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US, Iranian religious leaders, academics issue joint call for peace amid rising global conflicts
A group of prominent religious leaders, scholars and faith-based peace advocates from the United States and Iran issued a joint statement opposing war and urging governments to take “concrete steps towards reconciliation” before further catastrophes unfold.
The signatories include Ayatollah Mostafa Mohaghegh Damad, dean of the Department of Islamic Studies at the Academy of Sciences of Iran; Professor Gholamreza Aavani, member of the Iranian Academy of Sciences; Dr. Reza Davari Ardakani, distinguished emeritus professor of philosophy at the University of Tehran; most reverend John C. Wester, Catholic Archbishop of Santa Fe; Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie, president and general secretary of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA; Rabbi Amy Eilberg, peace and justice activist; and Professor Jim Wallis of Georgetown University.
In their joint declaration, titled ‘A Time for Peace,’ the leaders say the world is “ensnared in armed conflicts that engender despair, anxiety, and the unending slaughter of innocents,” and call for urgent action to prevent the spread of war.
Below is the full text of the statement:
Today the human family is ensnared in armed conflicts that engender despair, anxiety, and the unending slaughter of innocents.
We are a group of religious leaders from the United States and Iran. With profound sympathy for all victims of war and oppression, we together implore our governmental leaders and those of other countries to take concrete steps towards reconciliation before even greater catastrophes befall us.
Now is the time for religious leaders everywhere to take meaningful, constructive steps toward lasting peace and to extinguish the flames of enmity and hatred. Mutual trust must be forged between nations and faith communities, grounded in our sacred texts that call us to extend good will even in the hardest circumstances.
Genuine peace means more than the cessation of hostilities. It entails cooperation across differences to address injustice, poverty and hunger, environmental degradation, and threats to public health.
To realize true peace which blesses all parties to conflict, religious leaders must call those wielding political power to oppose all aggression and tyranny, to acknowledge the rights of others, and to uphold universal human rights. Religious leaders with moral authority, sustained by their communities, must courageously stand for human dignity and nonviolent means of resolving conflicts.
The Golden Rule – do unto others as you would have them do unto you – is a cornerstone of our shared heritage and comes from God speaking directly to Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad.
If action to transform violent conflicts is not taken now, the horrors of war and devastation will spread and engulf thousands, if not millions, of innocent lives. We cannot allow that to happen.
We stand ready to partner with governments, other faith communities, and civil society organizations to prepare the ground for genuine peace and cooperation, allowing hope to overcome cynicism and despair. And we pray that such a concerted effort, across national and communal borders, will bear fruit, so that our children and grandchildren can share an increasingly interdependent world in which all inhabitants flourish in lasting peace and security.