Rabat To Host Global Conference on Political Use of Religion

Rabat will host the global conference on the political use of religion between May 11-12. The event, themed “International Standards to Ban the Political Use of Religion,” is a collaboration between several prominent NGOs and Morocco’s National Human Rights Council.

Organized by the UK-based NGO BPUR International and other renowned Moroccan NGOs, the conference will tackle ways of stopping the use of religion for political ends, as well as the use of any religion to incite intolerance, division, and discrimination to pursue any political agenda.

“The conference will provide an opportunity for more than 100 leading legislative sponsors, diplomats, former officials and distinguished dignitaries from around the world to meet in person and coordinate our effort to build global consensus on setting global rules to ban all political abuses of religion,” the organizers said in a press release.

Experts from various fields will attend the conference, and the participants will share their experiences in countering extremism in its different forms.

The organizers further explained that the event seeks to foster dialogue, peace, and tolerance among all religions by adopting and promoting the “International Treaty to Ban the Political Use of Religion,” a 14-article treaty drafted by BPUR International aiming to fight all forms of extremism and the political use of religion.

The two-day event will include general sessions and workshops, with the aim of raising awareness against the use of religion for political ends.

The organizers also pledged to issue a “global declaration outlining the roadmap to table the proposed treaty for voting at the United Nations General Assembly.”

The political use of religion

Throughout history, many writers, critics, and scholars have argued that religion is an integral part of politics, while others have long called for a complete separation of religion from politics.

French philosopher Benjamin Constant was one of the fierce advocates of the philosophical trend of separating religion from politics and the state in general.

In his political opinions, he believed in a separation of church, the state, and the freedom of the individual.

Still, thinkers and sociologists the world over have always thought that religion plays a vital role in legitimizing political power and influence. In this vision, religion has historically played an essential, if not indispensable role, in political mobilization.

The religious dialogue, a powerful instrument if mastered, they argue, may help rulers and politicians reign down the generations.

In his referential book “The Sacred Canopy,” US sociologist Peter Ludwig Berger described religion as both a “world-maintaining” and “world-shaking” force capable of legitimating or challenging power and privilege.

Yet, faced with one philosophical trend after the other, religions, in all their forms, have prevailed in contributing to people’s perception of the world in different areas and sectors, including politics.

In Morocco, King Mohammed VI founded the Mohammedia League of Scholars in February 2006, with the main aim of promoting the values of moderate Islam.

The country’s highest body of Islamic scholars has occasionally launched several campaigns on radicalization, vowing to counter all shades of extremism and religious fanaticism.

In recent years, the league has hosted a number of events to raise awareness against extremism and counter the “worrying spread of radicalization.”

It has also sought to foreground a discourse of religious tolerance among the diverse segments of society, urging the new generation of Islamic scholars and imams to teach an Islam that is “grounded in tolerance and openness” and “immunizes the people” against radical or extremist interpretations of Islamic tenets.