MADRID: The World Conference on Dialogue opened by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah in Madrid on Wednesday gathered momentum yesterday with a call from the former speaker of the Philippine House of Representatives, Congressman Jose de Venecia Jr., for an interfaith dialogue council to be set up as a formal UN body.

He presented a draft resolution calling on the conference to petition King Abdullah, King Juan Carlos of Spain and Spanish Premier Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero to organize a joint Saudi-Spanish request to the UN for an Interfaith Council to promote and oversee “all global, regional and local interfaith dialogues among the great religions, civilizations, cultures, governments… to help resolve politico-religious, sectarian and ethnic conflicts and tensions in various parts of the world.”

The council would have the same standing as UNESCO or the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization.

The feeling at the conference was that his proposal would be endorsed when it ends today. There were numerous calls from delegates yesterday for practical ways to take the vision of dialogue forward so that the ideas and hopes expressed in Madrid can be put into action.

The conference has, as one American Muslim delegate noted, unleashed a “phenomenal growth of expectations” among those attending.

Redwan Naef Al-Sayyed, chairman of Lebanon’s International Institute for Islamic Studies, was one of many who said that institutions were needed if dialogue were to move forward. He called for a permanent secretariat and local ad-hoc working groups to be set up. Safwat El-Baiady, head of the Egyptian Council of Protestant Churches, thanking King Abdullah for initiating the dialogue, said that he had been involved in inter-religious dialogue for over 20 years but that had not stopped conflicts in the wider region. Dialogue had to have a dynamic and a “road map” to make it work in any practical way.

Quoting Catholic theologian Hans Kung that there can be no peace among nations without peace among religions, no peace among religions without dialogue between religions, no dialogue without recognizing global ethical standards and no survival of the world without a global ethic, Congressmen de Venecia said that one great common ethical principle was that all human beings are God’s creation and belong to one family. Unfortunately, there had been an explosion of “religious” conflicts in the 21st century. The Philippines and Pakistan had called for an interfaith dialogue to promote peace but “for two years had been ignored by the UN.”

Finally the UN had heeded that call but words were not enough, he said. There had to be action on dialogue.

A beginning had been made at Madrid but it had to be systematized so that there could be cooperation between religions rather than confrontation. He hoped his proposal for a formal UN interfaith council would be supported by Spain and by King Abdullah, whom he thanked for taking a lead in dialogue — by reaching out to the country’s Shiites, meeting with Pope Benedict XVI and now the conference on dialogue. He was a peacemaker, he said, most notably because of his efforts to end conflict between the Palestinians and Israelis and between Hamas and Fatah. He had been the only OPEC leader to try and bring down soaring oil prices.

The Filipino congressman’s support for religion as a foundation for peace rather than for conflict found strong backing among the participants. The problem, delegate after delegate said, was politicians using religion for their own ends. A former president of the Indonesian Parliament, firm in the belief that people “had to accept that the world has many religions,” took the same view. Faith, he said, provided people with the means to replace conflict by collaboration. There was too much poverty and hunger in the world, he added; religions could help deal with that.

That theme, of collaboration to help the world, has been a constant at the Madrid Dialogue. The link between politics and religion is another.

Attending on behalf of the InterAction Council, which brings together former prime ministers and heads of state, former Swedish Premier Ingvar Carlsson told Arab News that politicians must take account of religion in their deliberations and decisions. The council believes that religion can be a force for peace but also believes that religious misunderstandings have led to many conflicts.

“As a former statesman, I can say that politicians need to know more about religion,” he said. “They do not have to be religious themselves but they must not ignore religion. They must take it into account.” Equally, “they must not misuse religion for political purposes.”

Like so many other delegates, who openly spoke of a door being opened by King Abdullah which would not easily be closed, he was “extremely happy” that the initiative had been taken. “The king’s position and his prestige” in the Muslim world enabled dialogue to become a reality. Dialogue was “an extremely important issue,” he said. “Politicians must make contact with each other and work with (religious) moderates” to isolate extremists and prevent them from being able to spread terror.