*Tentative* ICP PLAN OF ACTION
2005-2007
1. BACKGROUND
Violence, often mislabeled as religious violence, has increasingly rocked
our world since the terrorist bombings in New York and Washington DC.
While such violence was a reality in much of the world long before 9/11
became a word synonymous with terrorism, the 9/11 attacks changed the
nature of the violence. Now, more than ever, religious differences are,
rightly or wrongly, blamed as the culprit. This serves to increase tensions
and misunderstandings between people of different religious faiths. At
the same time, those in power have found the war on terror to be an easy
excuse to carry out repressive policies when their own people become restive
due to frustration with coercive and/or manipulative government policies.
This environment of division, distrust, dis-information and repression
does not bode well for the future of our threatened world.
We in Asia have also felt the brunt of this "religious"
violence, but at the same time we find many common elements that compel
us to work together for inter-religious cooperation. Religious and ethnic
conflict in many parts of Asia have existed for many generations, but
external factors such as the "war on terrorism" have exacerbated
this environment of conflict and will continue to do so. Such conflicts
shatter patterns of communal harmony that have existed for centuries.
A common factor that underlies these conflicts is when one group seeks
to dominate and impose its will on others.
The lack of a functioning democratic process on both
the local and global levels hinders inter-religious cooperation in many
places. The concerns of marginalized people are frequently not heard and
attended to by those in power. Economic disparity and the unjust control
of resources often compound this lack of representation, leaving financial
and intellectual resources in the hands of a few elite individuals and
countries. Globalization of the market economy has widened the gap between
the rich and poor, which in turn intensifies social conflict.
The increasing prevalence of violence in our world underlines
the importance of cooperation across religious lines. This refers not
only to communal violence, but also to everyday violence toward those
sectors of society least able to defend themselves - women, children,
the poor, and ethnic, linguistic, and religious minorities.
Religion in itself is not the cause of conflict and violence.
However, we must face the sad reality that religious identity and emotions
are too often manipulated to further the self-centered goals of vested
interests. Religion thus gets politicized and manipulated by powerful
groups and individuals to promote political ambitions and the pursuit
and maintenance of power and domination. Attitudes of superiority, whereby
some religious groups consider themselves better than others, are easily
exploited by the unscrupulous to foment unhealthy competition, hatred,
injustice and conflict.
In this situation, the basis of inter-religious cooperation
must be those religious values that we hold in common. All our religions
teach peace, justice, compassion for those who suffer, equality, love,
human dignity and solidarity, non-violence, sensitivity to others and
the oneness of the human family. We all believe that humanity and nature
are interdependent. However, we must humbly acknowledge that our own communities
have often failed to be agents of peace and to live according to our shared
values. Such a self-critical attitude must be accompanied by a love and
renewed commitment to what is best in our own tradition, as well as genuine
respect and esteem for the spiritual and humane values enshrined in all
religions of the powerful.
The challenge we face is whether we can work together
on the basis of these shared values to build more just, peaceful, harmonious
and sustainable societies.
As people of different faiths, we should be concerned
that life is not about control (of the environment, of goods, of the world)
but it is about our relationship with God and our common humanity. We
should realize that we are not talking about absoluteness, nor about fundamentalist
views of what is right and what is wrong. We need to learn how other religions
understand and live out the common values that we all share.
Therefore, the Consultation on Interfaith Cooperation
in Asia, which was held in Prapat, North Sumatera, Indonesia from 5-10
April 2003, called for an on-going effort to build religious unity in
the Asian region to facilitate the examination or different religious
perspectives on the root causes of some of the threats and conflicts we
experience in community today such as poverty, consumptive lifestyles,
and unjust distribution of land. The on-going effort, called the Interfaith
Cooperation Program (ICP) will work on building regional religious partnerships
for working together for the transformation of society. It will be an
endeavor to find alternatives through listening, learning, and discerning
messages from the grassroots and the development of cooperative efforts
to achieve these alternatives together through involvement and action.
The ICP program outline below covers the years 2005-2007
and is based on the recommendations put forth by the participants of the
Prapat Consultation.
2. AIM AND OBJECTIVES
a) Aim
Support an Asian movement for justice and transformation
that:
-
is inter-religious in nature;
-
is regional in scope;
-
focuses on marginalized communities;
-
confronts the roots of violence, and;
-
promotes justice in the economic, political and social
spheres.
b) Objectives
1) Inter-religious Networking:
Build up a regional network of individuals and groups from different
religions who are committed to working in an inter-religious movement
for justice and peace.
2) Inter-religious Information:
Systematically collect and organize information for use in regional
inter-
religious justpeace actions.
