Press Release
September 7, 2011, (by Juli L. Gittinger): Over two thousand people gathered at Montreal’s Palais de Congres for the 2nd Global Conference on World Religions after 9/11 to listen to a variety of speakers and scholars address the ongoing project to educate and inform the public about religious traditions other than their own. Starting off the morning with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and rounding up the afternoon with a diverse panel of scholars in the field of religion, the Conference was a resounding success, generating incentive and inspiration for sharing knowledge between faiths.
One of the goals of the Conference was to pass three resolutions long term commitments to the global discourse of world religions. The resolutions are as follows:
1. Resolved that a course in World Religoins should be taught wherever the confessional study of religion is carried out–in a seminary, or yeshiva, or madrassah, or Hindu Matha, or Buddhist monastery–provided that is has been approved by the apex body of that religion
2. Resolved that violating the sanctity of the scriptures of any religion amounts to violating the sanctity of the scriptures of all religions
3. Resolved that the religions of the world should come together to formulate a Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the World’s Religions, which would embody their vision of human flourishing and which would supplement the current U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The Dalai Lama’s talk, “The Ethics of Peace”, expressed his ongoing concern for interfaith dialogue and cooperation between religious institutions. Alongside his general message of tolerance (“Believe in one religion, but respect all religions”), he underscored the need for more contact between the religions and more engagement on a local level.