RELIGIOUS AND SPIRITUAL LEADERS MEET TO FORM PERMANENT UN ADVISORY

Organizers of the Millennium World Peace Summit hope to make history during four days of meetings at UN headquarters starting August 28. Dozens of leaders from religions large and small will convene in order to draft a statement of peace and to establish an International Advisory Council of Religious and Spiritual Leaders.

* Bawa Jain, Secretary General of the World Peace Summit, invited religious leaders in early June. "Despite the best efforts of individual religious and spiritual leaders from different parts of the world, the human family is still unable to prevent the eruption of horrible acts of war," said Jain. "Even at this moment terrible conflicts threaten the lives of large numbers of people in various parts of the globe. There is a growing conviction that new measures must be sought to arrest violent conflict in the years ahead."

* Jain invited some participants to contribute papers "offering specific proposals relating to ways in which religious and spiritual leaders can contribute to peace making in the world..."Jain asked for papers in three general areas; poverty reduction, environmental protection, and threats to peace.

* The long-term plan for the International Advisory Council of Religious and Spiritual Leaders is that it will be a permanent advisory group for the UN Secretary General and the General Assembly. Advisory Council members would also be available to help in crisis situations around the world. At the last meeting of the World Parliament of Religions Jain explained that members would be "parachuted into trouble spots."

* The idea for the World Peace Summit has its roots in the World Parliament of Religions, but got its final push from US media billionaire Ted Turner who met last fall with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. Ted Turner is known for having frequently insulted Christians and has made jokes about John Paul II. On the board of directors is Timothy Wirth, who ran the US governments efforts during the International Conference on Population and Development (Cairo, 1994), and now heads Turner's UN Foundation. Wirth is widely known as an ideological population controller who threatened various governments if they resisted US efforts at the Cairo Conference. Also involved is Canadian billionaire Maurcie Strong who has been central to much UN activity in recent years, especially that related to population control and the environment. Strong is active in the Earth Charter movement which proponents have dubbed a "new Ten Commandments."

* Leaders have been invited from Hinduism, Sikhism, Shintoism, Judaism, Taoism, Chritianity, Islam, Jainism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Confucianism, and indigenous religions. The logo for the World Peace Summit is the symbol of each of these religions forming a circle around the symbol for the UN. It is almost identical to the symbol for the "New Age" United Religions Initiative [reported in last week's Friday Fax].

* Controversy already surrounds this first meeting. The Dalai Lama has not been invited to participate. Some believe this is in deference to the Chinese government.

Copyright - C-FAM

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