Azza Karam

"To date, we, development practitioners, researchers and policy-makers, have focused the responsibility for development action rightly mostly on governments. More recently, we began to pay attention to the private sector and to assess corporate social responsibility. When we finally woke up to the role of civil society, we focused almost entirely on secular members of civil society."

"It is time that we integrate the religious sectors into the fabric of civil society, not by arguing that religious leaders and institutions are unique and special species, but by using a “whole of society” lens to appreciate that social transformation, as part of the long arc of history which bends towards justice, as Martin Luther King Jr once said, requires engaging the religious, or the faithful parts of the civic infrastructure."

"...behavioural change in most parts of the world in which religion remains deeply rooted in people’s consciousness is rendered possible when religious leaders start speaking to the necessity of that change as part of what makes a person more faithful."

"Indeed, secular human-rights actors complain of the negative influence of religion. So why not harness the positive, transformative influence of religion that can help societies overcome harmful social norms and practices?"

"This is an organisation that was convened when religious leaders from each religious tradition from around the world came together for peace against nuclear armament and all forms of conflict and whose first World Assembly had three themes: human rights, development and disarmament. This is an organisation that has never been a platform for empty slogans."

"Over the years the RfP has supported, facilitated and guided the establishment of 70 national Interreligious Councils and five regional Interreligious Councils from around the world. Each council brings together the leadership of the various religions in a manner reflective of the local religious demography, and they act as entities which create an inter-religious space within each nation’s civic infrastructure."

"This is a convening place in which those who speak in the name of people’s religions come together regularly to assess issues of national concern and to rally and mobilise around shared well-being. This is, especially in today’s contexts, a space of light."

"We need these Interreligious Councils to be strengthened so they can serve the shared well-being of their nations effectively and in a timely manner."

"We need these spaces of light to radiate the language of peace, and for those religious leaders and institutions that convene together to symbolise and realise a precious reality: when faiths come together for the common good, then the common good wins against all odds."

"My role as coordinator is to convene the 20 UN system focal points working on, with, or about religion and religious engagement for the sake of realising the UN system’s three pillars of sustainable development, peace and security, and human rights."

"Since 2015, the 193 UN member states have agreed to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs or Agenda 2030), which elucidate 17 global goals meant to be realised by 2030. These SDGs are in many ways the practical translation of the three pillars of the UN system’s raison d’être."

"The Task Force is an inter-agency mechanism that came together first in 2010 to help the focal points on religion understand what religion has to do with the UN’s commitments and to be more effective and strategic in how and whom we engage with in the realms of religious spaces in order to better serve the purposes of the UN system."

"Once I take up my position in the RfP, I will have to leave the UN and will therefore no longer be able to serve inside the UN system. However, since the RfP has traditionally partnered with the UN for most of its existence, I look forward to continuing and deepening partnerships with diverse UN system organisations on the shared goals of peace-making, education, environmental stewardship and freedom of religion, belief and conscience."

"...there has been a re-awakening of a sort of “religious” consciousness and emergence in public life all over the world. As a scholar of these trends, I have written elsewhere that this has had a great deal to do with the loss of the traditional meta-narratives we were familiar with, such as liberalism, socialism, and communism. I believe that some have sought recourse in religion partly because political spaces offered an ideological vacuum."

"...we are living in times when traditional institutions of all types are fast losing their legitimacy and their public support. Indeed, we are facing a crisis of all things institutional."

"faith in its myriad formats, languages, institutional set-ups and outreach, appears attractive, all the more so when you realise that many social services around the world, especially in the realms of health and education and certainly in humanitarian crisis contexts, are still being offered through religious institutions. So “religion”, whether in terms of faith or in terms of social service, is pervasive."

"...some of the reappraisal of the religious social-service sector is sensible and timely — after all, hands-on innovative partnerships are required for us to target some very basic humanitarian and social needs. But I also see a huge challenge in having some religious actors and some religious institutions becoming too closely aligned, some even vested, with political spaces and actors. History has taught us that when political and religious institutions collude, human welfare often suffers, and tragically so."

