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At the UN, governments and religious NGOs convene a peace conference.

Article Excerpt
UNITED NATIONS -- At its heart, the United Nations is a secular institution. The UN Charter, for example, does not mention religion, other than to encourage nations not to discriminate on religious grounds when it comes to human rights.

And for many years, in both official and unofficial activities, the UN kept its distance from religion, preferring to deal with other ideologies and challenges that seemed more directly related to the UN's basic mission of promoting world peace.

More recently, however, and especially since the 9/11 attacks, many at the UN have come to recognize that religion is a force in world events that must be addressed.

Perhaps the most significant recent evidence of this trend can be seen in the coming together of an unusual group here on 22 June 2005 to discuss the increasing need to address interfaith harmony in world affairs.

Held in Conference Room Four at UN headquarters, the day-long "Conference on Interfaith Cooperation for Peace" brought together three distinct groups--governments, UN agencies, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Sponsors said it was the first time ever that representatives of those three groups have convened a substantive...