The organization hopes to foster peace through dialogue |
Saudi
Arabia has financed the founding of a new international organization in Vienna
designed to bring the world's religions together. The organization hopes to
prevent conflict through interfaith dialogue.
The foreign
ministers of Austria, Saudi Arabia and Spain signed the founding treaty of a new international
organization designed to foster dialogue between the world's major religions on
Thursday.
"The
thesis is valid that world peace cannot exist without peace between the world's
major religions," Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal
said during the signing ceremony in Vienna.
The King
Abdullah Center for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue, initiated and
financed largely by Saudi money, is set to have its seat in Vienna. Plans
envision an organization with a governing body composed of 12 representatives
from the world's five largest religions.
The
governing body is set to be staffed by two Muslims (Sunni and Shiite), three
Christians (Catholic, Anglican and Orthodox), a Buddhist, a Hindu and a Jew.
The organization will also have a consulting body with 100 representatives from
the five world religions plus other faiths as well as academics and members of
civil society.
Saudi
initiative
Austria's
Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger said that the organization's structures
are designed to ensure that none of the represented religions dominates the
organization. The three founding states are also open to the membership of
other countries, according to Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez
Garcia-Herrera.
Saudi Arabia largely initiated and financed the organization |
Saudi King
Abdullah initiated the idea for the center after visiting Pope Benedict XVI at
the Vatican in 2007, the first Saudi monarch to do so. Shortly thereafter, King
Abdullah stated that Christians and Muslims should offer a common message of
peace to humanity.
Abdullah
then initiated an interfaith dialogue in Mecca in 2008 followed by a second
meeting in Madrid with Jewish representation. A third meeting took place in
Vienna's Hofburg in 2009, where the concept of the organization was agreed
upon.
The Initiative
of Liberal Muslims protested Thursday's signing ceremony in Vienna, saying that
the center was an attempt by Saudi Arabia to spread a conservative form of
Islam.
Author:
Spencer Kimball (KNA, dpa)
Editor: Mark Hallam
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