Greetings from Lahore, Pakistan!! Interfaith Youth in Action (IYA), a network of diverse faith youth and a project of Youth Development Foundation (YDF) with Separate leadership and local chapter of World Faith USA, is a non-profit, non-government and secular organization led by young people from diverse faiths and backgrounds in Pakistan. IYA serves as a network of diverse youth to promote pluralism and mutual respect for religious diversity and bridge building among youth of different faiths through interfaith dialogues, friendly relationship and human based coexistent.
Our purpose is to provide opportunity and safe spaces for the youth of each faith to come together to build understanding, reduce misconceptions and develop healthy relationship through social activities, exposures visits, interfaith celebrations, sports gathering and community service activities to promote interfaith dialogues and relationship building by interaction and practical action for peace and harmony in Pakistani context.
We have been implementing our various peace advocacy projects mainly in post conflicts areas like Lahore, Faisalabad and Rawalpindi; Solidarity has been one of the focal themes in promoting and advocating peace as a way of life.
Originally posted on CPNN: http://cpnn-world.org/cgi-bin/read/articlepage.cgi?ViewArticle=932
Thanks Interfaith Youth in Action for promoting peace. We in Uganda,On16th November 2012 InterChange4 peace- Uganda local chapter in conjunction with Media for peace and religious tolerance , celebrated International day of Tolerance .The purpose behind celebrating this day is to promoting the act of tolerance. International day Of Tolerance was started by UNESCO in 1996 to general public awareness of the dangers of intolerance. This event is one of the most popular events and hence celebrated in all over the world
Communities in the world can do without some necessities and still continue to survive as usual but there is one ideal attribute we cannot just ignore and this is none other than tolerance.
It is on record that communities and countries that uphold tolerance are always synonymous with peace. This is because tolerance and peace are bed fellows which can as a result usher in democratic institutions in any given society.
The principles of co-existence and tolerance are important as bases for building mutually acceptable relationships between highly diverse communities within a larger society.
If the integrative system is to succeed, that is, if it is to be able to hold a diverse community together as a single entity for example, a nation state, there must be a certain level of tolerance between the different religious, ethnic and racial groups living in that state.
In the absence of tolerance and willing co-existence, societies will be in perpetual conflict, with each side trying to somehow get rid of the other, either by forcing them to leave as refugees, through genocide, or by one group completely dominating and de-humanizing the opposing group or groups.
The element of dehumanization or domination can only be given room in a society which is composed of individuals who are intolerant to one another.
Tolerance should be every person’s house word because without it, conflict finds permanent residence in our families and society as a whole. Our societies at whichever level can become the centre of conflict given the fact that we are intolerant to one another.
In every setting, there are always divergent views so the mere fact that we disagree in principle should not be the basis under which we should not promote tolerance.
Revenge as is always resorted to, in most cases, when conflict arises creates unwarranted violence and his situation is not good for our wellbeing.
I concur with Fethulah Mohammad Gulen when he says in his book, “Toward A Global Civilisation of Love and Tolerance” that humankind should co-exist with one another by exercising a greater degree of tolerance.” Gulen is a top Muslim scholar who has authored many books through which he implores peoples of diverse religions, cultures and beliefs to be tolerant and live together in harmony.
How co-existence is structured can vary widely. Generally, there are two approaches, one seeking to minimize or ignore differences between groups and the other recognizing differences, but honoring each group as being valuable and unique.
The first is embodied in the concept of the “melting pot,” an idea developed in the United States which referred to the fact that many different nationalities and ethnic groups supposedly “melted together” to become Americans.
Until the 1970s or so, the goal of most minority groups was to become integrated into the dominant white society. People wanted to be judged, as civil rights leader Martin Luther King put it, “not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
Tolerance, if well utilized, can make this world a paradise because conflict and violence cannot degenerate into anarchy and chaos.
All in all, tolerance is a vital asset because if all humanity embraced it, this world would be a nice place for us to live in without chaos.
Issa Kiraira
InterChage4peace Uganda chapter.
ikirarira@yahoo.com
0712602048
Thanks Interfaith Youth in Action for promoting peace. We in Uganda,On16th November 2012 InterChange4 peace- Uganda local chapter in conjunction with Media for peace and religious tolerance , celebrated International day of Tolerance .The purpose behind celebrating this day is to promoting the act of tolerance. International day Of Tolerance was started by UNESCO in 1996 to general public awareness of the dangers of intolerance. This event is one of the most popular events and hence celebrated in all over the world
Communities in the world can do without some necessities and still continue to survive as usual but there is one ideal attribute we cannot just ignore and this is none other than tolerance.
It is on record that communities and countries that uphold tolerance are always synonymous with peace. This is because tolerance and peace are bed fellows which can as a result usher in democratic institutions in any given society.
The principles of co-existence and tolerance are important as bases for building mutually acceptable relationships between highly diverse communities within a larger society.
