One Muslim, one Anglican, one goal: Peace

SINGAPORE - Two prominent religious leaders from Egypt, a Muslim and an Anglican, will speak next Monday at the inauguration of a programme looking at inter-religious relations in conflict-ridden societies.

The former Grand Mufti of Egypt, Sheikh Dr Ali Gomaa, 62, and Archbishop Mouneer Hanna Anis, 64, will be keynote speakers at this two-day event.

The new programme, known as the Studies in Inter-Religious Relations in Plural Societies (SRP), will be launched by President Tony Tan Keng Yam next Monday. About 400 religious leaders, civil servants and students will attend the event.

The Straits Times understands that billionaire remisier Peter Lim has donated $3 million to support the SRP's work.

Sheikh Gomaa and Archbishop Mouneer are inspirational leaders who have travelled around the world giving talks on how they work together to counter sectarian violence in Egypt. Both are known for their tireless work in bridging the gap between the Muslims and Christians in Egypt, and around the world.

Egypt is trying to shake off its mood of misery after a burst of violent unrest that erupted after a coup which overthrew president Mohammed Mursi last July.

It is also a bitterly divided nation with a crippled economy and low-level insurgency.

The two leaders, who were invited to Singapore by the SRP, will also be speaking at several venues on ways of bringing different faiths together to counter religious extremism and violence.

This Saturday, Sheikh Gomaa will attend the 10th Annual Retreat of the Religious Rehabilitation Group, a counselling group set up by Muslim religious leaders in Singapore after the 2001 arrests of members of Jemaah Islamiah, a clandestine group affiliated to terror organisation Al-Qaeda.

He will also visit the Khadijah Mosque in Geylang Road on Sunday, when he will speak on the role of religious teachers in a plural society.

Archbishop Mouneer will attend Sunday service at St Andrew's Cathedral.

The SRP was set up last September by the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS).

RSIS dean Barry Desker told The Straits Times that the new programme will study how peace can be promoted in multi-religious and multi-ethnic societies. "Societies are becoming more religiously diverse and the world has witnessed a resurgence of religion. In many instances, extremism and conflict have been carried out under the guise of religion."

However, religion is essentially a force for good and its teachings can be harnessed for fostering peace and social harmony, he added.

The SRP will do systematic studies of religious doctrines and how teachings can be used to promote social cohesion. This approach, he said, has not been used by many other research institutes.

This article was first published on June 4, 2014.
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