Faith in dialog

Religion has become an increasingly sensitive topic as our world becomes ever more high-tech, globalized and secular.

Against this backdrop, however, religion's strength lies in the belief in the existence of a higher entity solely on faith. In demonstrating their faith, most people of this technology- dependent world submit to a set of rules commanding ideal human behavior.

Regardless of persuasion, all teach a common value: the power of love over the love of power.

Several ironies thus become evident when we take stock of the tumults that arise from religion -- organized or otherwise -- in our daily lives and across the world.

First and foremost is the irony that more wars have been fought in the name of God than for any other cause, possibly mankind's greatest perversion: the propagation of religious peace and love through violence and subversion.

Second is prejudice: Even though equality and harmony are fundamental tenets of religious doctrine, these are too often employed to discriminate. The world may shout in united recrimination against bigotry and political injustices, but conservativism and endemic passivity prevail when it comes to religious segregation.

Third, we exalt intrepid hermits who sacrifice worldly pleasures to engage with God in solitude. Many try to converse with God on a regular basis -- five times a day, once a day, once a week -- but few of us make an actual effort to engage with one another to foster compassion between our distinct faiths.

We have rested on our laurels, false in our conviction that the absence of friction among peoples of diverse faiths indicates a spirit of kinship; all the while, our passive approach to interreligious communion has, by virtue of non-action, widened the divide and differences of faiths and so promoted the absence of compassion.

The interfaith dialog between religious leaders of the Asia Pacific, currently being held in Yogyakarta, is thus to be commended and supported for endeavoring to fill this void.

The thematic focus of the conference is the role of religious tolerance and moderation in fighting terrorism.

The choice of Yogyakarta as the host city is ideal, as it is more than a melting pot, and is the epitome of communal harmony that binds ethnicities, religions and modernity.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, in his opening remarks on Monday, said: "Terrorism today must be regarded as the enemy of all religions."

In a single sentence, he thus relegated the responsibility of combating terror to all faiths.

We believe religion plays a far greater role than merely stifling the rise of extremism that leads to terrorism in the name of God.

Winning the battle of ideologies is key to overcoming terrorism, and the way to achieve this is through tolerance, acceptance and understanding. In coming together as a fraternity, the religious leaders are showing their congregations that a spirit of brotherhood, rather than isolationist singularness, are maxims of this world, and are thus encouraging the end to interreligious discrimination -- peaceful or violent.

They are showing that movements born in hate adopt the traits of the very object of their hatred, and that the violence committed by terrorists has nothing to do with the religion they proclaim.

Religious extremism is not the root of heightened terrorism today. Rather, economic disparities, cultural derogation, political oppression, social injustices and the rise of a global hegemony are factors that contribute equally, if not more, to terror. The politician and clergyman, whatever their religion, have a duty to ensure that these factors do not propel the disadvantaged to adopt violence to redress their perceived or real wrongs.

We should also open our narrow-mindedness by consciously avoiding putting obtuse labels on that which we do not understand. It is odd that the international media relish the distinction of "Muslim terrorist", but rarely used "Catholic terrorist" or "Protestant terrorists" at the height of the conflict in Northern Ireland.

We hope that the conference will help put a stop to such parochialism born of ignorance, or perhaps from a refusal to reason in recognition of diversity with a view to the broader picture.

Talk in itself will do little, but is a much needed starting point, and must be followed by tangible measures in the form of policy to enlighten, train and instruct the faithful millions who talk to God every day, but not to each other.

This includes ceasing to stereotype neighbors as heretics or believers; highlighting commonalities rather than deviations in religious curricula and sermons; and stopping the politicization of religion, which only serves hypocrisy and judgmentalism.

Most importantly, the false notion that a single party possesses "divine truth" to the exclusion of all others must be ended at all levels, from the grassroots to governments.

If we want to truly end terrorism committed in the name of religion, we must have the courage and faith to reevaluate many of the discriminatory precepts that persist -- erroneously or not -- in our religious cultures.

The end goal of the conference in Yogyakarta should not simply be interfaith dialog, but interfaith compassion, understanding and tolerance.