to world peace is to renew to re–establish and to re–strengthen the relationship between the Creator and each family."
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