On June 14 the most prominent leaders of the world’s major religions released a unique call to make friends across religions to overcome division and enhance understanding. It was made by Pope Francis, the Grand Mufti of Egypt, Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, H.H. the Dalai Lama, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and many others.
How we contributed with Glocalities
In collaboration with Havas Lemz and the the Elijah Interfaith Institute, Motivaction contributed a report based on global Glocalities research and a video interview.
The joint statement of the spiritual leaders intends to counter a widespread misperception that followers of religions other than our own view us with distrust and disdain. While, in reality, the worldwide Glocalities study (n=56,000) shows that people of all faiths are generally open to people with other beliefs. Glocalities Research Director Martijn Lampert said, during the press conference, that a message promoting friendship across religions is likely to resonate with the majority of religious people around the world, which comprises 84% of the world population. Below you find the video and the full report based on the Glocalities study.
A short movieclip explaining the main results can be viewed below
Click on the image to download the full report
The press conference and the statement of the religious leaders can be viewed at youtube.com/makefriends in many languages. At elijah-interfaith.org all information about the initiative is presented.
Press releases
The statement has been widely covered by the international press. See here the official press release and below some examples of articles are:
- Huffington Post: World’s Top Religious Leaders Issue Rare Joint Appeal
- Fox News: Global religious leaders join for online friendship appeal
- Voice of Tibet: 达赖喇嘛与世界宗教领袖共同倡议“跨宗教交友
- RTL Nieuws: Religieuze leiders roepen op tot wereldwijde verbroedering in unieke video
- Volkskrant: Verdiep je in andere geloven, stellen 14 religieuze leiders in dit opmerkelijke filmpje
