The Congress was held at the Palace of Peace in the capital city of Kazakhstan, Astana, on Wednesday (Oct 10), as noted in a press statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs received here on Thursday.
"The world leaders have a crucial responsibility to restore the role of religion as a guide to achieve peace in the world," Fachir remarked in his statement at the congress.
Fachir emphasized that religion should be a source of inspiration for world leaders to create interrelationship among humans based on harmony and tolerance.
"Violent acts and extremism are essentially not derived from the noble teachings of religion. In reality, these acts are contrary to the main mission of religion," he pointed out.
For instance, he further stated that although Indonesia is not a religion-based country, it has succeeded in embodying the noble values contained in religious teachings.
"With various existing religions and diverse languages and ethnic groups, the Indonesian people respect each other`s differences and live a peaceful existence," he noted.
Fachir also informed the congress participants of the Indonesian government`s efforts to achieve peace through religion. He remarked that the Indonesian government actively involves various religion-based civil society organizations, at home and abroad, to share the message of peace.
"So far, the government continues to encourage and facilitate religion-based groups of civil society to hold interfaith dialog," he noted.
In May 2018, the government had invited 138 ulemas of the world to participate in a meeting formulating a moderate concept in religion and resulting in the Bogor Message. In addition, the government held a trilateral conference of Indonesian, Afghan, and Pakistani Ulemas as a contribution to the efforts to achieving peace in the region.
At the bilateral level, the Indonesian government has established a dialog network with more than 30 countries. In fact, Indonesia has developed some interfaith dialog initiatives at the regional level, as in the framework of the Asia-Europe Meeting and APEC.
The congress, which lasted for two days, produced a declaration document that contained a shared commitment to realizing peace and encouraging concrete cooperation to spread the noble values of religion.
The congress was initiated by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and held for the first time in 2003. At this sixth meeting, several state and religious leaders, such as Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Grand Sheikh Azhar Sheikh Ahmad Thayeb, attended the triennial event.
Editing by Yoseph Hariyadi
Reporter: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
Editor: Andi Abdussalam
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