3) Inter-religious Activities for Justpeace:
Identify the political, economic and social causes of conflict and injustice
in the region and create regional activities that can effectively deal
with
these root causes in ways that are sensitive to gender, ethnicity,
age,
religious belief and social inequalities.
4) Annual Inter-religious Cooperation
Create annual programs in which regional inter-religious activities
will
take place on a common day and focused on common justice issues.
3. PROJECTS
This plan is based on recommendations made in 2003 at
the first Inter-religious Consultation in Indonesia. Every six months
the program plan will be reviewed in light of new issues and recommendations
that arise from the various projects. If the need for a change in the
over all three-year plan becomes evident, it will be discussed in detail
with the Christian Conference of Asia
(CCA), the Asia and Pacific
Alliance of YMCAs (APAY), and Evangelischer
Entwicklungsdienst / Church Development Service (EED).
3. A) Networking
a) Aim
Build up a regional network of individuals and groups from different
religions who are committed to working in an inter-religious movement
for justpeace.
b) Objectives
Identify individuals and groups in the Asia region
who are already carrying out interfaith activities for justpeace,
or who are interested in becoming involved in such activities.
Connect these individuals and groups for an effective
exchange of ideas, experiences and strategies in building justpeace
through:
- a newsletter and the ICP webpage
- exchange visits
c) Activities
2005 - 2007
Find individuals and groups in the Asia region
concerned with interfaith justpeace by contacting members of already-existing
networks, by searching through the internet and by making visits
to countries experiencing serious violence.
Document what these groups and individuals are
already doing so that their experience and wisdom can be used to
strengthen the work of ICP.
Bring a group of these individuals and groups together
in 2005 for a planning and strategy workshop to expand inter-religious
justpeace activities in the Asia region.
Facilitate a process for these individuals and
groups to exchange ideas and experiences through the internet and
through exchange visits.
Create a program for two or three young interns
representing different religious faiths to work together with the
ICP each year in order to expose them to the regional issues and
prepare them to help maintain the movement in the future.
d) Expected Outcomes
Network expanded to include individuals and groups
from:
- Aceh (Indonesia), Burma, Cambodia, East Timor,
India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines,
Sri Lanka, Thailand, Viet Nam, West Papua (Indonesia)
- One workshop held in 2005 to bring people from
these various countries together for a planning, strategy and action
workshop
- A communications network created which will facilitate
the flow of information, ideas and planning between all the groups.
- Two or three interns will have served with the ICP
each year, developing their skills and interest and further developing
work in their own countries.
- Several exchange visits each year will be organized
to help active grassroots groups meet with each other on the field
to learn, share and plan.
3. B) Website
a) Aim
Systematically collect and organize information for use in regional
inter-religious justpeace actions.
b) Objectives
- Establish a website that will
serve the regional inter-religious movement for justpeace by
providing space for them to share their writings on the subject and
to exchange ideas.
c) Activities
2005
The Documentation
Center for Action Groups in Asia (DAGA) will build and maintain
the website. The website will contain:
-
movement activities
-
background papers on each religion
-
papers from consultations
-
reflective papers on justpeace, inter-religious
cooperation, etc.
-
links to other important websites
2006 – 2007
- Maintain and buildup webpage, monitor usage
and evaluate
effectiveness
d) Expected Outcomes
An active website, useful to the network in their
inter-religious justpeace activities, will be created to which the
ICP network contributes materials on a regular basis.
The ICP movement will continue to expand as more
people throughout Asia become interest through reading materials on
the website.>
The broader international community will be able
to learn through the website about Asia regional inter-religious cooperation
for justice and transformation.
3.C) Interfaith Peace Resource Center.
a) Aim
Systematically collect and organize information for use in regional
inter-religious justpeace actions
b) Objectives
Establish a documentation center where materials
related to interreligious justpeace from around Asia can be collected
and organized for regional use.
Identify materials on peace and justice that already
exist and gather them in the documentation center. These materials
might include training manuals, research papers, etc.
Create a database of regional resource persons
who can serve as facilitators in interfaith justpeace meetings and
activities.
Make these materials available to regional groups
through a newsletter, webpage, etc.
c) Activities
2005
Establish a space at the DAGA office specifically
devoted to archiving materials related to regional, inter-religious
justpeace activities.
2005 - 2007
Seek out existing materials including training
manuals, books, journals, papers, articles, etc for collection,
indexing and archiving.
Seek out resource persons in Asia who can help
facilitate meetings, trainings and activities related to regional,
inter-religious justpeace activities. Information concerning these
resource persons will be made available through the webpage and
other printed materials of the ICP.
Create an e-newsletter to help facilitate the
sharing of information among the regional ICP network.
d) Expected Outcomes
The library of books and other printed materials
will become an important resource for the regional inter-religious
justpeace movement.
