Inter-Faith Peace Summit
14-19 October 2002 Johannesburg, South Africa
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Religious leaders and inter-faith groups (IFGs) from 21 African countries at the first Inter-Faith Peace Summit in Africa, from left: Rev. Dr. Ishmael Noko (LWF General Secretary), Ntate Kgalushi Koka, South Africa (African Traditional Religion), Bishop Antonious Markos, South Africa (Coptic Orthodox Church) and Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, South Africa (Roman Catholic Church). © LWF/R. Lang |
African Religious Leaders in Procession, Prayers to Launch Inter-Faith Peace Summit
On Monday, 14 October, a historic one-week conference of religious leaders from different faith communities in Africa opened in South Africa with a colorful procession by delegations from different faith communities drawn from all over the continent.
Representatives of African Traditional Religion, Baha'i faith, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism wearing their robes and symbols of authority, observed a silent procession at the Kopanong Hotel and Conference Center, Benoni, near Johannesburg, launching a first Inter-Faith Peace Summit in Africa.
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LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr. Ishmael Noko (left) and Bishop Antonious Markos (right), South Africa (Coptic Orthodox Church). © LWF |
The 14-19 October conference is being organized by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and hosted by the National Religious Leaders' Forum of South Africa (NRLFSA). Religious delegations are drawn from 21 African countries, and observers as well as resource persons from Finland, the United States and Sweden.
After the procession, prayers and scriptures/holy writings during plenary session were offered by representatives of the respective faith traditions - Sheikh Abu Bakaar Conteh (Islam, Sierra Leone), Ntate Kgalushi Koka (African Traditional Religion, South Africa), Chief Rabbi Cyril Harris (Judaism, South Africa), Ms Lucretia Warren (Baha'i faith, Botswana), Roman Catholic Cardinal Wilfrid Napier (Christianity, South Afria), Methodist Prelate Sunday Mbang (Christianity, Nigeria) and Peter Just (Buddhism, South Africa).
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Ms Kirsti Lintonen, Ambassador of Finland to South Africa. © LWF |
In her address to the Summit participants, the Ambassador of Finland to South Africa, Ms Kirsti Lintonen stressed the important role played by churches and other religious communities in securing and building peace. "People listen to you. You have an authority based on faith and word, ethics and morality."
She noted that Africa has been suffering from numerous armed conflicts but also recognized hopeful signs of efforts to forge peace. Ambassador Lintonen mentioned the new African Union and New Partnership for Africa's Development, NEPAD, as a new commitment by Africa itself to lift its peoples from poverty and conflict. More...
Other pages from the Inter-Faith Peace Summit in Africa:
