a "United Nations of Religions", a move expected to worry some evangelical Christians, BosNewsLife learned Monday September 29.
The President of the mainly Muslim and former Soviet nation, Nursultan Nazarbayev, has offered to provide a new building in the capital Astana for the organization where disputes can be discussed in a neutral setting, the Voice of America (VOA) said.
After two days of talks in Astana, delegates said they would call the organization "the Congress of World and Traditional Religions", dropping the word "national" because most faiths stretch across national boundaries, VOA reported.
Yet some evangelical commentators have warned the United Nations is increasingly trying to create a universally excepted religion, which they believe will be a far cry from the Way, the Truth and the Life of Jesus Christ, and likely directed against Israel.
EXPECTED SURPRISE
Human rights groups were expected to react with surprise to the location of the organization, as Kazakhstan has been criticized for its tough line towards non traditional groups under Nazarbayev’s leadership.
Nazarbayev was seen as the country’s leading communist at the time of the Soviet breakup and became independent Kazakhstan’s first president in 1991.
By the mid-1990s, he had consolidated his political control of the nation amid accusations of autocracy, electoral manipulation, and corruption that tarnished his international image since.
The Forum 18 News Service, linked to the Forum 18 religious rights organization has said that "a series of raids on Baptist churches that refuse on principle to register with the authorities and fines" imposed on their leaders "have highlighted" the tensions.
SECURITY THREATS
In its 2002 International Religious Freedom Report, the United States Department of State said the government’s concern over security threats from religious extremists have led it to encourage local officials to limit religious practices of nontraditional groups.
During the two-day congress, which was aimed at religious tolerance, chief Rabbi of Israel, Jonah Metzger, urged leaders of all faiths to come in peace to Jerusalem, which he called by its Islamic name of "Al-Quds".
Directing his remarks largely to the delegations from Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, and Egypt, he told delegates the invitation "applied to everyone, even those with whom Israel does not have diplomatic relations."
BRIDGE DIVIDE
The American delegate Joseph Griboski, president of the Institute on Religion and Public Policy in Washington, DC, described the rabbi’s invitation as "an extraordinary attempt" to bridge the enormous divide between peoples in the Middle East and the world.
"One of the great successes of the congress was the opportunity for an Israeli chief rabbi and a [Islamic] representative of Iran [to] stand, shake hands and talk in a forum that was comfortable, safe and open," he told VOA.
The rabbi’s remarks were heard by leaders of 18 major faiths who had traveled to Kazakhstan, seen by observers as historical crossroads of East and West.
Although 80 percent of ethnic Kazakhs consider themselves nominally Muslim, many also describe themselves as Russian Orthodoxy, the second faith.
OTHERS GROWING
But Roman Catholics and evangelical denominations are also reportedly growing in numbers, despite government opposition.
The high-level delegations at the conference included leaders from around the world of many faiths that have historically been at odds with each other, in particular Arab Muslims and Israeli Jews.
Speeches also touched on how to address differences between religions, the need for more dialogue, and the issue of terrorism, VOA reported. The Secretary-General of the Muslim World League, Sheikh Abdullah Al- Turki, from Saudi Arabia, was quoted as saying that the Koran "prohibits any acts of violence," an apparent reference to leaders such as Osama bin Laden, the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks in the U.S.
POPE’S IDEA
Organizers said the congress had its roots in the visit of the frail Pope John Paul II to Kazakhstan two years ago, where he urged more tolerance between different religions, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.
After the congress adjourned, President Nazarbayev took the delegations out to see a new tower in the center of the new capital and sign the final declaration.
"Looking around, we can see the buildings not yet built, and we feel that we also contribute by bringing our own stones, and not throwing stones to each other," said Metropolitan Emmanuel of the Orthodox Church of Constantinople in an interview with VOA.
