Parliament of Worlds Religion 1999 Capetown SA

Author(s): Parliament of the World’s Religions
Publisher: USA Parliament of the Worlds Religions

Page 71

A CALL TO OUR GUIDING INSTITUTIONS
DECEMBER
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and enmity towards those of different belief, or even incite or legitimize religious wars, they deserve the condemnation of humankind and the loss of their adherents.
4 Commitment to a Culture of
Equal Rights and Partnership Between Men and Women
Let no one be deceived: There is no global justice without truthfulness and humaneness!
c) Young people must learn at home and in
school to think, speak, and act truthfully. They have a right to information and education to be able to make the decisions that will form their lives. Without an ethical formation they will hardly be able to distinguish the important from the unimportant. In the daily flood of information, ethical standards will help them discern when opinions are portrayed as facts, interests veiled, tendencies exaggerated, and facts twisted.
Numberless men and women of all regions and religions strive to live their lives in a spirit of partnership and responsible action in the areas of love, sexuality, and family. Nevertheless, all over the world there are condemnable forms of patriarchy, domination of one sex over the other, exploitation of women, sexual misuse of children, and forced prostitution. Too frequently, social inequities force women and even children into prostitution as a means of survival-particularly in less developed countries.
a) In the great ancient religious and ethical
traditions of humankind we find the directive: You shall not commit sexual immorality! Or in positive terms: Respect and love one another! Let us reflect anew on the consequences of this ancient directive: No one has the right to degrade others to mere sex objects, to lead them into or hold them in sexual dependency.
d) To be authentically human in the spirit
of our great religious and ethical traditions means the following:
• We must not confuse freedom with
arbitrariness or pluralism with
indifference to truth. • We must cultivate truthfulness in all
our relationships instead of dishonesty, dissembling, and opportunism.
b) We condemn sexual exploitation and
sexual discrimination as one of the worst forms of human degradation. We have the duty to resist wherever the domination of one sex over the other is preached-even in the name of religious conviction; wherever sexual exploitation is tolerated, wherever prostitution is fostered or children are misused. Let no one be deceived: There is no authentic humaneness without a living together in partnership!
• We must constantly seek truth and
incorruptible sincerity instead of spreading ideological or partisan halftruths.
• We must courageously serve the truth and we must remain constant and trustworthy, instead of yielding to opportunistic accommodation to life.
c) Young people must learn at home and in
school that sexuality is not a negative, destructive, or exploitative force, but creative and affirmative. Sexuality as a life-affirming shaper of community can only be effective when partners accept
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1999 PARLIAMENT OF THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS
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