"There is a massive difference between strengthening social services by engaging with all service-providers inclusively and working with religious actors to change harmful practices as part of building a stronger civic consciousness around social justice on the one hand, and between religious actors seeking political power, or political actors seeking religious cover, on the other. It is the latter that I believe we need to be vigilant about."

"Religion is, or should be, primarily about faith and not about political power. But when religion is used as a tool for those in power to influence politics, then religion can become a tool for harm, whether in the short term or long term."

"...it is important not to use religion, as belief, as actors, or as institutions, in the business of politics. We need to remember that colonialism began with a missionary zeal to “civilise” the other — the “civilising mission” was a feature of the 19th and 20th centuries in much of the world, in other words not so long ago."

"The instrumentalisation of religion is as old as religion itself. So it behoves us to be alert to both the goodness and the harm which “using religion” can cause."

"Religions for Peace is founded on the premise that faith is a very strong motivator. And when I say faith, I don’t just mean religions, I mean the belief that so many of us hold that there is something greater than us. This belief is a powerful motivator, and if we are able to connect through our faiths—if we’re able to find commonality in our spirits, the very fabric of our existence, in our purpose to live—it becomes much harder to divide us."

"...religions have been addressing social needs for centuries! They are the original healthcare providers, hospices, schools. It’s an ancient practice. But what is new and necessary is the idea that these religious institutions and faith communities can come together. We need to pool our moral and practical resources to support our communities better. I think of how a single stick can be easily broken, but when you’re part of a bundle of sticks, it’s much harder to break you. So that’s the idea. And it’s an enduring idea – one that predates Religions for Peace and one that will always exist."

"...every single religion and faith has its own practices. The number of Christian denominations alone is very large. So to try to bring together all the religions and faiths of the world – it’s not easy."

"...Humanitarian crises, such as natural disasters, wars, famine, etc., make it imperative to work together. Governments are hardly capable of addressing everyone’s needs during those times, so folks often come together naturally. That has led to the formation of numerous of our Interreligious Councils."

"It was essentially as if a tsunami had hit everywhere in the world, if you can imagine that—there seemed to be a bit of this primitive instinct to protect one’s own. People looked after their communities as if “It’s me, my church, and I.” That’s what led us to creating a humanitarian fund – to support collaborative efforts around COVID-19 by providing financial support to those who had the will, the vision, and the passion to address the immense needs that the pandemic created and to do so while recognizing the multireligious world we live in."

"I think that’s a natural response for women – to want to help as many people as possible. And for young people, they are often the ones to get out there and do something. And then seeing this response from the women and youth, I think encouraged those older, more established religious institutions to say, “Absolutely, we must come together and address the needs of our entire, multireligious community."

"It's one thing to work at an organization, it’s an entirely different thing to lead it. When you work at an organization, it’s easier to be the “servant of it."

"...when you lead, you become very visible. And I think my leadership is seen as directly challenging the way things are."

"In a way, religions are the last bastions of patriarchy. And so, to be a leader of an endeavor like this—where my role, essentially, is to ask people to be of good conscience and do the right thing by working together—that can be met with resistance."

"it doesn’t matter whether I’m actively asking people to work together. It’s the mere fact that I sit in this space that means people perceive me as someone who will hold them accountable. And because I am who I am—a woman, Arab, Muslim, Egyptian, North African, the “other” in so many ways—it’s hard for a lot of leaders, both male and female, to embrace me as the head of the organization."

"I think that misperceptions are always going to be part of our lives. I also think that diversity is meant to be our key challenge in life."

"We are not meant to be the same, to live in our enclaves, to speak the same language, and to look alike. Coming together, and forming alliances through that diversity, can be challenging and it’s also an incredibly empowering thing."

"Faith is one of those things that adds to that empowerment. Having a shared faith in faith itself and a willingness to serve together as faith-inspired folks—albeit very different faiths—to me, it’s the most beautiful thing. It might sound mushy, but I think that act is the spirit that moves. It moves mountains, it really does."

