A Catholic priest and a rabbi, both Argentines, will be part of the Religious Forum of the G20 (R20) that will be held next week in Bali, Indonesia, as a prelude to the summit of world leaders and with the aim of providing a view of the values of all religious creeds to economic, poverty and environmental problems, which, among others, will be analyzed by the heads of state.
“It is the first time that the Religious Forum is officially part of the G20 agenda,” Silvina Chemen, rabbi of the Bet-El Community, told Télam, who, together with the Catholic priest Carlos White, will participate in the event that, for to take place in a Muslim nation, was put together by the NGO Nahdlatul Ulama, the largest Islamic organization in the world with 90 million members.
“We managed to get the world leaders of the G20 to analyze the religious dimension in the decisions they make, that is, what contributions in values can the different faiths make to global problems”Silvina Cheman
All those who will make up this Religious Forum “have a past of defending peace and human rights and have initiated a global project of religions that for the first time accompanies the G20 leaders,” explained Chemen.
“We managed to get the world leaders of the G20 to analyze the religious dimension in the decisions they make, that is, what contributions in values can the different creeds make to world problems,” the rabbi described.
Kyai Haji Yahya Cholil Staquf, founding chair of the G20 Religion Forum and president of Indonesia’s Nahdlatul, stressed that the idea of the ecumenical meeting is to “facilitate the emergence of a global movement, in which people of good will from all religions and nations help align the world’s geopolitical and economic power structures with the highest moral and spiritual values.
The G20 Forum of Religions is using the Summit to help ensure that religion in the 21st century “functions as a genuine and dynamic source of solutions, rather than problems.”
To deliver on this vision, the R20 will mobilize religious, political, and economic leaders from G20 member states and other parts of the world with the aim of “preventing the militarization of religious identities, reducing the spread of communal hatred, and promoting solidarity and respect among the diverse peoples, cultures and nations of the world”.
Another goal will be to “foster the emergence of a truly just and harmonious world order, based on respect for the equal rights and dignity of all human beings.”
Bali, scene of the G20 Religious Forum
The religious forum will be held on November 2 and 3 on the island of Bali, where each representative will present a paper, while later they will travel for three days to the island of Java.
The next meetings of this ecumenical meeting will be in 2023 in Iran and in 2024 in Brazil.
“The proposal is to contribute from the spiritual but also from the moral, from the social or the ecological. It is the first time that such a formal meeting of religions is held. In Buenos Aires, in 2018, previously there were some religious who met but without much magnitudeCharles White
One of the points that the R20 will address is the prevention of the militarization of religion, something that is due to the “extremist factors of this time since not only is the Arab-Israeli conflict present, but there are many other conflicts in the world where religion is one of the causes”, detailed Chemen in dialogue with Télam.
The rabbi indicated that her presentation will be on “how religions return to the ethical needs of this time” and in this regard, she explained the need for the different faiths “not to stay inside the sanctuaries, but to go out and contribute in the territory for the construction of a society”.
“When it was the crisis of 2001 in Argentina, it was the third sector organizations that took to the streets to alleviate this situation. Religions must seek a humanity that is much more sensitive to world problems outside of sanctuaries,” he pointed out.
The Forum will allow leaders of all religious organizations “to express their concerns and give voice to the shared values of civilization,” he added.
Regarding religious extremism, the Nahdalul Ulama organization “considers the specific ways of interpreting Islam as the most important factor causing violence among Muslims.”
In a statement from the Forum, it is highlighted that the rotation of countries that organize the G20 “is a very good opportunity to involve the three most important religions in the world, Christianity, Hinduism and Islam, to create a more positive future for The humanity”.
For his part, Presbyter White told Télam that in Indonesia “some Muslim groups organized the religious forum with the 20 G20 countries” and said that “spiritual contributions and values that religions consider transcendent for the world will be discussed there.” from today”.
“The proposal is to contribute from the spiritual but also from the moral, from the social or the ecological. It is the first time that such a formal meeting of religions is held. In Buenos Aires, in 2018, previously there were some religious who met but without much magnitude,” White said.
The presentations of each religious may or may not be taken into account by the political system, but at the end of the talks a paper will be prepared with the final ideas. “Hopefully world leaders will take them into account,” White said.
“I celebrate this meeting of religious from all over the world since the possibility of having a voice that belongs to a group has a special force. Pope Francis himself, always linked to global poverty and environmental problems, promotes interreligious and ecumenical spaces because they have a force in itself”, added the priest.
Together with Rabbi Daniel Goldman, Chemen is the director of the Bet-El Jewish Community, and as a Communications graduate, she participated in the publication of materials for programs of the Ministry of Health, Social Action, Unesco and Unicef.
He is also a member of the Inadi Forum for Religious Diversity, representing the Jewish creed, and has given conferences and courses in interreligious fields in Argentina and abroad.
White was, among other positions, head of the Commission for Ecumenism and Interreligious Dialogue of the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires (Cediarzbaires).
