G20 Religion Forum: "Stop using identity as a political weapon"

In the final statement from the G20 Religion Forum (R20) in Bali, Indonesia, religious leaders from around the world have promised to spread a sense of unity and respect among people from different backgrounds and "stop using identity as a political weapon."

The communiqué R20 Bali 2022 said, "It is important to stress the need to work against spreading hatred between communities and to show solidarity and respect for people from different backgrounds, cultures, and countries."

"We prevent identification as a political weapon," it continued.

The R20 Religion Forum brings together religious leaders, sects, and traditions from around the world. Its goal is to help people from different countries, faiths, and walks of life understand each other and live together peacefully.

In this official declaration, religious leaders from around the world also discussed the need to protect those who have been injured by violence and communities that are suffering as a result of war.

"Religious leaders in R20 are concerned about issues like pollution, natural catastrophes, poverty, unemployment, lack of care, extremism, and terrorism," it added.

On November 2-3, Nahdlatul Ulama, also known as NU (the Revival of the Religious Scholars), an Islamic organization in Indonesia, and the Muslim World League (MWL) initiated the R20 Forum in Bali to discuss ways to resolve conflicts based on religion and how religion might assist in addressing global problems.

Through this communiqué R20, the leaders of the world religions urged religious, social, economic, and political leaders from all over the world to work together to make sure that religion is a source of solutions, not problems.

The document said, "R20 tries to bring spiritual values and morality into the world's social, political, and economic systems."

In his message to the R20 Religion Forum delegates, Pope Francis talked about the role of religion in finding answers to the problems that people, society, and the world face (RVA News, Nov. 5).

The event was attended by 338 people from 32 countries, of whom 124 were foreign-born, according to the event's organizer. In the forum, there were 45 speakers representing five continents.

Next year, this forum will be hosted by India.-Kasmir Nema.