The ICP will be able to effectively provide appropriate
resource persons to groups around Asia who are carrying out inter-religious
justpeace activities.
A growing readership will contribute materials to
the e-newsletter and the library.
3. D) Inter-religious School for Peace (ISP)
a) Aim
Identify the political, economic and social causes of conflict and injustice
in the region and create regional activities that can effectively deal
with these root causes in ways that are sensitive to gender, ethnicity,
age, religious belief and social inequalities.
b) Objectives
Bring together three small inter-religious teams
(four to six persons each) to research issues identified as important
regional issues by the first ICP consultation in Indonesia.
Develop a creative and user-friendly module, based
on each team’s research, that can be used by groups to develop
and expand their own inter-religious justpeace activities.
c) Description
The ISP is designed to bring together people (especially
youth) from around Asia who represent different religions and can research
specific issues related to conflict and violence in order to create
materials (modules) which can be used by groups throughout the region
for study and action. These materials do not represent models for groups
to duplicate, but rather will provide processes local and regional groups
can use to identify their own root issues and their cultural, traditional
and historical wisdom that can be used to effectively work for positive
transformation of those issues so that justpeace can emerge.
The created materials must meet the aim and objectives
of the ICP and must also:
-
be based on local experience and wisdom;
-
help identify what is already being done so that
it can be positively
supported ;
-
be practical and easily adapted for use in different
cultures;
-
not be model-styled manuals, but rather provide
a set of activities
and processes that can help people develop approaches
to building
inter-religious justice activities based on their own
history, culture
and traditions, and;
-
not create new, or exasperate already existing ethnic
or religious
tensions.
Responding to the recommendations of the Prapat Consultation,
research on the target issues should result in materials that:
-
help individuals and/or organizations examine and
evaluate school
text books to identify cases of prejudices and stereotyping
and to
propose educational materials that enhance interfaith respect,
harmony and human values;
-
help create interfaith mediation and reconciliation
teams that can
intervene in situations of violent conflicts; (this
will require research
on what already exists so that there is not
duplication)
-
highlight the common points among religions that
could be used by
groups to ordinary people and get translated into
local languages;
(again this will require research on what already
exists)
These modules will be used with already-existing inter-religious
justpeace groups to identify strengths and weaknesses so they can be
revised prior to making them available to the broader network.
In 2007, each team will test their module in an area
of religious tension such as Sri Lanka, Mindanao Philippines, India,
or Indonesia. After the trial run, the modules will be adjusted to make
them more suitable for broader use. They will then be distributed to
groups actively involved in inter-religious work for justice and transformation.
The modules will also be placed on the ICP webpage and added to as groups
make use of them and gain new experiences.
d) Activities
2005
Create three inter-religious teams to research
the three issues identified by the Prapat consultation.
Monitor the research progress.
2006-2007
Each team will prepare their module based on
their research.
The modules are tested in specific areas where religious violence
is prevalent (i.e. Sri Lanka, Indonesia or Philippines)
Modules are evaluated and edited as necessary.
Modules are distributed and placed on the ICP webpage.
Teams become available as resource persons for organizations wanting
to use the modules in their programs.
New issues are identified for research, teams created and the
process repeated.
e) Expected Outcomes
The three teams will each produce a detailed module
that can be used regionally to help build inter-religious activities
for justice and peace.
The modules will result in an expansion of the inter-religious
movement for justice and peace which will strengthen the network’s
efforts to lower violence in the region.
The members of the three teams will be able to serve
as resource persons as the modules are used by inter-religious groups
around Asia.
New important issues will be identified for further
research.
3.E) Asian Interfaith Day
a) Aim
Create an annual activity in which regional inter-religious activities
will take place on a common day and focused on common justice issues.
b) Objectives
Establish an inter-religious group that can design
and initiate an Asian Interfaith Day when interfaith events would
be held in each country.
The Asian Interfaith Day will consist of activities
focused on one particular issue and will help people throughout Asia
come together as an inter-religious community to seek positive ways
to transform the issue.
The Asian Interfaith Day will help people throughout
the region recognize those areas of our faiths which we hold in common
in order to neutralize conflicts and maximize cooperation and understanding.
c) Activities
2005
Identify a specific date that can be designated
as “Asian Interfaith Day” each year.
Create an inter-religious and regional committee that will be
responsible to create an action-oriented plan for the Asian Interfaith
Day
2005 - 2007
Carry out the Asian Interfaith Day each year,
making it action-oriented and thematic.
d) Expected Outcomes
Common values shared by the different religious faiths will be
highlighted, creating more harmony and tolerance.
Common issues facing people through Asia will be addressed in a way
that can more effectively bring about transformation.