Second Meeting of the Board of World Religious Leaders

What is the Crisis of the Holy?

The world's religions have evolved in response to numerous internal and external factors, but over time each has retained a solid (if constantly changing) outlook on life and the proper way to conduct it. Even throughout the political turmoils that sometimes shocked religions or their individual communities, a sense of purpose remained.The modern era,including but not limited to the pervasive intrusion of globalizing political and economic developments; the often simplistic, polarized and morally equivalent presentations seen in the media; and the sense of surety demanded in and promised by a culture dominated by science, has caused a threat to the foundations of the world's religions and the cohesive assurances of their societies.The members of the Elijah Interfaith Institute Think-tank see this crisis as a confluence of threats, challenges and opportunities for religions, indeed for Religion. Some of the opportunities provided by the crisis are: providing contexts in which to rectify old wrongs; stimulating the rethinking of long standing religious postures, allowing for adopting inclusive rather than exclusionary positions, and providing both the means and the methods to ensure the creative and spiritual strengthening of religions.

ATTENDING PARTICIPANTS:

 
BUDDHISTS

• Dharma Master Hsin-Tao, Taiwan

• Ven. Jinwol Lee, Korea

• Ven. Bhikkhuni Kusuma, Sri Lanka

• Ven. Jan Chozen Bays, United States

• Ven. Ashin Punnobhasa, Myanamar

• Ven. Khandro Rinpoche, India

CHRISTIANS

• Archbishop Boutros Mouallem, Israel

• Bishop  Hilarion, Austria

• Cardinal George Mejia, Vatican

• Josef Thomas Gotz, Germany

• Rev Bishop Lennart Koskinen, Sweden

• His Eminence Nikitas Lulias, Hong Kong

• His Eminence Paul Cardinal Shan, Taiwan

• Dr. Constantine Preda, Rumania

RELIGIONS OF INDIA

• H.H. Sugunendra Theertha Swamji, India

• Sister Maureen Goodman, Great Britain

• Sister Rajni, Japan

• Bhai Sahib Mohinder Singh, Great Britain

• H.H. Sri Rishi Prabhakarji, India

JEWS

• Chief Rabbi Menachem Hacohen, Rumania

• Chief Rabbi Shear Yashuv Cohen, Israel

• Rabbi David Rosen, the American Jewish Committee, Israel

• Rabbi Naftali Brawer, Great Britain

• Rabbi Richard Marker, United States

MUSLIMS

• Sheikh Muhammad Nur Abdullah, United States

• Dr. Adamou Ndam Njoya, Cameroon

• Dr. Y Mossa Basha, United States

• Sayyed Nadeem Kazmi, Great Britain

• Chief Kadi Ahmad Natour, Israel

• Dr. Ahmed Abadi, Morocco

• Sayyed Jawad Al Khoei, Great Britain

STAFF/THINK TANK MEMBERS

•  Sydney Engelberg, Elijah Interfaith Institute, Israel

• Maria Reis Habito, Museum of World Religions/Elijah Interfaith Institute, United States

• Roger Symon, Canterbury Cathedral

• Alon Goshen-Gottstein, Elijah Interfaith Institute, Israel

• Deepak Sarma, Case Western Reserve University, United States

• Therese Andrevon, France

• Harrison Griffith, Institute of Christian-Oriental Research

• Vanessa Sasson, McGill University, Canada

• Barry Levy, McGill University, Canada

• Michael Weil, Jewish People's Policy Planning Institute, Israel

• Michael Von Brueck, Munich University, Germany

• Gerald Weisfeld, Scotland

JOIN THE DISCUSSION!

Go to the Forum and discuss the topics with others.

The Elijah Interfaith Institute gratefully acknowledges support from the following organizations:

The Fetzer Institute
The Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions
The Episcopal Church, USA
The King Fahd Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Arkansas
The von Groeben Foundation
The Guerrand-Hermes Peace Foundation
McGill University, Montreal
The Museum of World Religions, Taiwan
The Gerald Weisfeld Foundation

View the sessions from Taiwan (now in archives).