Millennial World Peace Summit Meets in New York

August 27, 2000

Source: The Plain Dealer

On August 27, 2000, The Plain Dealer reported on the Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders. In it, readers are asked to "imagine a meeting that puts Israel's chief rabbi, an emissary of Iran's top ayatollah, the head of the World Council of Churches and a granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi together in the same room. An unexpected grouping, to be sure. But it would have only a few of the spiritual figures due to begin meeting at the United Nations tomorrow, when 2,000 people from 90 nations and a wide spectrum of faiths are to begin spending four days on issues related to peace...'There's a unique opportunity for religious leaders to have an impact on the political process,' said Bawa Jain, a veteran of interfaith activities who is general secretary of the event, the Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders." While the meeting is not an official U.N. event, it is "backed by a large advisory board filled with religious figures, scholars and diplomats, [and] has been organized in cooperation with the office of the U.N. secretary-general." Among the meeting's goals is "the creation of an advisory council of religious leaders to work with the United Nations."