UN adopts RP proposal on inter-faith dialogue

One of the few good news I've heard recently in the Philippines.

Speaker Jose de Venecia yesterday said the Philippines has gained a "major moral and diplomatic victory" with the approval Thursday by the UN General Assembly of the Philippine proposal for an inter-faith dialogue among nations and civilizations.

De Venecia, the original proponent of the inter-faith dialogue, said mechanism is now in place for conflict resolution and prevention using the moral influence of the religious sector.

Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo announced the UN approval of the Philippine resolution, which taps the religious sector for cooling down ethnic tensions and decades-long political-religious conflicts in various parts of the world.

De Venecia, who presented the proposal before the UN Security Council last month, said inter-faith dialogue is a significant initiative that has the potential to achieve reconciliation, justice and the rule of law.

The dialogue will be useful in preventing Christian-Muslim conflicts, Hindu-Muslim conflicts in the Kashmir, Jewish-Muslim conflicts in Palestine, and Buddhist-Muslim conflicts in various parts of Asia, he said.

"I believe that the religious sector has the moral influence to help the Security Council's efforts particularly in conflicts with religious undertones... the religious sector could become an effective tool in achieving the international community's peace-building agenda," he said.

De Venecia said the interfaith dialogue "could harness religious leaders to work with political leaders of government and civil society to help resolve difficult politico-religious conflicts in various parts of the world."

"We must all learn to create space for alternative faiths, if we are to find an alternative to so much violence and hatred and if we are to respond to the crisis of values that so pervades today's planet," he added.

Romulo commended Ambassador Lauro Baja Jr., permanent representative to the United Nations, and the Philippine Mission to the UN "for their dedicated work in having the Philippine resolution unanimously adopted."

Romulo said it took the Philippines to remind the UN that religion "plays a key role in preventing conflicts."