Inter-Faith Peace Sum­mit in Africa 14–19 Octo­ber 2002, Johan­nes­burg, South Africa

“EMBRACING THE GIFT OF PEACE”

The Johan­nes­burg Inter-Faith Peace Dec­la­ra­tion Adopted by con­sen­sus, this day, 17 Octo­ber 2002,  at Benoni, near Johan­nes­burg, South Africa

A. Pre­am­ble

We, rep­re­sen­ta­tives from the African Tra­di­tional Reli­gion, the Baha’i Faith, Bud­dhism, Chris­tian­ity, Hin­duism, Islam, and Judaism, from dif­fer­ent parts of Africa, and gath­ered in Benoni, near Johan­nes­burg from 14–19 Octo­ber 2002, hereby com­mit our­selves to embrac­ing the gift of peace and to gen­uine inter-faith dia­logue and coop­er­a­tion for peace in Africa. We make this com­mit­ment inspired by the teach­ings and/or the norms of our respec­tive reli­gions, and by the United Nations Inter­na­tional Decade for a Cul­ture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Chil­dren of the World (2001–2010), but espe­cially because our reli­gious tra­di­tions urge us to do so. We believe that peace is pos­si­ble in Africa.

Africa is a con­ti­nent of faith. Reli­gious beliefs and val­ues are a cen­tral fea­ture of the daily lives of African peo­ple, fam­i­lies and com­mu­ni­ties. African tra­di­tional beliefs, val­ues and prac­tices have a pow­er­ful impact upon our pat­terns of life and social inter­ac­tion, as do the beliefs, val­ues and prac­tices of the many reli­gions that have flour­ished on African soil.

Africa is also a con­ti­nent of hope, courage and deter­mi­na­tion. The strug­gle of the African peo­ple for lib­er­a­tion and inde­pen­dence, for exam­ple, in the fight against apartheid in South Africa, shows that Africans can turn their con­ti­nent round for the better.

We com­mend the efforts of the Lutheran World Fed­er­a­tion in con­ven­ing this Sum­mit, and the efforts of those who con­tributed in dif­fer­ent ways to make the Sum­mit a suc­cess. We pray that the fruit of this effort will be last­ing peace and under­stand­ing in Africa.

B. Acknowl­edg­ment

We acknowl­edge that Africa has for long been a con­ti­nent of con­flict and vio­lence. The vio­lence of slav­ery and colo­nial­ism com­pounded the vio­lence of our pre-colonial past. Indeed the cycle of vio­lence makes Africa a con­ti­nent with many unhealed mem­o­ries and feel­ings, includ­ing those inflicted by con­flicts between the many nations and even the reli­gious com­mu­ni­ties that we rep­re­sent. In the last decade, con­flict has con­tin­ued to cause intol­er­a­ble human suf­fer­ing and to under­mine prospects of a bet­ter future in many coun­tries and the con­ti­nent as a whole.

We acknowl­edge the work of inter-faith groups in dif­fer­ent parts of the con­ti­nent which are engaged in dia­logue and peace mak­ing at the grass­roots as well as national level. Some of these groups and some reli­gious lead­ers have taken great risks in order to bring under­stand­ing and peace in their local­i­ties and coun­tries. The obsta­cles they have encoun­tered and the suc­cess they have achieved can­not go unrec­og­nized. We pray that these efforts to make peace in Africa may be blessed and con­tinue to flour­ish, and that oth­ers may join, so that together we can move Africa on the path of peace and development.

But we also acknowl­edge that reli­gious lead­ers and com­mu­ni­ties have at times failed to pro­mote peace. Some of us have some­times been intol­er­ant of each other’s beliefs and allowed our­selves and our reli­gious tra­di­tions to be manip­u­lated for pur­poses that do not reflect our true beliefs. We have some­times been arro­gant in our behav­iour towards each other. We have some­times failed to speak and act against divi­sion, injus­tice, degra­da­tion of human dig­nity, cor­rup­tion, poverty, dis­re­gard for rule of law, and dic­ta­to­r­ial lead­er­ship which are causes of vio­lence and untold suf­fer­ing in our con­ti­nent. Con­se­quently we have not ful­filled the aspi­ra­tion to peace that our dif­fer­ent tra­di­tions share.

We fur­ther acknowl­edge that despite our com­mon aspi­ra­tion to peace, we often seem to ignore, or not to under­stand, what peace­ful co-existence entails. Reli­gious diver­sity and dif­fer­ences have some­times been a point of con­flict and vio­lence, and at times manip­u­lated to give a deeper moti­va­tion to polit­i­cal and eth­nic con­flicts, and to pur­sue per­sonal and self­ish ambitions.

C. Com­mit­ments

We have lis­tened to one another at this Sum­mit, and to the painful sto­ries of peo­ple who have suf­fered vio­lence, their ter­ri­ble and mov­ing expe­ri­ences and their fresh wounds, and who despite their suf­fer­ing, are will­ing to for­give. We have heard the sto­ries of peo­ple of faith engaged in fos­ter­ing repen­tance, for­give­ness, rec­on­cil­i­a­tion, and peace at the grass­roots; we have heard the deep yearn­ing for peace and rec­og­nized the need for peace­ful co-existence in Africa, with­out which our chil­dren and future gen­er­a­tions will con­tinue to suf­fer; and, impelled by our faith prin­ci­ples, and seek­ing to draw on the best of our cul­tural traditions:

We declare that we com­mit our­selves to:

• Work­ing for the pro­tec­tion of human life and the envi­ron­ment in Africa. We will work to bring about peace, and to fore­stall vio­lent con­flict, through gen­uine inter-faith dia­logue and inter­ven­tion in dif­fer­ent seg­ments of the African con­ti­nent.

• Embrac­ing the vision of an “African renais­sance,” a new spirit for unity and devel­op­ment in Africa.

• - A con­tin­u­ous process of gen­uine inter-faith encounter, dis­cus­sion, and con­sul­ta­tion, in order to pro­mote respect for each other’s reli­gious tra­di­tions, and refrain from den­i­grat­ing them;

• - Teach­ing our fel­low believ­ers to respect, and to be tol­er­ant, of the beliefs and tra­di­tions of oth­ers, in order to build mutual under­stand­ing and peace­ful co-existence in our com­mu­ni­ties;

• - Tak­ing a stand against the exploita­tion of reli­gious diver­sity that pro­motes vio­lence;

• - Fos­ter­ing a cul­ture of peace and care of the vul­ner­a­ble, and sup­port­ing and strength­en­ing exist­ing inter-faith ini­tia­tives, as well as encour­ag­ing new ones, for peace in Africa;

• - Incul­cat­ing the spirit of tol­er­ance in our chil­dren and youth, includ­ing pos­i­tive infor­ma­tion about other reli­gions in edu­ca­tional pro­grammes, for­mal or infor­mal, for which we are respon­si­ble, and to revis­ing our exist­ing edu­ca­tional text­books and mate­ri­als, to ensure that they do not con­tribute to reli­gious intol­er­ance and divi­sion; and

• - Pro­mot­ing the adop­tion and imple­men­ta­tion of these com­mit­ments by other lead­ers of our respec­tive faith tra­di­tions, and by oth­ers in our com­mu­ni­ties.

• - Work­ing Towards Peace and Con­flict Res­o­lu­tion in Africa, through: