Korean Religions Take the Role of Bridge-building of Peace

Korean Religions Take the Role of Bridge-building of Peace

500 Leaders from 9 Religions in South Korea Spoke Message of Peace for Humanity

Religions are standing at a crossroads. The first path is that religious leaders are dedicated to bringing out spiritual leadership in spreading love for humanity and coexistence in the global community. The other path is that religions remain silent at the center of conflict, discrimination and violence. Can religions transform themselves with the new, positive role in society?

500 religious leaders were gathered to make a harmonized voice in peacebuilding on November 24th in Seoul, Republic of Korea. This event, 2016 Conference in Support of HWPL's Work for Peace and Cessation of War, was held by Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL), an international NGO under United Nations Department of Public Information (UN DPI).

“Although we pass down something valuable to the next generations, would it really be an eternal legacy? Only when we pass on to successive generations an invaluable inheritance of a world free of wars, will we meet our responsibilities as leaders, citizens, and people of today. The international community has to acknowledge what is delineated in the DPCW and then modify and develop the current international legal systems.” said Mr. Man Hee Lee, Chairman of HWPL while emphasizing the need of action for peace.

The 1,000 participants were leaders in the Korean society from politics, education, and religion. The roadmap of peacebuilding advocated through this event was the establishment of international law for peace based on the Declaration of Peace and Cessation of War (DPCW), drafted by HWPL with articles of conflict resolution and enhancement of a culture of peace. Also, for the pursuit of contribution to peace by religions, active inter-religious communication was also highlighted.

Wonseok Choi, Pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Korea, said in his speech, “People with religions should be different and take the role of leading humanity to the road of peace. But we see conflict and violence are encouraged by religions and sects. All mankind is wandering streets, without knowing where to go. At this juncture, HWPL opens the road of destiny to the world of peace for humanity.”

HWPL’s initiatives of stability of the international society and foundation of peace resulted in the DPCW proclaimed in March this year. As a practical approach to peace, this includes peaceful settlement of conflict, gradual disarmament, international friendly relations, ethnic/religious coexistence, and spreading a culture of peace. Currently, advocacy forums and meetings of the DPCW are held worldwide in order to be recognized in the international community including the United Nations and national governments.

The driving force of peacebuilding by HWPL is the global partnership among civil society, international organizations, and governments. The annual WARP Summit by HWPL since 2014 has been the effort of making a global consensus for peace. Every year more than 200,000 people around the world participate in the summit.

Inter-religious communication is another important project of HWPL. 187 World Alliance Religions’ Peace (WARP) Offices in 96 countries have become the venue for religious representatives discussing the vision of conflict resolution based on understanding differences. In the face of the loss of human value, inter-faith dialogues based on religious scriptures have actively proceeded for restoring the spirit of humanity.

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