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Noted leaders in the international, interfaith community will participate in a symposium on “Faith and the Future: The Inter-Religious Community and the Struggle for Nuclear Abolition” on Friday, May 27th at 2 p.m. in The Church Center for the United Nations (777 United Nations Plaza - First Avenue at 44th Street). "Our symposium is an opportunity to reflect on the importance of nuclear abolition from the perspective of faith and morality, and to engage in an inter-religious dialogue that hopes to strengthen the moral underpinning of our movement for total abolition and global peace," said Ibrahim Ramey, disarmament coordinator at the Fellowship of Reconciliation. Presenters will address issues related to the U.N. Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference and the essential challenges facing the interfaith peace community in furthering the goals of total nuclear abolition and building a global culture of peace. Panelists will offer their assessments of the NPT and present examples of positive peace work from their own spiritual traditions. Panelists will include: Ambassador Doug Roche, former Canadian ambassador for disarmament, former chair of the U.N. Disarmament Committee and member of the Delegation of the Holy See to the NPT Review Conference; Rev. Angela Boatright, Episcopal priest and coordinator of the Year of Remembrance Project of the Fellowship of Reconciliation; Dave Robinson, national coordinator of Pax Christi USA; Alison Van Dyk, executive director of The Temple of Understanding; Hiro Sakurai, U.N. Rep. from Soka Gakkai International, and Ibrahim Ramey, disarmament coordinator at FOR. The panel will be moderated by Sister Eileen Gannon of the Dominican Office, NGO Leadership Conference. Organizations sponsoring the symposium are Pax Christi, USA; the Fellowship of Reconciliation and The Temple of Understanding. The nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty became international law in 1970. Originally there were only five nuclear weapon states: USA, UK, USSR, France and China. Recently, however, India, Israel and Pakistan have developed nuclear weapons. These three remain the only countries outside the treaty. The NPT is the only binding commitment to nuclear disarmament on the part of the nuclear weapon states. For more information on the treaty visit http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org. Contact: Ibrahim Ramey, |