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UN must focus on similarities in teachings of great religions - Kadirgamar

Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar said on Friday that the United Nations must focus its attention on bringing to the peoples of the Earth greater awareness of the similarities in the teachings of the great religions of the world, adding that it was then that "we will realize that religious beliefs should indeed unite the peoples of the Earth and inform them in their common search for truth, rather than divide and confuse the followers of each faith".

Speaking at the United Nations in New York on the General Assembly's Agenda Item on the United Nations Year of Dialogue among Civilizations, Minister Kadirgamar commended the "most praiseworthy" initiative of President Khatami of Iran and the Government of Iran on their urging the General Assembly to proclaim the year 2001 as the "United Nations Year of Dialogue among Civilizations" and observed that this initiative has received resounding support throughout the United Nations.

Minister Kadirgamar is currently in New York to attend the Plenary Debate of the 56th Session of the UN General Assembly which began on Saturday 10 November. The UN Dialogue among Civilizations debate was held on the eve of this year's UN General Assembly's Plenary Debate.

In Friday's Address to the Assembly, Minister Kadirgamar emphasized the primacy of religion in the Dialogue of Civilizations and stated that "It is religion that underpins all civilizations from time immemorial". He went on to state that religion should be the great unifying force in the lives of men, and that the search for truth should be illuminated by the teachings of the great religions of the world. He observed that in Sri Lanka four of the great religions - Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Christianity - co-exist in constructive harmony, where "in every city, and deep in the countryside, of Sri Lanka, Buddhist temples, Hindu kovils, mosques and Christian churches exist side by side."

Recalling Sri Lanka's initiative in 1998 at the United Nations on the UN Resolution on the 'International Observance of the Day of Vesak', he stated that its adoption was an example where "the international community united to honour the name and the teachings of one of the great spiritual leaders of mankind. The Buddha was the Prince of Peace. He preached tolerance, love and compassion. His message brought - initially to millions of people in South Asia, East Asia and South East Asia, and now to hundreds of millions of people all over the world - solace peace of mind and understanding of the human condition".

Speaking further the Minister observed, that "unfortunately, for most people, faith in their own religion seems to kill even interest in other religions. The followers of each religion feel called upon to make their religion an article of export. They would drive all souls into the same spiritual enclosure" while being "unaware of the great loss to humanity which would follow the imposition of any common creed on all." He asked - "have we the right to destroy what we have not learnt to appreciate?" - and emphasized that "it is spiritual vandalism to drag into the dust what is precious for the soul of a people, what has been laboriously built up by the wisdom of ages".

The Foreign Minister stated that "owing to a cross-fertilization of ideas and insights, behind which the centuries of racial and cultural tradition and earnest endeavour, a great unification is taking place in the deeper fabric of men's thoughts". While observing that unconsciously perhaps, respect for other points of view, appreciation of the treasures of other cultures, confidence in one another's unselfish motives are growing," he added "we are slowly realizing that believers with different opinions and convictions are necessary to each other to work out the larger synthesis which alone can give the spiritual basis to a world brought together into intimate oneness by man's mechanical ingenuity." In conclusion, Minister Kadirgamar said that the United Nations has an immensely useful role to play in that process.

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