RELIGION

HISTORIC: WCC hosts Sikh-Christian Dialogue

&NewLine;<p>The World Council of Churches &lpar;WCC&rpar; hosted a Sikh-Christian dialogue on 5 July with the theme &&num;8220&semi;Pursuing Peace in a Pluralistic World&&num;8221&semi; to commemorate the 550th birth Anniversary of Guru Nanak&comma; the first guru of the Sikhs&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>The event&NewLine;brought together about 40 religious leaders&comma; scholars and independent activists&NewLine;from the Christian and Sikh traditions&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>WCC&NewLine;general secretary Rev&period; Dr Olav Fykse Tveit expressed great joy for the first&NewLine;official WCC-hosted Christian-Sikh dialogue&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;This&NewLine;is an important year in the Sikh calendar as it marks the 550th birth&NewLine;anniversary of Guru Nanak&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Tveit said&period; &&num;8220&semi;Therefore&comma; initiating this&NewLine;formal encounter between Christians and Sikhs during this year is a special way&NewLine;of commemorating the life and work of Guru Nanak&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Tveit&NewLine;said&period; &&num;8220&semi;We are reminded each passing day in poignant ways of the growing&NewLine;need for lasting and sustainable peace&comma;&&num;8221&semi; he said&period; &&num;8220&semi;The rise of&NewLine;xenophobia&comma; violent extremism and populist nationalism attest to the urgency of&NewLine;faith communities to redouble our efforts and imagine new models for building&NewLine;peace&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>We can no&NewLine;longer afford the luxury of thinking and working as isolated entities&comma;&NewLine;continued Tveit&period; &&num;8220&semi;Rather&comma; recognising the interdependent nature of our&NewLine;common existence&comma; the time is ripe for us to think and act collaboratively&comma;&NewLine;confronting and overcoming any divisive tendencies among and within us&comma;&&num;8221&semi;&NewLine;Tveit said&period; &&num;8220&semi;In a world sharply divided by hate and fear the best way for&NewLine;religions to not be part of the problem&comma; but be part of the solution&comma; is to be&NewLine;part of the solution together&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Guru&NewLine;Nanak emphasised universal kinship as the highest of religious aspirations and&NewLine;urged his followers to treat all human beings as brothers and sisters&period; This&NewLine;dialogue was centered on a holistic understanding of peace which is intrinsic&NewLine;to the Christian and Sikh faith traditions&comma; bearing in mind that peace without&NewLine;justice is incomplete&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>The&NewLine;gathering is attempting to foster a new partnership that can effectively&NewLine;decipher the signs of the times and offer responses which are courageous and&NewLine;committed&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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