Interfaith Dialogue
“Global Ethics in Decision Making”
Vienna, Austria
26-27 March 2014
Organizing Chairman: Franz Vranitzky
Interfaith Dialogue Co-Chairs: Malcolm Fraser and Yasuo Fukuda
The InterAction Council, from its foundation, was designed to deal with longer-term issues, which are often passed over by present governments. In its early discussions, the Council identified perceived differences among religions as a cause of unrest, even of hatred and loss of life. The Council therefore determined at the outset to ask itself what could it do to try and overcome the differences, to try and establish understanding.
Leading political figures in the Council believed that there was a common ethic running through the world’s major religions and philosophies. The group wanted to test that, to see whether that common ethic could be defined, set down on paper and be accepted by the world’s major faiths. The Council convened its first interfaith dialogue in 1987. Over the next ten years, there were many deliberations within the group as well as with leaders from all faiths, and the group became convinced that a common ethic could be found, could be written down and could be accepted.
The Council has long believed that the common ethics running through the world’s major religions provides the best long-term basis for peace, and for a more just and humane world. The group, of course, knew that the global ethic was no substitute for the Torah, the Gospel, the Quran, the Bhagavadgita, the Discourses of the Buddha or the Teachings of Confucius. A global ethic provides minimum basic consensus relating to binding values, irrevocable standards and moral attitudes that can be affirmed by all religions despite their differences. It can also be supported by non-believers, as one can and should have ethics without being religiously based.
The common ethic is based on the two principles vital for every individual, social and political entity; (1) Every human being must be treated humanely and (2) Do unto others as you want others to do unto you. The Council identified four irrevocable commitments on which all religions agree. They are (1) a commitment to non-violence and respect for life, (2) a commitment to solidarity and a just economic order, (3) a commitment to tolerance and a life of truthfulness (4) a commitment to equal rights and partnership between men and women.
These led in 1997 to the Draft Universal Declaration of Human Responsibilities, which defined that common ethic. (While many accepted that common ethic worldwide, there were others who opposed it, not because of its substance but because they felt it might compete with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.) The Council believes that the acceptance of the concept of human responsibilities would enhance the common acceptance of human rights.
The global situation has become more complex as we move through this 21st century. In the beginning of the 20th century, the world’s population consisted of 1.6 billion human beings; at the end of the 20th century we have reached 6 billion – and today we stand at more than 7 billion. This quadrupling of humankind within only one century has never occurred in human history. During the 20th century the majority of human beings was living in villages and in huts; by the middle of the 21st century, the majority will have to live in cities and in high-rise buildings.
But all human beings are always living by means of natural resources. Humankind may thereby be endangering nature. The unprecedented magnitudes and frequencies of natural disasters in the 21st century may be its manifestation. One most important reason is the globalization of sciences, of technology and particularly of economic activities. The 19th century did not have aircraft; it did not have rockets and nuclear weapons; it did not have computers and online networks. All these new phenomena and problems emerging from them have to be faced by the current generations.
A common commitment to the urgent problems of the world is more essential than ever. The Council has enhanced its belief that acceptance of a common ethic would do much to advance peace and harmony among the world’s people. But a sense of ethics seems to be absent from the policy-making of major governments. How to re-establish the importance of ethical behavior, in all fields of endeavor, is perhaps the most important question in front of us.
The InterAction Council therefore decided to be active once again in this process. It will take the initiative in looking into the above issues – the issues of permanent importance in the world today and tomorrow – together with the leading figures of the world’s major religions. The key question of the Interfaith Dialogue on “Global Ethics in Decision Making” will be “What is the significance of these ethical values to politics?” How can we get leaders to ensure that ethics is part of their approach rather than just stating the need? These questions may be considered through the following ramifying questions, among others:
- What have we learned from history in the 20th century, what lessons have we neglected and what lessons have we forgotten?
- Can we teach the virtue of tolerance – tolerance out of respect and not out of neglect?
- Can we meet the challenge of heeding or shielding our own religious, cultural and civilizational identity and respecting the identity of other peoples and nations?
- Will interests, whether national, institutional or individual, always supersede moral values, the force of truth and justice?
