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On Friday 30th April,the URI - Great Lakes Sub-region was launched in Kampala at Hotel Africana. In attendance were Cooperation Circle participants, the education sector, government officials from the national, district and regional levels, religious leaders, heads of religious secretariats, heads of peace departments, and inter-religious partners. The morning was opened with interfaith prayers led by the different faith groups each reading out scriptures from their religious doctrines. We had enough copies for everybody to share and also had a chance to learn the different peace messages from the different Holy Books of each religious tradition. A message from URI Executive Director Charles Gibbs was read by Regional Coordinator for Africa, Mussie Hailu, to the participants bringing the global voices of all the URI community into the building. In his message which was also a reflection of the launch theme he said that it was also an inspiration of the 470 URI CCs around the world in the 74 countries who share the same URI purpose.
It was important to have other activities as part of the launch, as this was a chance to have all the religious groups represented in the building. Therefore in the morning there was a presentation by Sheikh Kaliisa from one of the Universities here. The presentation was on the theme :"Cultivating the culture of non violence through our religious traditions" After his presentation there was a very live discussion by many participants. It was also very clear that most people had a lot of myths surrounding the different faiths. Rabbai Gashom from the Jewish community, Lavanga from the Hare Krishna’s, Sheikh Sirajji from the Moslem, Fr. Anastasios from the Orthodox, Sisters from the Catholic, youths from the Bahai etc… each had to make some demystification of some of the various myths surrounding the different faith groups. George Olinga from the Bahai faith, who gave the closing remarks, said that it is important to have a meeting specifically to have another religious dialogue by the various faiths within URI as time was not enough to fully exhaust the realized thirst on this very topic. This would enhance appreciation and confidence building which may lead to harmonious co-existence of the different faith groups. “We have accepted that humanity is one and that religion is one in its diversity….. No Messenger of God has ever accused another that they are wrong, so who are we to challenge that and promote these divisions” Mr. Olinga asserted. Ms. Despina Namwembe gave some highlights about the local work in the sub-region and the affiliation with URI global. She provided an overview of membership criteria, purpose and organizational design including CC presence. It was realized that URI had strong linkages with the two major inter-religious organizations in the country; the Uganda Joint Christian Council (UJCC) and the Inter-religious Council of Uganda (IRCU). These had to do with how each of these was formed. Ms. Namwembe highlighted the activities so far carried out by the office and CCs in the area of interfaith, environment, health, peace building and economic justice. The representatives from UJCC and IRCU also gave their partnership support messages including calling on those in the fraternity to work together for a stronger voice. Mr. Hailu shared about the global URI including the global presence, history of URI, the charter signing, and the global focus of the CCs. He also shared about the URI Africa plans of having URI presence in all the African Union states. In response to the theme he shared about the Golden Rule and how the different countries are embracing it as well as the initiative by the Interfaith Peacebuilding Initiative CC in Ethiopia to have a specific day for celebrating the Golden Rule Day. He also shared about the charter of Compassion and later called on all the religious groups to embrace these initiatives as they are very clear about the respect for human lives and a good model for non violent behavior. Mr. Hailu’s presence and Rev. Gibbs’ statement were a great boost to the meeting as it reflected that URI-Great Lakes is not alone but with others supportive of our purpose on an internal level. Mr. Hailu also made efforts for Ms. Namwembe to be linked to the Ambassadors in the Great Lakes region and we exchanged business cards with some Ambassadors for further interaction and diplomatic support in the region. The Chief Guest, Hon. Dr. James Nsaba Buturo the Minister of State for Ethics and Integrity, thanked URI for launching the initiative in the region. He said that all the religious divisions that we have are man made and have never been sanctioned by God. He said issues surrounding, violence, irresponsible behavior, hatred, and corruption have no room in the eyes of God. He also called on the religious leaders and people of faith to be the torch bearers in living respectable lives that promote our faith values. He said that religion is supposed to guide us to live virtuous lives but most people have decided to abandon this. He thanked the religious leaders and the people of faith for always supporting the government efforts in all sectors that have developed the country. He thanked URI for building the various partnerships both local and international that promote interfaith cooperation and pledged to continue working with the sub-regional office whenever need arises. Twekolere Women’s Development CC then entertained those in attendance through their renowned dances which were followed by lunch. In summary, URI was highly received by the key partners both within government and civil society organizations. This was also a major highlight bringing to the front the URI purpose to a bigger audience both in the meeting and to the general public. The journey for URI-Great Lakes to be further appreciated, recognized, included and supported has taken a major stride.
WELCOME REMARKS BY BISHOP M. BAKER OCHOLA II, THE CHAIRPERSON OF UNITED RELIGIONS INITIATIVE – GREAT LAKES SUB-REGION, DURING THE LAUNCH ON 30TH APRIL, 2010 AT HOTEL AFRICANA.
Our Chief Guest Hon. Dr. James Nsaba Buturo. Honorable Members Members in the Civil service Religious Leaders And all the people of faith present here
I welcome you to the launching of the United Religions Initiative – Great Lakes. It is my utmost pleasure to be apart of this day when this important initiative is being launched in the country. As one scholar once said; There can be no peace among the nations without peace among the religions, and there cannot be peace among religious without dialogue between the religions and there can not be dialogue between the religions without ethical standards and there can not be survival for us all on the globe without global ethic, supported by both religious and non religious people.
Religion has been for long tended to divide us although the doctrines in these different religions teach us to love one another with no exceptions. This has now become “lip service” but not the reality in everything that we do. If we are able to deepen ourselves in our religious teachings then all the worldly problems would be to a great extent solved.
We have also seen instances where religion has been used to foster personal agendas without necessarily using it in its primary domain. Religious hatred is so divisive that people can not have the opportunity to see reason apart from identifying ourselves in a manner that promotes division.
Secondly, we have seen that our religious doctrines teach us something else and we decide to act quite differently. No religion teaches hatred, violence or corruption. Nonetheless we have seen that these have become part and parcel of our daily lives and we have embraced these acts with wide open arms. Society is suffering simply because of our own acts. We have failed to be tolerant and at the same time failed to love one another as our different faiths teach us. We have become a poor nation due to un ethical conduct of some our faithful, an environment insensitive community, a violent community.
We therefore need to respect and appreciate the diversity that we have. Let this diversity not be there to divide us but rather to strengthen each of us by bringing out those unique qualities that each religious doctrine teaches us to uphold. If we consider one another as children from the supreme divine being who is loving and caring, we can then practice serving Him better in our day to day lives hence move forward in a more concerted, loving and harmonious way as brothers and sisters who care and support one another.
Thank you and Blessings.
Bishop M. Baker Ochola II CHAIRPERSON BOARD URI-GL |
