Peace, justice and faith. (Caux 2002).

Thirty-nine Muslims and non-Muslims from 18 countries took part in a three day dialogue in July on `peace, justice and faith'. It was co-chaired by Cornelio Sommaruga, President of Caux Initiatives of Change, and Rajmohan Gandhi, a historian and former senator from India.

At the end of the dialogue the participants issued a statement which began, `There can be no peace among nations without peace among religions and no peace among nations and religions without dialogue.' They condemned terrorism and the invoking of religion to justify violence, discrimination or exclusion.

Since 11 September 2001, they stated, `in some parts of the world it has become fair game to target Muslims'. Schools, communities, faith-based groups, the media and governments should combat this.

`Islam is not incompatible with modernity,' they continued. `What is needed is to create spaces for the expressions and explanations of Islam within a modern society.' Democratization should be promoted within Muslim and other countries and in the world power structure. They encouraged Muslim minorities to `promote harmony by interacting with non-Muslim neighbours'.

The participants agreed to sustain the dialogue process, both on the international and regional level.