In his work as Yale chaplain and internationally, the Reverend Frederick J. Streets has seen how divisive religion and religious issues can be.
But as a delegate to the landmark Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders at the United Nations in August, he saw just how desperate the desire is for harmony and peace around the globe, regardless of religious tradition.
The historic event, held Aug. 28-31 at the United Nations, brought nearly 1,000 religious leaders from around the world to discuss how to use their leadership as a driving force for building tolerance, fostering peace and encouraging inter-religious dialogue among all regions of the world. It preceded the Millennium Summit of World Leaders.
"It was one of the most remarkable experiences of sharing some common ground by people who are in so many ways different from one another," says the Yale chaplain. "In addition to the shared learning about the religious traditions others represented, we were challenged to confront the things that divide people and contribute to war, poverty and bigotry in our own communities."
For many religious and spiritual leaders, the U.N. event provided an opportunity to voice their beliefs without fear of retaliation or punishment.
"We were all in a space that we claimed but could not own," explains Streets. "It was an environment where we all could be safe. For some of those who spoke there, they could have been ostracized or arrested in their home country for voicing what they did."
As a delegate, Streets listened to addresses by other religious and spiritual leaders and took part in small-group discussions. "We addressed such issues as world peace, valuing the religious diversity of people throughout the globe and the need to articulate a core vision and set of values that the religious community throughout the world could embrace and that could be the foundation for working to better humankind," he says. Chief among these were the issues of poverty, the exploitation of children (particularly their use as soldiers), racism, the equality of women,respect for indigenous peoples and their religions and respect for the environment, according to the Yale chaplain.
For him and for others there, the absence of the Dalai Lama at the event demonstrated the great need for religious tolerance. The Tibetan spiritual leader was invited to the summit only after a protest, but was instead represented by other delegates there. In fact, says Streets, China was the only country whose delegates at the summit represented the government, not a particular religion or religions.
"The absence of the Dalai Lama was often spoken of as an example of the need to fight against the oppression of people because of their religious beliefs," says Streets.
Streets continues the tradition of the chaplaincy at Yale being involved in international concerns. In recent months, he has served as a senior consultant to Bosnia with the Harvard University Program in Refugee Trauma and visited religious and civil leaders in Columbia, South America, as a delegate of the Connecticut Conference of the United Church of Christ. He also served as a representative of the Yale Divinity School at a meeting of non-profit and non-governmental organizations that convened in Buenos Aires to promote a greater understanding of the non-profit sectors' relationship to higher education and peace-making in the western hemisphere.
At the United Nations summit, Streets joined with many religious leaders in signing a Declaration for World Peace. The delegates also established an ongoing International Advisory Council of Religious and Spiritual Leaders.
"Some profound and revolutionary things occurred as we as a group recognized not the relativism of religion but the validity of all the world's religions," he says. "It was very powerful experience to have people from all over the world agree that all religions are valuable and should be respected."
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