"We are created diverse in order to love one another – to love precisely that which is different from oneself. Religions for Peace will always be committed to this. And even if it’s challenging, we see that it continues to happen worldwide."

"The lockdowns that were imposed around the world during the pandemic created a remarkable sense of isolation. We suffered loneliness hugely. People of faith struggled with not being able to go to church or synagogue or the mosque. And even nonreligious people, who found themselves alone within four walls, felt that same despair. It tends to make you question your very existence: What am I doing here? What is this all for?"

"I think it was one of the moments where faith in general becomes very important. You realize the pandemic isn’t something you alone can stop, but it’s also not something that the most powerful government or military can stop. So many of us tended to go back to that which is original – our faith in something bigger and more powerful than us – and more powerful than COVID."

"...each religious community on its own is very rich. But when it comes to religious community members who are willing to stick their necks out, come together, and work across religions, there is very little money for that. Even the biggest governments don’t provide financial support for that kind of work."

"Churches don’t give money to each other and certainly not to other religious organizations; mosques and Islamic establishments won’t give to other religious organizations; and on it goes. So, ironically, we’re in a place where there are a lot of individual pools of resources, but the collective pool has very little, indeed. And we’re not interested in growing each of those pools into lakes. Instead, we want to create an amazing, abundant fountain that can support everyone. That’s why we need a Director of Resource Development."

"We will always be striving to ensure that our Interreligious Councils are well-resourced, supported, and better capacitated to be financially accountable and actionable entities. That is a lifelong process."

"I want our world leaders to consult not just the pope, but an imam, a rabbi, and so on. Together, they can hold each other accountable."

"Two phenomena are happening at the same time. Either we are ignoring religion altogether or we are identifying individual religious actors as the most important. And both are actually problematic."

"You cannot ignore the role of religion in public life. People’s faiths matter. You cannot say to them, “Please keep your religion to yourself, if you don’t mind.” That’s not to say that religion should be part of public decision-making – that’s not what I mean. What I mean is it’s important to respect the role that religions play. And part of showing respect is engaging with religious leaders as a matter of norm. I believe our secular civil rights leaders of today have an obligation to consult with the religious civil rights leaders too. It’s a much more powerful movement when they come together."

"It's critical that we do not place emphasis on a particular religion, but rather hold religious leaders accountable to working together for the human rights of all. It’s okay that we’re different."

"Difference is good! But when we come together in our diversity, we will learn to be civil with one another. I believe this country is suffering a crisis of civility in this moment. We need to be able to have a conversation and debate, while always granting equal importance to each perspective. If we are able to say, at the minimum, “I do not agree with you, but I love the human being within you.” – that would be a really big thing right now for this country – and for the whole world, actually."

"The main challenges for religious leaders in addressing sexual and gender-based violence are intimately connected to the fact that sexuality is a deeply taboo area in most faith traditions around the world, but especially institutionalized religious faiths."

"Sexuality is something that is deeply, deeply problematic. It’s the innermost sanctum of relations between human beings, and religions have traditionally been the guardians of that sanctum. So opening that space for debate is often almost as if we are opening the space to debate the religions themselves, and the authority and the legitimacy of the voice of truths of those religions, which is deeply problematic for almost all religious leaders and, again, especially those within an institutionalized framework that they need to uphold and to protect. In more loosely-formed religious groups or faith communities, it is often less problematic to debate gender-based violence or gender in general, relating to issues of sexuality"

"Religions for Peace looks at aspects of gender-based violence from the lens of where religions agree. We have in Religions for Peace an agreement on the common denominator which is that any and all forms of violence are absolutely rejected as totally outside of any religious acceptability."

"Violence is against the very fabric of any faith tradition. When the faiths come together, any form of violence is absolutely abhorrent and out of the question."

"The religious common ground to all faith traditions is that human life is sacred. And the most vulnerable amongst us are the ones that deserve the most from each of us."