The Amman Declaration of the Seventh World Assembly, 1999
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The Seventh Assembly of the World Conference of Religions for Peace, meeting
in Amman, Jordan, had as its theme "Action for Common Living."
The Assembly brought together delegates and participants from 15 religious
traditions drawn together from 70 countries, carrying on a tradition begun
in Kyoto, Japan, in 1970.
Coming together at the end of the 20th century, on the eve of the 21st
Century and the Third Millennium as represented in the common calendar,
the members of the Assembly commit themselves to join together for common
living and to build a global culture of peace. Whereas the millennium represents
a symbolic marking of time, it has the potential to be a turning point-a
time for renewal and recommitment. In fostering a culture of peace, the
diversity of cultures and traditions can be affirmed and celebrated, just
as the commonalties are also recognized, shared and celebrated. Acknowledging
that such has not always been the case, the religious communities recognize
a renewed opportunity to present to a pluralistic world models of peace
and reconciliation in keeping with their sacred texts, teachings and warrants.
In such a world, the responsibilities of the religious communities include
not only expanding the essential dialogue among civilizations but also
to commitments to common action.
Common Humanity
Religions for Peace affirms a common humanity in which men and women are
recognized first as human beings with dignity and integrity, and rights
and responsibilities, whether these are perceived as God given, a reflection
of a divine nature, derived from cosmic laws, inherent sacredness, or oneness
with the universe. When we affirm our common humanity, we are then able
to affirm our other forms of identity, such as race, religion, age, gender,
ethnicity, and status, as part of the wonderful diversity of human life.
Religions for Peace realizes that socially recognized divisions can set
individual against individual, group against group, majorities and minorities
against each other, resulting in inclusion or exclusion, privilege or denial,
dignity or deprivation. The rights embodied in the International Bill of
Rights, with its inclusion of civil, political, economic, social and cultural
rights, can never be realized apart from the actualization of the common
ethical concerns embodied in all religious traditions. These call us to
be individually and socially responsible for our neighbors and those in
need. They help us draw on the sources of love, duty and responsibility
as the foundations that undergird the establishment of justice.
Common Security
Religions for Peace asserts that the achievement of common security for
humanity and all forms of life requires a holistic understanding of the
nature of security as well as a comprehensive commitment to action. On
the one hand, there must be the elimination of militarism and militarization
in all their manifestations, including developments in space.
On one level, Religions for Peace calls for the elimination of weapons
of mass destruction, including biological, chemical and nuclear; on another
level, we call for the elimination of conventional weapons that can take
their deadly toll, individual by individual, in any environment of violent
conflict. These activities must be paralleled with the development of non-violent
methodologies of conflict resolution. Further, the gross distortion of
social priorities resulting from the inordinate expenditures on military
establishments and weapons must be ended. Just as peace is more than the
absence of war, so security is more than the elimination of armaments.
On the other hand, instruments to preserve just order and compassionate
governance must be developed to incorporate the interrelated aspects of
community security, social, economic and environmental security, all of
which are interactive in the development of the sense of common human security.
Insecurity and fear have been identified as among the causes of conflict,
reliance on armaments and the instrumentality of war. Freedom from fear
and freedom from want are linked. The security of some can never be permanently
achieved by creating insecurity for others. A proper sense of security
requires both trust and the risk of shared vulnerability.
Common Interdependence
Religions for Peace recognizes that the peoples of the world are interdependent,
existing within a web of economic and environmental realities, made more
urgent by the dynamics of globalization with both its positive and negative
impacts. A concept of just and sustainable human development, holistic
in its nature, is dependent on the development of equitable and fair systems
of production and distribution, capable of providing for the material survival
and needs of all persons and accessible to all. Such systems must enable
the elimination of the poverty and powerlessness that characterizes the
lives of a major proportion of the human family. Eradicating poverty in
the first decades of the 21st century is feasible, affordable, and a moral
imperative for humanity. Developmental and environmental challenges cannot
be separated because of the depletion of non-renewable resources, global
warming, and all forms of environmental pollution and degradation. These
weaken the capacity of the ecosystem to produce and regenerate, particularly
as population growth multiplies the demands. Exploitative patterns threaten
not only the ecosystem, but also increase the hardships and suffering of
the marginalized and portend a damaged if not destroyed planet for future
generations.
Common Future
Religions for Peace asserts that our common future is embodied in our children.
