JdV calls for inter-faith dialogue
NEW YORK CITY—Rep. Jose de Venecia has called on US President Barack Obama to hold a global inter-faith dialogue in the U.S. to “regain for America the high moral ground,” weaken terrorists and strengthen moderates, fight poverty, corruption, and human rights killings.
De Venecia, former House Speaker and an advocate of the creation of an Interfaith Council in the United Nations (UN), said America would be a good venue for the dialogue as the country is a “melting pot” of the world’s great religion.
The dialogue will also be in line, he said, with Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s call for the use of “soft power” and the campaign for “hope and change.”
He added that many nations have now succeeded in integrating the “interfaith, inter-civilizational and inter-cultural dialogues with the creation of a “focal unit” in the UN system, pending the creation of an interfaith council which could replace the now obsolete Trusteeship Council.
The first Inter-Faith Summit was held at the UN headquarters in 2005 following strong calls from the Vatican and world leaders.
In the Philippine experience, De Venecia noted that the series of Catholic and Protestant bishops’ dialogues’ with Muslim leaders in Mindanao contributed to the 1996 peace agreement between the Government and the Moro National Liberation Front.–#
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