Vision
Jim Kenney (top right; Executive Director, IEP21) with religious leaders at the 1999 Parliament of the World's Religions, Capetown, South Africa.
The Interreligious Engagement Project (IEP21) is informed and energized by the vision of a world at peace, dedicated to social and economic justice, and committed to ecological sustainability. We are grateful for the pioneering spirit of four great documents that emerged from the rich cross-cultural dialog of the latter half of the 20th century. These "cornerstone documents" speak profoundly to the world envisioned here. They are:
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (United Nations, 1948)
Towards a Global Ethic: An Initial Declaration (Parliament of the World's Religions, 1993)
A Call to Our Guiding Institutions (Parliament of the World's Religions, 1999)
The Earth Charter (Earth Council et al., 2001)
Collectively these four documents offer ethical ideas from the wisdom of the world's religious, spiritual, and philosophical traditions, from contemporary science, international law, the seven UN World Conferences held during the 1990s, the global ethics movement, and over 200 NGO declarations issued over the past twenty-five years, as well as from widely recognized "best practices" for peaceful, just, and sustainable living -- ancient and contemporary. These "cornerstone" documents provide an essential foundation for the work of the IEP.
As expressed in the four cornerstone documents, in the teachings of the world's religious and spiritual traditions, and in countless "strategy statements" offered by organizations and communities from the world's guiding institutions, the shared human vision of a desired future for the human community and the Earth has at least these most basic elements:
PEACE
- Honesty and integrity in all relations, with other individuals, communities, cultures, and nations
- Human relations characterized by respect, generosity, hospitality, and personal responsibility
- Harmony and equity between the genders
- Freedom from war and violence and terror
- Relief from global, national, and regional political disruptions and dislocations
- Political leaders committed to the local and global commonweal
- Religious and spiritual leaders committed to mutual respect, peace, non-violence, and cooperation between and among ethnic, racial, cultural, and religious communities
JUSTICE
- Provision of adequate shelter, food, clean water for all
- Elimination of global poverty
- Reduction of the gap in wealth and status between rich and poor
- Promotion of good health for all
- Provision of equal educational opportunity for all
- Protection and promotion of civil and political rights for all
- Freedom of speech and religious/spiritual belief and practice
- An end to crime and corruption in society
- Protection and promotion of economic and social rights for marginalized groups, especially women, children, and the poor
- Relief from global, national, and regional economic disruptions and dislocations
ECOLOGICAL SUSTAINABILITY
- A healthy and vibrant Earth
- Respect and attention to the needs of future generations for a sustainable future
- Relief from global, national, and regional ecological and resource disruptions and dislocations
- Sustainable and mutually-enhancing human relations with the Earth
- Respect and concern for the rights of other species and the Earth as a whole
- Human production and consumption in harmony with the Earth
- Human population supportable by ecological and social systems
- An end to unsustainable abuse of Earth, ecosystems, and species.
Mission
To contribute to the realization of this vision, the Interreligious Engagement Project (IEP21) is committed to furthering constructive engagement between religious communities and other "guiding institutions" including government, business, education, media, science and technology, international intergovernmental organizations, and the organizations of civil society.
To this end, IEP21 will work to assist global religious and spiritual communities to develop appropriate strategies for addressing critical issues relating to social and economic justice, ecological sustainability, and the promotion of cultures of peace. IEP21 will work closely with local, regional, and global religious communities and organizations to discover new modes of cooperative engagement with secular organizations and institutions in developing constructive approaches to the most critical problems now facing the planetary community.
IEP21 will also work in areas including but not limited to the following:
- Furthering global interreligious understanding, harmony, and cooperation;
- Promoting communication and cooperation among the world's major interreligious organizations.
- Developing awareness--on the part of religious communities, groups, and organizations, as well as interreligious associations--of the critical challenges and opportunities facing the human community at the threshold of the 21st century including: human rights and social justice, ecological sustainability, sustainable development, and building cultures of peace;
- Building networks of communication and cooperation between global religious communities and organizations representing various "guiding institutions"; and
- Identifying and supporting--through communications and networking--creative and innovative local, regional, and global projects of service to a better world, wherever they may be located.
