Promoting Peaceful Coexistence and Common Citizenship

[ 131 ] — APPENDICES — necessary for developing citizenship by means of defining the qualities of citizenship and spreading positive values. 8 Firmly clinging to hope despite the difficulties we are facing, we must not despair or cease from the work of peace-building, and arriving at an appropriate mutual understanding between the followers of diverse religions. We appeal to all people of faith and good will, striving to build a more cooperative and peaceful world, to adopt these commitments and to work with us jointly toward achieving this goal. The Initiatives 1 We commit ourselves to conveying our stand against violence in the name of religion through this declaration. We want our collective, unified voice to be heard by political and religious leaders and governments in the region, and we are extending to all the invitation to make peace and stability a priority. We are in agreement about the principles we have put forth, and we will follow up with leaders about our commitment to these ideals through consistent communication. 2 We commit ourselves to the reinforcement and support of the initiatives and institutions promoting dialogue, and to the development of programs which seek to impact all people with the message of dialogue and peace. We are particularly concerned about the youth in schools and universities, since it is the young who are the ones most targeted by terrorist groups. We request that partners from government and organizations join with us in our concerted efforts in this regard, so that broader and more significant impact toward solidifying the culture of dialogue within societies can occur. 3 We call for an end to discourse which does not value diversity and respect for those who are different, culturally or religiously. All forms of extremism, hyperbole, blaspheming and violence must be removed from our communications. The concentration of our communication must be on the values of justice, peace, respect of differences and acceptance of the other. We will work toward launching an initiative that empowers political and religious institutions, as well as decision- makers, to adopt, and seriously support the adoption of, the discourse of dialogue and common citizenship. In addition, we call for launching an initiative that provides some legal means for addressing the discourse of confessionalist instigation. 4 We recognize the primary role of media in influencing public opinion and cultural interconnectedness. Regrettably, there has been an expansion of divisive discourse that appears on TV, online, in social media. In response to this reality, we pledge to encourage private media companies —Muslim and Christian alike — to work toward spreading the message of peace, respecting differences, seeking justice and engaging in dialogue. We intend to work together to support a special campaign through a multi-faceted media marketing plan in order to shed light on the positive aspects of our dialogue initiatives, and to promote the concepts of dialogue, joint citizenship and the culture of accepting the other. We will strive to share this message to the broadest audience possible. 5 We have profound appreciation for the role interreligious education plays in the formation of future generations. We are working diligently to ensure every child and young person is able to encounter the message of peace. To this end, we seek to review educational programs and textbooks, in collaboration with the concerned authorities, to see that appropriate introductions are available regarding the message of peace and dialogue toward the goal of understanding joint citizenship and coexistence. 6 We invite for endorsing the pioneering initiatives in the sectors of dialogue, reconciliation and citizenship- reinforcement, and we call for mainstreaming its framework through the entire Arab world. One of these initiatives is the initiative that is being launched by the Centre of King Abdullah, which focuses on dialogue for the sake of strengthening the notion of joint citizenship and seeks to become a connecting bridge between the various other initiatives in the region. 7 It is our desire to launch a permanent interreligious committee and working groups from various dialogue and interreligious institutions to follow up on the implementation of the conference recommendations, and to continue future coordination to enhance our collective capacity to react to the ongoing violence in the name of religion that has swept Iraq and Syria, and threatens the entire region.