Alliance of Religions
ALLIANCE OF RELIGIONS
Path Towards World Peace: Comparative Discourse on Scriptures Focusing on Peace
Alliance of Religions
Amid persisting conflicts and disputes among religions, HWPL has recognized how crucial religious harmony is in building a peaceful world. As most religious texts share the value of peace, justice, human dignity, respect, and harmony, when religious leaders and believers focus on the value embedded in their scriptures and promote understanding of each other’s text, harmony among religious groups is possible. To this end, HWPL has been implementing initiatives including WARP Offices, Religious Youth Peace Camp, and Open Dialogue with Religious Leaders across the globe to serve as the platform for facilitating harmony among varying religious groups.
What does alliance of religion mean?
At the September 18th HWPL World Peace Summit held in 2014, 950 participants including 12 leaders who represented various religious groups worldwide signed the World Alliance of Religions Agreement and vowed to establish peace among religions.
Ever since, people of religion including the high profile figures, have been putting in concerted efforts through HWPL’s network to achieve peace among religions in different parts of the globe. Religious leaders of over 30 groups including Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Sikhism have understood that peace and harmony of mankind are shared values in their respective scriptures, and that is why they have been proactively engaging in the activities for peace. While transcending religions, national borders, and ethnicities, they are those on the frontline, extending helping hands to the people in need of peace.
MILESTONES
2023
1st International Religious Peace Academy (1,388 attendees from 108 countries)
Jul
Sep
HWPL International Religious Peace Academy’s Special Lecture
2022
HWPL World Interfaith Joint Prayer Conference:
Prayer Conference for Peace in Russia & Ukraine
Nov
2021
Jun
HWPL Intercontinental Religious Youth Peace Camp 2021
2020
Dec
HWPL End of year Religious Leaders’ Gathering
2019
Religious Peace Brought by the Spread of Scripture Comparative Confirmation Culture
Sep
Operated WARP Office meeting with attendees of the Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom of the US Department of State
Jul
Apr
Held the ‘Role of Religion for World Peace’ Religious Peace Forum in Romania
2018
Sep
Appointment of 7 members to the Solidarity of Religions’ Peace Committee
Efforts of senior religious leaders to spread a culture of peace among religious groups
Opened the door to have discussions across nations and continents to welcome a broader range of participants
1st HWPL Intercontinental WARP Office Meeting held
Mar
A type of WARP office facilitating communication and discourse among Christians
Jan
Open Dialogue with Religious Leaders
2017
Consensus on Attributes of a Trustworthy Scripture announced
Sep
Laid the foundation for interfaith dialogue and proposed specific measures to achieve religious harmony
Provided an opportunity for not only religious leaders but also members of the civil society to join the efforts to build harmony among religions
Apr
1st HWPL Religious Youth Peace Camp held (Cambodia)
2014
Established a platform for dialogue and comparison of scriptures to carry out what was promised in the World Alliance of Religions Agreement
1st HWPL WARP Office Meeting held (Irvine, USA)
Oct
World Alliance of Religions Agreement signed
Sep
442 religious leaders representing 18 religions around the world pledged to create harmony among religions
MAIN INITIATIVES
1. WARP Offices
The World Alliance of Religions’ Peace (WARP) Offices are where religious leaders of various faiths and disciplines gather regularly to discuss their scriptures. The comparative scriptural discussions are a way for participants to foster deeper and more empathetic discussions and greater openness in thought-sharing on how to evoke religious harmony and collaboration. The main goal of the discussions and meetings is to find true peace amongst religions through finding trustworthiness in scriptures. As of March 2024, there are 285 WARP offices in operation in 131 countries. By participating, the religious leaders are grasping a clear idea of the duty they need to fulfill, finding specific ways to realize peace, and trying to prevent religious conflicts from taking place.
WARP offices are actively contributing to building a peaceful world by resolving disputes that derive from religious misunderstanding and promoting a more in-depth understanding of the standards, teachings, and the notion of peace in each religious text.
Current Status of WARP Office
2. HWPL Religious Youth Peace Camp
HWPL’s Religious Youth Peace Camp is an initiative with the aim of fostering youth as key players in peacefully resolving conflicts and enhancing their capacity as such by providing an opportunity to have religious and cultural exchange among youth worldwide, including members of youth organisations. Those who take part in the camp experience different cultures and religions, and find ways that religious communities should function in order to establish peace on earth. As of March 2024, the peace camp has been held 61 rounds in 32 countries.
Through various programs, such as those on the history of the world’s religion, experiencing religions other than mine first-hand, and finding means to fundamentally address conflicts with religious causes, the participants are able to widen their perspective on religion.
3. Open Dialogue with Religious Leaders
The Open Dialogue with Religious Leaders has been held regularly for Christian denominations in Korea to promote communication and harmony. Through the dialogue, Christians, who carry the same scripture called the Bible, are able to recognize the differences in biblical interpretation of diverse denominations and better understand each other. Pastors representing different denominations take part as speakers and discuss a particular topic when the dialogue is held, so the audience can hear different interpretations of various denominations in one place. Since the open dialogue first started in January 2018, it has been held 1,443 times (as of March 2024), and Christian leaders in South Korea are actively engaging in the discussions.
4. International Religious Peace Academy
At the WARP Offices, panelists representing their respective faiths have directly experienced differences in religious beliefs and cultures and understand each other through open-mindedness and dialogue.
Subsequently there was a growing demand from religious leaders for new avenues to study more comprehensive comparative scriptural knowledge. Therefore a platform for comparative study of scriptures called the ‘International Religious Peace Academy (IRPA)’ was launched. The International Religious Peace Academy is an academic platform that invites prominent religious leaders and scholars to lecture on their scriptures and major doctrines.
Through this platform, many religious people can develop a clearer understanding and insight into religions. This helps to resolve conflicts between religions by creating a culture where religious leaders can learn about other religions.
Jul. 2023 1st IRPA 1,388 attendees from 108 countries
Mar. 2024 2nd IRPA 1,456 attendees from 96 countries
5. MOUs with Religious Organisations
Starting with the signing of the MOU with the Ethiopian Islamic Affairs Supreme Council in 2018, HWPL continued to sign MOUs with religious organizations such as Guru Gobind Singh Study Circle, Korean Buddhism Jogyejong Conference, and more at the 2019 HWPL World Peace Summit. HWPL plans to continue its collaboration and engagement with religious organizations in order to further spread the culture of religious peace in a concerted effort.