It is the responsibility of religious and civil communities to assure the
entitlement of children to achieve the fullness of life. Our children are
the most visible sign of that which binds us together in the human family.
Their welfare and future make the most demanding claims on our human and
material resources. Our children deserve to be protected from diseases
that are preventable; from the ravages of war and violence that are inexcusable
and that exact their heaviest toll on women and children; from all forms
of exploitation, whether manifest in child labor, in the use of children
as soldiers, or in the victimization of commercial sexual exploitation.
They are to be spiritually, intellectually and physically nurtured in supportive
families and communities, which in turn need the social, institutional
and economic backing that makes such nurture possible. They are to be enriched
through educational systems that provide literacy and the skills necessary
to insure the achievement of their highest potential, not bounded by artificial
or traditional limitations based on gender, class or other forms of identity.
Religions for Peace calls for a new paradigm for children from needs to
rights, from vulnerability to strength. Common Living Religions for Peace
believes that common living requires not only transformation of cultural,
social, economic, civil, political and military institutions, but also
of religious institutions. Such transformation must also be reflected in
the conversions of individual hearts, minds and spirits. Religious institutions
can and must be part of a renewing process. The process must begin with
their own reconciliation. They possess social and moral resources that
give them the potential to promote peace, and to prevent violent conflict,
through enabling direct communication and dialogue, education and training.
True reconciliation requires the painful acknowledgment that both religious
patterns and the actions of religiously motivated people have also caused
conflict, suffering and pain. Perpetuation of the memory of grievances
and suffering is constantly recalled and even exploited. Reconciliation
therefore requires confession of our culpability and proactive efforts
to restore broken human relationships. Reconciliation requires the search
for truth and the acknowledgment of accountability, processes that can
be liberating. The requirements of justice include holding individuals,
civil society and states responsible for their actions. However, acts of
vengeance and retribution simply perpetuate the cycles of violence. We
know that the past cannot be undone. Restitution and restoration, insofar
as they can be realized, must be part of the process of reconciliation
because they contribute to justice and healing. The past, however, should
not be forgotten in order to ensure that it not be repeated.
Comprehensive Education For Peace
Religions for Peace commits itself to the promotion of comprehensive education
for peace and common living. Education involves the transmission of the
values and heritage of our traditions. If that transmission focuses on
the grievances of the past, or is distorted by exclusive tendencies, then
the seeds of discontent and intolerance are perpetuated. The transmission
of values into the third Millennium must include a broader understanding
and respect for the values and contributions of diverse religions and cultures,
in order that a shared culture of peace may be the beneficiary of not just
one tradition but of the rich legacy of our diverse heritages.
Education also involves the preparation of the individual to participate
and contribute to society, to the well being of all, to act for common
living. Hence the skills of listening and hearing, of promoting tolerance
and understanding, of healing and of reconciliation, and of building a
culture of peace must be ongoing elements of learning at all levels of
education and all social means of communication. Most particularly within
our respective religious communities, we are called to witness for justice
and peace.
Hope And Commitment
Religions for Peace's vision and hope are for common living in the 21st
century. Hope because the vision of a just and peaceful world is attainable.
Hope because we know both the challenges of the world and the possibilities
for their solutions. Hope because the resources for meeting humanity's
basic needs are available if only we have the will to use them appropriately.
Hope because all of our religious traditions claim commitment to peace
and the achievement of the common good.
Hope, however, must be manifest in action. Religions for Peace therefore
commits itself to work for the achievement of these common goals in the
new millennium. Religions for Peace calls upon all religious communities
to bear witness through education, advocacy, and action for the common
good.
The one place where all peoples presently come together is the United Nations.
Its charter mandates the achievement of peace, the fulfillment of human
rights, the institution of the rule of law, and the promotion of better
standards of life for all people. One finds at the United Nations, symbolic
testimony to our spiritual commitments. It is found in the artistic and
cultural artifacts that are visible in its corridors. The world can read
there the words that we are to beat our swords into plowshares, our spears
into pruning hooks; that we are to do unto others what we would have others
do unto us; and that we have been made of a common humanity and that the
most honored among us are the most righteous. May our global actions for
common living find fulfillment in the new millennium, that hearts and minds
may be converted as instruments of peace and wisdom, that the value of
human life is manifest in our treatment of all people, and that we may
be honored as among those who are righteous.