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2010 RCP Conference

Declaration of the
Council of Religious Leaders in Israel

In 2009 during the 3rd meeting for the Council of Religious Leaders in Israel, an organization established two years earlier, more than a hundred participants - including the highest official religious leaders from six different faiths and more than a dozen different denominations - signed a landmark pledge for interfaith cooperation and mutual respect based upon a recognition of a common humanity flowing from the Faith in One Creator of All.
Little if any media coverage has paid attention to this.
Rabbi David Rosen, one of the signers, commented that perhaps if the religious leaders had bloodied each others noses it would have made the news.
Common Bond Institute invited Rabbi Rosen to present the pledge at a keynote address to it's 2010 International Conference on Religion, Conflict, and Peace in Dearborn, Michigan to help highlight and raise public awareness of this important occasion.
We will continue to do so through our events, including a new international conference planned to be held at Neve Shalom/Wahat Al Salaam in Israel in 2011

Declaration of the
Council of Religious Leaders in Israel

Presented to 2010 RCP Conference
by Rabbi David Rosen

We the religious leaders in the State of Israel who have come together to establish a council for cooperation between us, affirm our belief in the Creator of the universe who directs His world with loving kindness and compassion and who calls upon us human beings to live with one another in peace and dignity.

Accordingly we hereby declare that:

We are committed to do everything in our power to fulfill this important charge especially in the Holy Land that is dear to us all.

First and foremost we declare our commitment to the sanctity of human life and reject all violence against innocents, especially when this is done in the name of religion which is a desecration of the sacred.

In order to establish peace and mutual respect among the different religious communities in our land, we must educate our children and congregations accordingly and prevent any offense against the feelings or beliefs of others.

Holy Sites are an inheritance from our predecessors and require preservation as religious and cultural heritage. This is in keeping with the Law of the State of Israel on the subject of the protection of holy sites. The unity and special character of holy sites must be preserved and they must be protected from all violence and desecration.
It is the responsibility of religious leaders to strengthen this approach and to call on their communities to ensure that the holy sites of other religious communities are not harmed.

In accordance with the above and in keeping with the commandments and prohibitions of the respective religions, free access must be provided for believers to their respective holy sites and the empowered civil authorities must guarantee this.

Our religious heritages teach that peace, doing justice and righteousness are the commandments of the Holy One Blessed Be He and as religious leaders we have special responsibility to be attentive to the cry of the weak in our midst and to work together for a more just and fair society.

Offering our prayer heavenwards, we give thanks to the Creator who has enabled us to come together this day in order to work together to bring blessing for all the inhabitants of the State of Israel.

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