Unity Gives Way to Dissension at U.N. Religious Summit

NEW YORK, Aug. 31 (RNS)--A kind of spiritual bonhomie has been on public display during much of this week's Millennium World Peace Summit, with religious leaders, attired in their vestments and finery, issuing carefully crafted declarations and prayers for peace.

But some of the public politeness evaporated when, after two days, the four-day summit, which ended Thursday, moved from the hall of the United Nations General Assembly and into the nearby Waldorf-Astoria Hotel and the assembled leaders began the hard work of discussing how religious communities can tackle such problems as poverty, reconciliation and peace-making, and environmental degradation.

If anything, these closed-door sessions proved that religion and spirituality are never separated from the realities of culture, society and politics--particularly during a time of enormous global change.

``Religions aren't holier than other institutions,'' said Wendy Tyndale,coordinator of the World Faiths Development Dialogue and the moderator of a Wednesday working session on the issue of poverty. ``What we are witnessing is a microcosm of globalization and a clash of cultures.''

Indeed, the session on poverty--at times impassioned, noisy and a little messy--proved just that and more.

Roman Catholic Bishop Alvar Ramazzini of San Marcos, in the western highlands of Guatemala, gave an impassioned opening speech in which he declared, in a booming voice, that he did not believe in a God ``that would allow his creatures to suffer.'' He said it was the responsibility of religious communities to work toward just and sustainable development ``based on human values.''

There was a visible stir among the assembled audience, perhaps tired after sitting and largely listening to two days of prayers and official addresses. Robed Hindus from India, Buddhists from Vietnam, and indigenous persons from Central America and Africa all clamored for the microphone.

Often identifying themselves only by country and faith, they exposed some of the political, economic and religious fault lines of much of the world. A woman from Africa condemned what she called ``collaboratized stealing'' on the part of the West and its international lending institutions; a Mayan from Guatemala made a plea for indigenous rights; a woman who has studied the ``Course in Miracles'' program said the answer to poverty required a solution ``not of this world.''

But the most impassioned remarks came from Hindus from India, condemning what they said was continued proselytizing by Roman Catholic and Protestant Christians in India, something they linked to a legacy of Western colonial dominance. In recent years, a number of Christian missionaries have been killed or attacked by Hindus in India.

The criticism of Christianity, in turn, drew an impassioned defense of religious freedom by Cardinal Francis Arinze, the president of the Pontifical Council on Interreligious Dialogue and the Vatican's representative at the summit. He said international law protects the rights of people to accept and practice the religion of their choice. As he left the session, a clearly irritated Arinze was approached by Hindus who wanted to continue the debate.

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