Religious Leaders Focus On Social Injustice

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Sarajevo - Fighting global poverty and injustice are common goals for the world's Christians and Muslims, and are deeply rooted in the traditions of both faiths. This was the conclusion of a three day inter-faith seminar in Bosnian capital Sarajevo that aimed to dialogue between the world's two main religions, ending on Wednesday. The latest in the "Building Bridges” cycle of seminars, it brought together scholars and religious leaders from 20 Muslim and Christian countries.

The theme of the seminar - chaired by Britain's highest churchman, the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams - was "Christians, Muslims and the Common Good". It addressed the question of how to combat the problems of poverty and injustice, offering ideas on the role religion could play in solving these. It was hosted by the Grand Mufti of Bosnia, Mustafa Ceric, by Serbian religious leader His Grace Metropolitan Nicolas of Dabro Bosnia, and the Archbishop of Sarajevo, Cardinal Vinko Puljic.

“We know where the roots of poverty lie,” Williams told the meeting. In his view, not only atheism, but also “anxious and greedy spirits” and “privations imposed by the greed of others” were to blame for poverty.

Williams said that both Christianity and Islam “have a long tradition of commending alms giving, the practice of simple instinctive generosity to the poor”. But the world should, in his words, go far beyond that and religious leaders should play an active role in it, warning that “poverty is not a word with a single definition”.

“On the international stage, we need more open and sophisticated consultation between Christian and Muslim teachers on the ethical principles of investment and development,” said Williams.

The world should make a distinction between “free trade” and “fair trade”. That would in itself be a step forward, for wealth was not just “material abundance for a certain person, but the liberty to make and sustain a stable, dependable environment for human growth,” Williams pointed out.

Williams - summing up the views of the seminar's other participants - said that human life and value didn’t depend only on the “unlimited ability to accumulate material security,” but also on access to “power that can be used to change one’s situation”.

Ethnic tensions persist in Bosnia-Herzegovina, which is still struggling to recover from three years of bloody inter-ethnic war from 1992-95. Around 250,000 people died in the conflict between Bosnian Muslims, Croats and Serbs, which was part of the break-up of the former Yugoslavia. A European Union-led peacekeeping force, Eufor, is responsible for safeguarding peace and stability in the country.