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Hindus Want World Council of Churches to Organize Global Interfaith Summit

Hindus have welcomed "inter-religious dialogue and cooperation" program of World Council of Churches (WCC).

"In our increasingly pluralistic societies, more inter-religious dialogue and cooperation are needed if conflict fueled by religion is to be constructively addressed... we must learn to live our faith with integrity while respecting and accepting each other", this WCC Program points out.

Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that serious and honest interfaith dialogue was the need of the hour and WCC, being one of the largest religious organizations of the world, should come forward in organizing one.

Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, suggested that WCC should invite leaders of major world religions and denominations and initiate the dialogue.

Religion was the most powerful, complex and far-reaching force in our society, so we must take it seriously. And we all knew that religion comprised much more than our own particular tradition/experience, Rajan Zed stressed.

After intensive deliberations, this meeting of world religious leaders should come up with a concrete plan about the common religious concerns like human improvement, peace, ecological responsibility, social & economic development, etc. Maybe this gathering could become an annual feature after that, Zed added.

Rajan Zed further says that in our shared pursuit for the truth, we can learn from one another and thus can arrive nearer to the truth. This dialogue may help us vanquish the stereotypes, prejudices, caricatures, etc., passed on to us from previous generations. As dialogue brings us reciprocal enrichment, we shall be spiritually richer than before the contact.

WCC is a worldwide fellowship of 349 churches which confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Saviour, claiming to be representing over 560 million Christians in over 110 countries/territories. Headquartered in Geneva (Switzerland), Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit of Norway is its General Secretary. Hinduism, oldest and third largest religion of the world, has about one billion adherents and moksh (liberation) is its ultimate goal.