- How can a sense of ethics be rediscovered and play a greater part in decision making across all areas of human activity, particularly in economics and science & technology that have negative and evil aspects despite the enormous progress they have brought about?
- Can ethically-based human wisdom indeed lead to peace, and to a more just world, given the outlook of a population of 9 billion ahead?
List of Participants
IAC Members
1. The Rt. Hon. Jean Chrétien, Co-Chairman (former Prime Minister of Canada)
2. H.E. Dr. Franz Vranitzky, Co-Chairman (former Chancellor of Austria)
3. H.E. Mr. Helmut Schmidt, Honorary Chairman (former Chancellor of Germany)
4. H.E. Mr. Malcolm Fraser, Honorary Chairman (former Prime Minister of Australia)
5. H.E. Mr. Yasuo Fukuda (former Prime Minister of Japan)
6. H.E. Mr. Andreas van Agt (former Prime Minister of the Netherlands)
7. H.E. Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Quraishi (former Governor of Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority)
8. H.E. Tun Abdullah Haji Ahmad Badawi (former Prime Minister of Malaysia)
9. H.E. Dr. Abdel Salam Majali (former Prime Minister of Jordan)
10. H.E. Mr. Olusegun Obasanjo (former President of Nigeria)
11. H.E. Dr. George Vassiliou (former President of Cyprus)
12. H.E. Mr. Valéry Giscard d’Estaing (former President of France, former IAC member)
Secretary-General
13. Dr. Thomas Axworthy (Canada)
14. Mr. Isamu Miyazaki (former Secretary-General, Japan)
Religious and Theological Leaders
15. Dr. Hamza Mohammed AlSalem, Professor, Prince Sultan University, Columnist, Al Jazeera（Saudi Arabia)
16. Prof. Hsin-Kang Chang, Honorary Professor and Ye-Lu Xun Chair Professor of Social Sciences at Peking University; former President of City University of Hong Kong, HKSAR (China)
17. Prof. Dr. Friedrich Wilhelm Graf, Full Professor of Systematic Theology and Ethics, Faculty of Protestant Theology, Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich (Germany)
18. Dr. Muhammad Habash, Professor, Islamic Studies, Abu Dhabi University, Sunni Islam (Syria)
19. Prof. Kirk Hanson, Executive Director, Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, Santa Clara University (U.S.A.)
20. Mr. Gholamali Khoshroo, Special Advisor to H.E. Mr. Seyyed Mohammad Khātamī on "Dialogue among Civilizations" (Iran)
21. Dr. Mano Mettanando Laohavanich, Lecturer, Chulabhorn International College of Medicine, Thammasat University, Member of the Thai Senate Sub-Committee on Religion and Ethics (Theraveda Buddhism, Thailand)
22. Dr. Abdul Mukti, Secretary of Central Board of Muhammadiyah (the oldest modern Muslim organization in Indonesia)
23. Archbishop Niphon of Philipopolis, Representative of the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia (Lebanon)
24. The Venerable Monshu Koshin Ohtani, Spiritual Head, Jōdo Shinshū Nishi Hongwanji (Pure Land Sect, Japan)
25. Rabbi Dr. Jeremy Rosen, former Principal of Carmel College, Oxford (U.K.)
26. Prof. Amin Saikal, Professor of Political Science, Director of the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies, Australian National University (Australia)
27. Dr. Stephan Schlensog, Secretary General, Global Ethic Foundation (Germany)
28. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Founder, The Art of Living Foundation (India)
29. Dr. Arif Zamhari, a senior figure in Nahdlatul Ulama, the world’s largest Muslim organization (Indonesia)
30. Dr. Paul M. Zulehner, Chair of Pastoral Theology in Vienna (Austria)
Observers
31. Ms. Claudia Bandion-Ortner, Deputy Secretary-General, King Abdullah International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (Austria)
32. H.E. Mr. Faisal bin Muammar, Secretary-General, King Abdullah International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (Saudi Arabia)
33. Mr. Seiken Sugiura, former Minister of Justice (Japan)
The InterAction Council gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the Governments of Austria, Japan, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the Mayor and Governor of Vienna.