“Our Peace is Our Power”

4 December 2011

While world leaders and delegates have been striving to make decisions on the future of our planet and its people, faith communities in Durban and around the world have been praying. In the middle of the second week of the COP 17 UN climate conference, faith leaders and communities from various backgrounds gathered together to pray for a meaningful outcome.

Banners read, “We Have Faith, Act Now for Climate Justice”. Our prayer was to support and to guide leaders to make ethical choices based on justice and equality together with the sacredness of human life. When a higher power is sought, said KZN Inter-Religious Council leader Father Mike, “another world is possible”.

There was representation from various faith communities including Hindu, Jewish, Christian, Baha’i, Muslim and Buddhist. All were praying and hoping for the Divine to be present with the world, and to remind us of the inherent oneness and unity of humankind. Our Green Bishop Geoff Davies said, “moral principles need to be put at the heart of the climate issue. We need to move from being self-centred to other-centred. Compassion must guide our leaders and conservation and compassion go together.”

Everyone at the prayer service vowed to pray daily for the meaningful outcome of the COP this week.

Quotes from the various faiths include: from the Baha’i Faith, “Oh Though Kind Lord! Unite all. Let the Religions agree and make the nations one, so that they may see each other as one family and the whole earth as one home” and from the Buddhist Faith “be aware of the contact between your feet and the earth. Walk as if your feet are kissing the earth.” From the Bible “God created the world… and it was good”

As our negotiators are meeting this final week of COP, faith communities’ have faith in a better world for all, especially for the most vulnerable. Our world leaders now need to show the same level of faith and commitment to the meaningful, fair, ambitious and legally binding outcome from these COP talks in Durban. – Nava Derakhshani, SAFCEI staff