Jakarta - A number of  religious leaders and youth figures from Indonesia and the United States participating in  an Interfaith Dialogue here have agreed to promote religious tolerance in schools in their respective communities.

      "Religious and youth leaders from both countries will  make schools aware of the importance of inculcating students with the ability to understand and respect  other faiths to avoid discrimination or violence, especially against minorities," said Zainal Abidin Bagir, executive director of the Center for Religious and Cross Cultural Studies (CRCS), who was a panelist at the dialogue that took place here January 25-27.

     Bagir said  delegates from both countries discussed the need to familiarize communities about religious diversity as an important action to create a tolerant community able to cooperate in efforts to improve the quality of their lives.

     On the same occasion, secretary general of the World Conference on Religion and Peace, William Vandley, said people in both countries  needed to establish  more direct contacts with each other to erase  all negative stereotypes and ways of thinking formed  over the years.   

     "More direct contacts will allow people in both Indonesia and US to understand each other better. In the end, they will realize that all negative stereotypes are not true," Vandley said.

     He also suggested that the mass media should not  only cover  conflicts but also the  peaceful life of people embracing  different  religions in given areas. Vandley said  media that only covered  the negative aspects  of diverse cultures were actually contributing to the formation of a negative world image of certain communities.

     The Indonesia-US interfaith dialogue also ended with its partcipants committing themselves to eight goals, namely ending poverty, protecting the environment, promoting education on religious diversity and the common good and advancing good governance.

     Held for the first time ever, the dialogue was expected to further enhance bilateral relations between the two countries and contribute to religious communities' ability  to cooperate in creating concrete programs to help solve world problems.

     Themed "Building Collaborative Communities: Enhancing Cooperation among People of Different Faiths", the dialogue's results will be reported to the two countries' governments.

     The three-day event with think tanks and academics from both countries discussed possible bilateral cooperation in such things as empowerment of moderate societies and ways to cope with negative images already constructed among people in  both countries.

     The Indonesian delegation to the meeting was led by the Foreign Ministry's Director General of Information and Public Diplomacy, Andri Hadi and the  US  delegation  by Senior Director of Global Engagement for the White House National Security Council, Pradeep Ramamurthy.        

-Antara, 28 January 2010-