State Department and the initiative of your favorite Organization The Center for Pluralism is pleased to present a symposium as a side event in conjunction with the Department of States’ 2018 Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom. If you get a chance to ‘study’ the article listed below, you will see how consequential it can be in reducing religious conflicts and paving the way for finding political solutions. SYMPOSIUM: Do Religious Scriptures bring harmony or evoke conflict? A colloquium on scriptures from Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. Can a Rabbi, Pastor, Imam, Pundit and a Bhikkhu have the religious freedom to interpret God as he is, or they have to keep him small and a private God owned by their group? What are their limits? The absence of freedom to see God as a creator of all humanity has become a significant source of conflict.

Each religious group acts as if they own God exclusively and is not available to others. Each one believes that God has made a deal with them behind other’s back, they also think that God has given exclusive brokerage to their messenger and denied others. Is that our God? Isn’t God more significant than we have made him out to be? The Article “Are Religious Scriptures a source of Conflict or Harmony?” is appended below the event information. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will host the Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom in Washington, the first-ever Ministerial (From July 24 to 26, 2018), to advance religious freedom around the world. This event will focus on concrete outcomes that reaffirm international commitments to promote religious freedom and produce real, positive change. The Ministerial will convene a broad range of stakeholders, including foreign ministers, international organization representatives, religious leaders, and civil society representatives, to discuss challenges, identify concrete ways to combat religious persecution and discrimination, and ensure greater respect for religious freedom for all. https://www.state.gov/j/drl/irf/relig… All the side events are listed here at https://www.irfroundtable.org/ Are Religious Scriptures a source of harmony or evoke conflict?