Faith leaders must work harder to prevent religiously motivated violence, says Jerry White, deputy assistant Secretary of State in the U.S. government’s Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations. White was in Rome recently to promote a “Global Covenant of World Religions.” White believes that faith leaders have a crucial role in combating the alarming increase in religiously-motivated violence.
“Religion is a vocabulary that is being used… to justify violence,” White said. “Religion has to be part of the solution—and that’s why a conversation about a new covenant, an interreligious peace treaty…” is needed.
“We have to actually go beyond photo opportunities, beyond interfaith conferences, and say: What would our agreement look like in terms of an interreligious fatwa against violence,” he said.
White believes that Rome is so important because it is an address to which people are looking for leadership in reaching out to both sides. “Rome, more than ever before, [has] that type of neutral brokerage, a third side… We are seeing hopeful signs of people reaching out, courageous stands for peace and renunciation of violence…”
Increasingly, Rome is being look to for solutions to the rise of violence rooted in religious extremism. Charismatic Pope Francis is greatly respected and sought after for geopolitical and religious solutions. Not long ago Shimon Peres, the former prime minister of Israel suggested to the pope that there be an organization of United Religions which the pope would head. Now another government, the United States is calling for something similar.
“All the world wondered after the beast.” Revelation 13:3
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Roy H. Ferguson
Tuesday January 13th, 2015 at 02:43 PMNATIONAL CRISIS BRINGS RELIGIOUS AWAKENING: Today men and nations are being tested by the plummet in the hand of Him who makes no mistake….
Today the signs of the times declare that we are standing on the threshold of great and solemn events. Everything in our world is in agitation. Before our eyes is fulfilling the Savior’s prophecy of the events to precede His coming: “Ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars…. Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.”The present is a time of overwhelming interest to all living. Rulers and statesmen, men who occupy positions of trust and authority, thinking men and women of all classes, have their attention fixed upon the events taking place about us. They are watching the relations that exist among the nations. They observe the intensity that is taking possession of every earthly element and they recognize that something great and decisive is about take place—that the world is on the verge of a stupendous crisis. Prophets and Kings, pp. 536, 537 (1916
Eldjr
Wednesday January 14th, 2015 at 03:10 PMIndeed, and in the United States the people have been increasingly led to indulge the same sentiment in a secular context apropos Civil government. This paradigm will feed readily into the formation of the Image to the Beast yet to manifest itself in response to the suffering and fear just around the corner.