| Rabbi Joseph H. Ehrenkranz, executive director of the Center for Christian-Jewish Understanding of Sacred Heart University, attended an international conference at the Foundation for International Studies, Valletta, Malta, on May 6-8, 1999, entitled, "Human Rights and Our Responsibilities Towards Future Generations: An Interreligious Perspective." The conference was organized by the Future Generations Program in collaboration with the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Participants from 14 countries and representatives from Judaism, Christianity and Islam came together to discuss how each faith understands its responsibility towards future generations. Among the impressive roster of participants were Professor Richard Falk of Princeton University, New Jersey; Professor David Heyd, Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Her Royal Highness Princess Wijdan Ali, Institute of Diplomacy, Jordan; and His Eminence, Professor Guido deMarco, president of Malta. Citing the Torah, the Gospels, and the Qur'an, presenters at the conference were unanimous in their assertion that each religion mandates that believers see "the other" as created in the image of God. Topics covered by the presenters also included preserving the environment, the work of peace and justice, protecting human and religious dignity, safeguarding the rights of women and children, and educating future generations in religious faith, hope and love. Rabbi Ehrenkranz said, "The conference was a positive experience learning how to care about each other. The discussions were lively and continued long after a particular paper had been presented. We all agreed that we must stop political leaders from manipulating religions to foster violence." At the conclusion of the conference, the participants agreed to the following statement:
1. Human dignity is being continuously endangered throughout the world, both at individual and collective levels, by massive and severe violations of human rights and by deplorable crimes again humanity. Such behavior undermines the human dignity of everyone now alive, and it also diminishes the prospects for the human dignity of future generations, including those to be born in the distant future.
2. On the basis of extensive discussions among participants drawn from the monotheistic religions of the Book that prevails in the Euro-Med region, it is agreed that interfaith dialogue on the basis of their spiritual traditions is an essential step on the path toward healing intercivilizational wounds and conflicts. As our own experience confirms, interfaith dialogue clarifies our identity, including shared values and a shared commitment to uphold human rights, which in turn is one key to the protection of the needs and interests of future generations.
3. Although this Valletta meeting was set in the Euro-Med region, thereby concentrating on the perspectives and preoccupations of the Euro-Med region, the participants agreed that this approach has universal application, and that the inclusion of the other great world religions in the dynamics of interreligious dialogue is desirable and, indeed, necessary.
4. It is also agreed that it is essential to consider the differences as well as the similarities among religions in the course of such a dialogue. It must be made clear that it is not the purpose of such a dialogue to merge spiritual identities or to promote a syncretist approach to religion. On the contrary, this statement celebrates the diversity among distinct religious perspectives, and it commends at the same time familiarity and appreciation of spiritual otherness, and the discovery of shared respect for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and a commitment to further dialogue on these themes from the perspectives of three faiths.
5. The conference also concludes that the advances of education, freedom and civic participation, as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, are of particular importance in relation to the well-being of present and future generations.
6. To uphold our responsibility to future generations, it is of paramount importance to mobilize religious communities to lend their influence to eliminate war and war-making from the human experience.
7. The conference affirms the importance of reducing poverty, unemployment and other forms of social distress to the absolute minimum, and urges religious leaders to give these concerns the highest priority.
8. Among the substantive concerns discussed, it is agreed that it is essential to encourage and urge governments to dedicate themselves more seriously to the promotion of a safe, healthy environment in the spirit of sustainable human development, as expressed in the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (1992) and in the Vienna Declaration on Human Rights and Development (1993). Such an effort should be reinforced and supported by international institutions and by the NGOs.
9. It should be understood that the well-being of future generations depends on maintaining biodiversity and safeguarding the human genome. Among followers of the Abrahamic faith traditions, it is strongly believed that the Earth must be zealously protected against many dangers for the sake of all future generations and extending to all peoples throughout the world, and affirming that God's blessings extend to the entire human family, past, present and future.
10. We were mindful of contradictory developments bearing on these concerns. There is a definite global trend toward the acceptance of the values embodied in the human rights tradition: freedom, equality, democratic forms of participation, provision of basic human needs, a sense of justice, respect for law, tolerance and an acceptance of cultural and religious diversity. At the same time, there are dreadful setbacks, regressions to the worst expressions of ethnic and religious hatred that embody the denial of these values. We stand united in opposing these regressions, and we believe that our religious traditions must be active in fostering a politics of reconciliation based on a dedication to dialogue that includes a willingness to listen to the grievances of the other and to examine critically our own religious and spiritual traditions.
11. In concluding, we believe that the well-being and happiness of future generations depend crucially on what we do now and in the years and decades ahead in keeping with our religious commitments. We affirm this approach in relation to the Euro-Med region, but we also seek to reach out beyond, and engage other world religions in carrying forth this commitment to uphold the life prospects and hopes of future generations for all people in the world. |