A Korea- China- Japan Trilateral Religious Leaders’ Peace Conference was held in Gyeonggi, Korea on June 27 with the goal of putting religious boundaries aside to achieve peace together. Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL), an international non-governmental organization for peace, invited 120 Northeast Asian religious leaders for this interfaith peace talk.
Leaders representing Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Christianity, Cheondoism, Taoism, and Confucianism to discuss the roles of spiritual leaders and the concept of peace based on each respective religious texts. These discussions led to stimulating debate and mutual understanding among different faiths.
Chairman Man Hee Lee of HWPL awakened the duties of religious leaders of today. “Religious leaders have a crucial role in constantly studying and determining which religious scripture is the most believable to achieve peace. Leaders are responsible for their congregations to know that that differences in religions must not hinder the progress of peace and harmony in the interfaith world because conflict is not the will of the Creator nor that of any divine beings.” He continued, “I hope we, leaders of religions in Northeast Asia, will establish a path to peaceful coexistence.”
Chairwoman Nam Hee Kim of the International Women’s Peace Group (IWPG) said, “The religious world is imperative for it directly deals with the salvation of humanity. I believe every leader present today has a greater sense of duty to understand each other’s religious teachings to achieve alliance of religions and for peace.”
The background of this peace conference is HWPL’s World Alliance of Religions’ Peace (WARP) Office Meetings, a series of the worldwide interfaith peace dialogue solely based on scriptures aimed at establishing alliance of religions and preventing causes of conflicts which involves religious misunderstandings. Currently, 172 WARP Office Meetings are actively being held in 85 countries.
Ba Ding Duo Jie, Buddhist Abbot of the Shiva Temple, a member of the WARP Office in China said, “We need to think about how to bring unification among ourselves. Through participating HWPL’s WARP Office Meetings, I realized that the lack of communication among religious leaders was the reason why conflicts arise. I have witnessed that leaders, who have different backgrounds and knowledge, could be united under peace through the peace dialogue.”
“Through this kind of platform for all religions to meet together and reflect on the roles and history of religions, we are able to realize the cessation of war which intertwines the preservation of the lives of humanity. If it were only voices demanding for peace in the past, now it is a time to bring actions to those voices. HWPL is working for a great cause for mankind through this innovative approach to peace,” stated JeongSeok Lee, Teacher of Myeongnyun Institutes.
The Korea-China-Japan Trilateral Religious Leaders’ Peace Conference sought for constructive dialogue among leaders of religions to better understand the principles of religious teachings based on mutual respect and recognition of differences, thus contributing to an atmosphere of peace in the Northeast Asia region