UAE Has Enabled Religious Minorities to Meet, Teach, Worship and Express Themselves: Archbishop of Canterbury

By Emirates News Agency (WAM) Reprint | | Print |

ABU DHABI, Nov 3 2016 - The UAE has taken practical steps to enable religious minorities to meet, teach, worship and express themselves, the Archbishop of Canterbury said in his opening keynote address on Wednesday at a dialogue on integration, religious freedom and flourishing societies organised by the Muslim Council of Elders and with Christian leaders from the Anglican Communion.

“I am delighted to be here, and profoundly honoured to have the opportunity to continue the process of relationship and dialogue with Al Azhar and the Muslim Council of Elders that began in 2002, and which has continued since through good times and bad.

We owe much to the wisdom and courage of our predecessors. We are also indebted to other work, notably the Marrakesh Declaration on the protection of Minorities in Muslim majority lands. These relationships and declarations must always be upheld and their spirit followed through, because they are good, and because of our deep respect for those who have gone before us,” he told the gathering.

Present were Dr. Amal Abdullah Al Qubaisi, Speaker of the Federal National Council, Dr. Ahmed Al-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Al-Sharif and President of the Muslims Council of Elders, Dr. Ali Al Nuaimi, Secretary-General of the Council, Dr. Mohammed Matar Al Kaabi, Chairman of the General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowments, along with a number of religious and cultural figures from around the world.

“It is fitting too that we meet in a country (UAE) which has taken practical steps to enable religious minorities to meet, teach, worship and express themselves. It shows a confidence in granting freedom, and a self confidence which is fitting and proper. We can only be grateful for the clear thinking expressed here. This freedom cannot be taken for granted in a world currently beset by a crisis of confidence in the rights it pledged itself to uphold in the aftermath of the Second World War,” he added.

Archbishop Justin Welby, also Head of the Anglican Communion, said,” The crisis is affecting all faith groups, deepening nationalist tensions, and leaking across from the approach to faith into the most acute challenges to international law, human flourishing and stability. It has renewed permission for those in political campaigns to condemn all Muslims, or other groups they dislike.” ” The historic centre of the Christian Church in the Middle East has never felt so threatened, but is also under attack in countries as diverse as North Korea, where Christians are harassed, imprisoned, persecuted and killed. We are grateful for the protection of the Church and advocacy of the rights of Christians in majority Muslim lands and I want to say thank you,” he said.

Sixty eight years after the United Nations agreed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, he noted, this situation is intolerable and as faith communities we must step up and hold governments to account. This is a challenge for us all everywhere but none-more-so than in countries where faith communities have serious power through numerical, political or civic strength.

“Within the United Kingdom, Christians and Muslims have worked together on a government funded initiative, run by the Church of England, called Near Neighbours which has catalysed hundreds of grassroots socially transformative projects. We have also worked together to provide a clear moral voice on political and legislative decision-making,” he further added.

According to him, the Church of England is at the forefront of advocating the rights of Muslim communities to establish schools and mosques across the country. We have established and participated in faiths forums where the collective voice of faith communities in a largely secular society, can be heard more clearly. It is a cause for celebration that faith communities play such a vibrant role in every strata of British life and society.

“It was a joy to worship today at St Andrew s Church here in Abu Dhabi and it is to the credit of the authorities and government here that Christian worship has been allowed to flourish and grow and we thank you again. I am concerned that this is becoming the exception rather than the rule though in many parts of the world.

“The challenge then is for all of us at this conference to make some serious progress in establishing not just the theological foundations for flourishing and integrated societies where freedom of religion and belief is a given, but to go much further and to establish practical steps to ensure this happens in the societies and countries we represent and live in,” the Archbishop of Canterbury concluded.

Dr. Ahmed Al-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Al-Sharif and President of the Muslims Council of Elders, said the meeting, the first of its kind in the Arab World and Middle East, aims to take new steps towards building a more understanding and integrated world that works to alleviate suffering of the mankind from terror, pain, bloodshed and wars.

“Spread of materialism, atheism and anti-religious and oppressive policies were behind many tragedies the humanity is enduring today,” he noted.

“Humanity today is yearning to go back to the essence of heavenly religions and their human and moral teachings after it tested and experienced many destructive, tyrant, arrogant and expansionist experiments,” he added.

Dr. Al-Tayeb regretted that the impressive scientific advancements and breakthroughs had not matched by parallel progress in ethics. “On the contrary, the technological progress, notably in lethal weapon industry, has come void of any values to regulate its steps towards the right humanitarian path,” he noted.

The first panel discussion addressed religious multilateralism and freedom of belief.