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RELIGIOUS PERSPECTIVES ON HUMAN RIGHTS
E-Newsletter
Vol.3 No.38
September 17, 2001
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Religious Perspectives on Human Rights is now available online at: http://www.rghr.net
Religious Perspectives on Human Rights is a weekly e-newsletter issued by Buddhist, Muslim, Catholic and Christian Groups on Human Rights, initiated by the Asian Human Rights Commission.
SPECIAL EDITION OF THE E-NEWSLETTER ?RPV3 N38
1) ONLY ANSWER TO FUNDAMENTALISM IS HUMANISM- AHRC statement
2) COMMENTS BY;
3) VICTIMS- THEY ARE A WORLD - a poem by Basil Fernando
1) ONLY ANSWER TO FUNDAMENTALISM IS HUMANISM- AHRC statement
People everywhere are sad about what happened at the United
States of America. Tears on the eyes of so many looking for their
loved ones, brought tears to the eyes of everybody. The pictures
of the missing persons exhibited by so many, touched the hearts
of many in the world who have all too often seen similar scenes.
Perhaps the most common factor in human experience throughout the
world today is tragedy.
At the point of tragedy, best of humanity comes out even in
societies which had previously been accused of the consumerist
culture. Even in a culture where due to better economic
circumstances " love thy neighbor" had seemed to become
irrelevant, tragedy has brought people together spontaneously and
with great warmth. Instead of being slavish to the market, the
human comes face to face with each other, holding hands, lighting
candles, signing songs ,digging the rubble ,and fighting fires.
Every one is feeling the need to lighten the burden of the other.
It is at this moment that we must remind ourselves that
degeneration of the sprit due to neglect of tragedies or misuse
of tragedies can have disastrous consequences to humanity.
Terrorism, which brought about the present tragedy, is a
consequence of such past tragedies and their misuse by various
political elements. Fundamentalism in religion is essentially the
separation of humanism from religion under the pretext of
necessity. Religious rhetorics of appealing to God of vengeance
to outsiders of such religions is a common element of
fundamentalism. God of love is at the heart of humanizing
religion.
Grievances are on all sides. We can ruin ourselves by negative
grieving or allow the humanity to renew its human quality by
dealing with these tragedies in a positive manner. Peoples'
response to tragedy is always positive. Meanwhile political
manipulation of tragedy is always demeaning and is always
negative.
People everywhere must safeguard themselves from "religious"
leaders who cynically seek profit from tragedy. A common call for
all victims to be united is an imperative of the day.
It is time to recall the sprit that prevailed at the end of
world-war II. It is time to assert justice as a common aim of
humanity. It is time to say, "no more terrorism",
"no more war".
Victims themselves must redeem humanity from dehumanization.
Only they can do it; and no one else can.
No one can claim to hold a proxy for the victims or their
families. This is too sacred a matter to be dealt by the proxies.
All that others can do and have a right to do is, to rally the
support of the forces of humanism everywhere, to stand by and
support the victims.
2) COMMENTS BY;
- While recognizing the "personal tragedy" of the
events, Mary Robinson also said, "We must have a period of
calm. The best tribute we can pay to those who lost their lives
today and to their grieving families and friends is to ensure
that justice, and not revenge, is served"
- Pope John Paul II today accepted the diplomatic credentials
of a new American ambassador, James Nicholson, and observed,
"You begin your mission at a moment of immense tragedy for
your country."
"I pray that this inhuman act will awaken in the hearts
of all the world's peoples a firm resolve to reject the ways of
violence, to combat everything that sows hatred and division
within the human family...
- Justice demands that the perpetrators of these heinous crime
againt innocent persons be found and punished. The world
community should assist the United States in this task. However,
we would appeal to the USA and other governments that in their
search for the perpetrators of these crimes, governments should
be careful about the methods they apply. They should use law and
established forms of legal investigation to bring the
perpetrators to justice. We caution against the use of force,
illegal means and methods and indiscriminate unilateral military
retaliation, which unfortunately, has been done by powerful
western states in the past. Such actions destroy the people's
faith in rule of law and justice and cause more innocent deaths.
It also perpetuates the cycle of recrimination, revenge and
terrorism. South Asia Forum for Human Rights
- "We appeal to the USA to use law to bring the
perpetrators to justice and warn against indiscriminate
unilateral military retaliation which has been the response to
past terrorist attacks and which could result in more innocent
deaths and a cycle of recrimination, revenge and terrorism."
Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC) and the
Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (Forum Asia)
- "There are people and governments in the world who
believe that in the struggle against terrorism, ends always
justify means. But that is also the logic of terrorism. Whatever
the response to this outrage, it must not validate that logic.
Rather, it must uphold the principles that came under attack
yesterday, respecting innocent life and international law. That
is the way to deny the perpetrators of this crime their ultimate
victory". Human Rights Watch Response to Attacks on the U.S.
Civilian Life Must Be Respected
"When society is orderly, you protect yourself with
justice; when society is confused, you protect justice
yourself." - Taoist wisdom
- We are now at war but at war with whom and why? It is a war
like no other we have ever fought. It is most likely not a war
with another sovereign nation nor even a guerrilla war. It is a
new kind of war for a new century. In responding to this attack,
we must as Americans spend hours I feel critically reflecting on
and engaging in honest dialogue with each other and, if possible,
with people of other nations, faiths and cultures about the
second question above: Why was this unprovoked attack launched
against America?
To me, this was not an attack on democracy nor on freedom but
on our economic and military symbols. It was also not an attack
motivated by envy for our way of life or achievements but by deep
frustration and pain at the export of our way of life around the
world. Not everyone wants to embrace the Golden Arches nor
Christianity nor should they have to. Thus, this is a war that
will be waged over identity. Because of this, it is not a war
that can be won with missiles and bombs. It is a war that can
only be won with dialogue with others who are different than us
I am sure that these words do not fit the current mood of many
Americans in the United States, and I do not expect others to
reach the same conclusions. However, I do hope that other
Americans, as well as people of other nations, will honestly
wrestle with their own answers. The worst qualities of humanity
were on display on Sept. 11 in the United States; the best traits
of humanity have been reflected in the aftermath of this abrupt
loss of life. In remembering those who died, I would hope that we
could best honor them by engaging in dialogue with others who may
be different instead of waging a war of revenge. By only
retaliating without addressing why this happened - the root
causes of this tragedy - we are only sowing the seeds for
future senseless deaths.
With Peace,
Bruce Van Voorhis
3) VICTIMS- THEY ARE A WORLD
(A Poem dedicated to all victims of the Victims in the world
written in response to September 11 tragedy in the United States)
Baptized by horror
bathed in the river of pain,
victims
newly roused to their depth
humanity's only true spokes persons.
Scientist, reformers, heroes, messiahs
are nothing,
till really understanding
voices speaking from the depths, the victims
They need no healing
they are the healers
doctors, heal yourselves
listen to the truth from the mouths of victims.
Victims knows no nation
they are a world,
they are the sea
they are the skies
Don't hide the victims
do not hush their voices
do not speak for them,
let them speak to us all
Power means nothing to victims
victory means nothing to victims
revenge means nothing to victims
manipulating of such hollow words is sin.
Seeing the worst of the worst
they know what humanity has lost
tasted bitterest of the bitter
know the sweetness humanity has lost
They are the enlightened
they are the pure of heart
they are givers of life to life
only they can lead us to light.
Basil Fernando- 16,September 2001
Posted on 2001-09-17
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