World Jewish News

Religious leaders made an extremely big contribution to the dialogue during the session of the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Religious leaders made an extremely significant contribution to the dialogue having taken place during the annual session of the World Economic Forum (WEF) which ended in Davos on Tuesday. This opinion was expressed by Chief Rabbi of Russia Berl Lazar in a conversation with ITAR-TASS news agency reporter. Mr. Lazar participated in the conference, during which the issue of "Creating Trust" was discussed. Thirty seven religious figures representing different confessions had been invited to the Forum. Their presence at the conference gathering the World's economic and political elite points out at the important role that the religion plays in the society. The WEF sociological survey conducted in 15 countries proved the fact. According to the survey, religious and spiritual leaders, along side with NGO and UN leaders, are trusted immensely by the citizens. "Thanks God, that there is trust to those whose life's essential principle is not only trust, but faith as well", said Berl Lazar. Mr. Lazar reported that the religious figures present at the Forum participated in discussing poverty, AIDS, the crisis of trust.
Speaking of his meetings with the Muslim clergy, Mr. Lazar said, "I did not expect them to be so open and so willing to find new means of communicating and understanding each other". There was no unanimity among the religious figures as to the situation around Iraq. As to the relations between Palestine and Israel, the Chief Rabbi of Russia said "that people understand that it is the time to negotiate",
Mr. Lazar highly estimates the course of the interreligious dialogue in progress in Russia. He stressed that, in the Russian Federation, "the Interreligious Council doing a good job", and "there is good relations and understand between the religions". In Russia, the intrareligious relations are "better than those in many other countries", concluded Mr. Lazar.

Источник: religio.ru