If the integrative system is to succeed, that is, if it is to be able to hold a diverse community together as a single entity for example, a nation state, there must be a certain level of tolerance between the different religious, ethnic and racial groups living in that state.
In the absence of tolerance and willing co-existence, societies will be in perpetual conflict, with each side trying to somehow get rid of the other, either by forcing them to leave as refugees, through genocide, or by one group completely dominating and de-humanizing the opposing group or groups.
The element of dehumanization or domination can only be given room in a society which is composed of individuals who are intolerant to one another.
Tolerance should be every person’s house word because without it, conflict finds permanent residence in our families and society as a whole. Our societies at whichever level can become the centre of conflict given the fact that we are intolerant to one another.
In every setting, there are always divergent views so the mere fact that we disagree in principle should not be the basis under which we should not promote tolerance.
Revenge as is always resorted to, in most cases, when conflict arises creates unwarranted violence and his situation is not good for our wellbeing.
I concur with Fethulah Mohammad Gulen when he says in his book, “Toward A Global Civilisation of Love and Tolerance” that humankind should co-exist with one another by exercising a greater degree of tolerance.” Gulen is a top Muslim scholar who has authored many books through which he implores peoples of diverse religions, cultures and beliefs to be tolerant and live together in harmony.
How co-existence is structured can vary widely. Generally, there are two approaches, one seeking to minimize or ignore differences between groups and the other recognizing differences, but honoring each group as being valuable and unique.
The first is embodied in the concept of the “melting pot,” an idea developed in the United States which referred to the fact that many different nationalities and ethnic groups supposedly “melted together” to become Americans.
Until the 1970s or so, the goal of most minority groups was to become integrated into the dominant white society. People wanted to be judged, as civil rights leader Martin Luther King put it, “not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
Tolerance, if well utilized, can make this world a paradise because conflict and violence cannot degenerate into anarchy and chaos.
All in all, tolerance is a vital asset because if all humanity embraced it, this world would be a nice place for us to live in without chaos.
Issa Kiraira
InterChage4peace Uganda chapter.
ikirarira@yahoo.com
0712602048
Thanks Interfaith Youth in Action for promoting peace. We in Uganda,On16th November 2012 InterChange4 peace- Uganda local chapter in conjunction with Media for peace and religious tolerance , celebrated International day of Tolerance .The purpose behind celebrating this day is to promoting the act of tolerance. International day Of Tolerance was started by UNESCO in 1996 to general public awareness of the dangers of intolerance. This event is one of the most popular events and hence celebrated in all over the world
Communities in the world can do without some necessities and still continue to survive as usual but there is one ideal attribute we cannot just ignore and this is none other than tolerance.
It is on record that communities and countries that uphold tolerance are always synonymous with peace. This is because tolerance and peace are bed fellows which can as a result usher in democratic institutions in any given society.
The principles of co-existence and tolerance are important as bases for building mutually acceptable relationships between highly diverse communities within a larger society.
If the integrative system is to succeed, that is, if it is to be able to hold a diverse community together as a single entity for example, a nation state, there must be a certain level of tolerance between the different religious, ethnic and racial groups living in that state.
In the absence of tolerance and willing co-existence, societies will be in perpetual conflict, with each side trying to somehow get rid of the other, either by forcing them to leave as refugees, through genocide, or by one group completely dominating and de-humanizing the opposing group or groups.
The element of dehumanization or domination can only be given room in a society which is composed of individuals who are intolerant to one another.
Tolerance should be every person’s house word because without it, conflict finds permanent residence in our families and society as a whole. Our societies at whichever level can become the centre of conflict given the fact that we are intolerant to one another.
In every setting, there are always divergent views so the mere fact that we disagree in principle should not be the basis under which we should not promote tolerance.
Revenge as is always resorted to, in most cases, when conflict arises creates unwarranted violence and his situation is not good for our wellbeing.
I concur with Fethulah Mohammad Gulen when he says in his book, “Toward A Global Civilisation of Love and Tolerance” that humankind should co-exist with one another by exercising a greater degree of tolerance.” Gulen is a top Muslim scholar who has authored many books through which he implores peoples of diverse religions, cultures and beliefs to be tolerant and live together in harmony.
How co-existence is structured can vary widely. Generally, there are two approaches, one seeking to minimize or ignore differences between groups and the other recognizing differences, but honoring each group as being valuable and unique.
The first is embodied in the concept of the “melting pot,” an idea developed in the United States which referred to the fact that many different nationalities and ethnic groups supposedly “melted together” to become Americans.
Until the 1970s or so, the goal of most minority groups was to become integrated into the dominant white society. People wanted to be judged, as civil rights leader Martin Luther King put it, “not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
Tolerance, if well utilized, can make this world a paradise because conflict and violence cannot degenerate into anarchy and chaos.
All in all, tolerance is a vital asset because if all humanity embraced it, this world would be a nice place for us to live in without chaos.
Issa Kiraira
InterChage4peace Uganda chapter.
ikirarira@yahoo.com
0712602048