I thought this was pretty cool........

Thursday January 24 9:32 AM ET Pope and Religious Leaders Shun War in God's Name

By Philip Pullella

ASSISI, Italy (Reuters) - Pope John Paul (news - web sites), flanked by Muslims and Jews, Buddhists and African animists, said on Thursday the world's religions should ask themselves if they had done everything to fend off ``the dark clouds of terrorism.''

Christian monks in brown woolen habits, saffron-robed Buddhists, black-cloaked Muslims, Sikhs wearing turbans, white-bearded Orthodox patriarchs -- they came from all over the world on a peace train to pray near the tomb of St. Francis.

``We are here, as representatives of different religions to examine ourselves before God concerning our commitment to peace, to bear witness to our shared longing for a world of greater justice and solidarity,'' the Pope said.

``We wish to do our part in fending off the dark clouds of terrorism, hatred, armed conflict, which in these last few months have grown particularly ominous on humanity's horizon.''

Wearing his traditional white robe, the Roman Catholic leader sat on a red stage flanked by a kaleidoscope of religious figures as they each addressed a crowd of some 3,000 people in a white tent held up by steel scaffolding.

``The shadows will not be dissipated with weapons. Darkness is dispelled by sending our bright beams of light,'' he said.

The Middle East crisis came to the fore when Rabbi Israel Singer of the World Jewish Congress departed from his prepared address and alluded to the conflict with Palestinians.

``You should tell your people, and we should tell ours, all of us, all of us, to question whether land or places are more important than people's lives. And until we learn to do that there will be no peace,'' Singer said, raising his voice.

BUDDHIST CHANT, CHRISTIAN CITY

Assisi, a medieval city accustomed to hearing the sounds of western choirs and Gregorian chants, was treated to something different as religious pluralism ruled.

Geshe Tashi Tsering, wearing a crimson and saffron robe, began his intervention from the stage with a Buddhist chant and then said: ``May I become at all times, both now and forever, a protector for those without protection....''

Photos

Reuters Photo Chief Amadou Gasseto, of the traditional Vodou animist religion of the West African nation of Benin, said the occasion taught ``the art of knowing how to respect one's adversary, of tolerating differences and understanding others' convictions.''

It is the third such day of peace organized by the Pope during his 23-year pontificate, and he wants to ram home the message that conflict, murder and violence should never be carried out in the name of God.

The Pope hopes the meeting will help promote relations with Muslims in the wake of the September 11 suicide plane attacks on the United States and the subsequent war in Afghanistan (news - web sites).

SOLEMN VOW

After the morning session the religious groups went off to pray in various rooms within the complex for further meditation before sharing a vegetarian lunch together.

In the afternoon they will return to the tent to solemnly vow never to support violence in God's name.

Aboard the train taking the leaders from the Vatican (news - web sites) to Assisi, some of the participants spoke of their hopes and fears.

``Killing in the name of God is blasphemy,'' said Samuel Rene-Sirat, a Grand Rabbi from France. ``To kill in the name of God is to kill twice.''

The followers of a dozen religions came more in hope than expectation. All called for peace and understanding but no one seemed to believe the initiative would end fighting in Kashmir (news - web sites), silence guns in Afghanistan or halt the Middle East conflict.

And away from Assisi, not everyone was happy with the initiative and some have criticized the Pope.

``To pray with heretics, schismatics, rabbis, mullahs, witch doctors and various idolaters creates confusion among Catholic believers,'' Federico Bricolo and Massimo Polledri, members of an Italian government coalition party, said in a statement.

-- Anonymous, January 24, 2002

Answers

Thank you for sharing this EM. Gives some hope in a rather dark world situation.

-- Anonymous, January 24, 2002

I second dianne . . . Too much violence has been (and continues) to be done in the name of God. It is very inspiring to see the world's religious leaders come forward publicly, and denounce violence done to anyone in the name of God. God, I was taught, was to inspire love for our fellow man. Thanks EM.

-- Anonymous, January 24, 2002

Man, the guy is walking his talk, isn't he? Thanks for sharing. I'm impressed (and have been) by this aging Pontiff. As a life-long Protestant, I've lately come to have immense respect for (more or less contemporary) Catholicism.

Oh, if we could only *all* go back to the Garden of Eden (or equivalent). *sigh* wouldn't things be so much more pleasant?! Then we could start off in the right direction and (among other things) bypass the Tower of Babel, etc.

-- Anonymous, January 24, 2002

Actually the ol guy has pissed me off as many times as he has made me smile, especially his frequent contributions to world-wide, "divine" endorsed homophobia and sexism. But I think he should get lotsa strokes for his tenacious work on world peace.

-- Anonymous, January 25, 2002