Monday, June 09, 2008
Don’t blame religion for conflicts: Vidal
IT is not religion but “political, ethnic, and ideological tensions” that cause conflicts and bloodsheds, Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal said yesterday.
Vidal welcomed and expressed optimism that Cebu City’s interfaith sector will “build a common hope.”
The interfaith sector, formed so that the religious could participate in the Cebu City+10 forum in November last year, was launched yesterday with representatives of different religious organizations and groups. Some of the representatives even came from other countries.
The sector advances pluralism or unity in diversity.
In his message read by Msgr. Cayetano Gilbolingo, the Cebu archbishop said that while many blame religion for conflicts worldwide, religious faith has, instead, shown to have mitigated conflicts.
Examples of this are the 1986 Edsa Revolution and 1989 toppling of the Berlin Wall in Germany.
Hidden motives
“Admittedly, some conflicts seemed to have religious roots, but a simple analysis will reveal hidden political motives, which manipulated religious sentiments for particular gains,” the cardinal said.
And with the meeting of different religious groups and organizations in Cebu City, Vidal wished that it will “jumpstart the dialogue that we all must commit to, if we want to harness the power of faith, build a common hope.”
During the launching, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña said the City is constructing the church above the senior citizens’ office at the South Road Properties as a place of marriage acceptable to all religions.
“We need some kind of ‘technical support’ from the group here to say which is acceptable, which is not acceptable. Then we have something we can really be proud of and to show to the world that we don’t discriminate,” the mayor said.
He likened the city as a garden made fragrant by different kind of flowers abloom.
Aurangzeb Ali, Office of the Muslim Affairs (OMA) 7 administrative officer, said that contrary to what was initially feared, the interfaith sector proved to be the most disciplined and most cooperative during the Cebu City+10 forum last year. And it is the first sector to launch its programs.
Sister Sandra Cañete, who was part of the ad hoc committee that gathered the sector for the forum, said that after the launching, they will start working on their strategic plan.
Ali was glad that Cebu City is the “first city to support all religion of whatever creed.”
Extremism
Pastor Steve Berdin pledged support for the interfaith sector, saying it is the aim of the United Church of Christ of the Philippines and the evangelical churches to embrace diverse beliefs.
OMA 7 Chairman Saki-ran Hajan also lauded the creation of the group, which aims to compose itself into a council. He said religion has been used today to espouse extremism, “resulting to wholesale massacre.”
“There is no other point in our history where we need for different religions’ mutual cooperation, respect, and understanding than today’s century, where religion had become sometimes an instrument…to advance acts of extremism, discrimination and racism,” he said.
Shakun Vaswani of the United Religious Initiative, a global interfaith group, encouraged those present to promote peace and solidarity, which Osmeña said is what sets Cebuanos apart.
Multi-awarded professor Felisa Etimade, who was part of the ad hoc committee that formed the interfaith sector for the November forum, said the group has progressed in its objectives months after the gathering.
Cañete said they might even have an international interfaith gathering in Cebu City, if plans go as projected. (RHM)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (June 9, 2008 issue)
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