Afghanistan needs religious tolerance now more than ever

THE Cape SA Jewish Board of Deputies is committed to working for the betterment of human relations between Jews and all other peoples of South Africa, based on mutual respect, understanding and goodwill, and regards its involvement in interfaith relations important in order to establish harmonious relations between the faith communities.

As such, the board is a member of the Cape Town Interfaith Initiative which, in turn, is a co-operation circle (CCs), one of more than 800 such circles that make up United Religions Initiative (URI), a global grass-roots interfaith network.

The board was saddened to receive a communication from URI saying that, as a precautionary measure, it had removed all information about CCs in Afghanistan from the URI website and social media, and advised any organisation that had a website or social media presence to do the same if it held any information about people or groups working for peace and other humanitarian issues in Afghanistan.

The Council of the Parliament of the Worlds’ Religions has also issued such warning.

The new Taliban government sees no point in fostering interreligious co-operation on any level. Judging by the past record of its conduct which was so heinous, their withdrawal cutting off all engagement with outside world organisations, leaves women and children and innocent civilians even more vulnerable.

What a tragedy that not only are women’s rights at risk since the takeover of the Taliban, but so too is the safety of any organisation or individual that wants to promote peace and harmonious relations between people of different faiths.

In a world facing threats of Covid-19, of global warming, of poverty and hunger, it is all the more important that all people should work together to solve these problems, irrespective of where or how they pray.

We all live on the same planet. TZVI BRIVIK | Chairperson: Cape SAJBD