World Peace Day: Transcending Religious Boundaries in the Middle East
(PRWEB) October 21, 2014 -- How is it that parents of victims of war can make peace among themselves but their countries cannot? And can this change? These were questions raised at the International Peace Day observance September 21 at the Center of Scientology of Tel Aviv, where men and women representing the major faiths of the region came together to share the work they are doing to carry out the purpose of the day.
This year’s celebration marked the 30th anniversary of the UN General Assembly Declaration on the Rights of Peoples to Peace, which states “that the principal aim of the United Nations is the maintenance of international peace and security.” Yet the World Peace Day event took place in the wake of a summer of violent conflict in the region in which more than 2,000 lost their lives.
The Scientology Center’s Public Affairs Officer, Sefi Fischler, emceed the program and began by describing the history and purpose of the International Day of Peace. He then introduced a series of speakers whose activities stand as models of what men and women can accomplish in the pursuit of peace.
The first speaker lost two sons to the conflict: The first died while trying to save victims of a suicide bombing in 1995. Five years later, the younger son, already distraught over his brother’s death, ended his own life when his best friend died in a bombing at the start of the Second Intifada. He responded by co-founding a organization comprised of 300 parents from the West Bank and 300 parents from Israel who have lost family members to the violence in the region. These parents team up to speak about peace and reconciliation to students at local high schools.
The peace-building work of the next speaker, Dr. Hassan Marhagi, president of the Arabic Press Chamber of the Israeli Communication & Press Association, was spotlighted in the October 2014 issue of Freedom Magazine. Dr. Marhagi educates others on the Third Party Law, a basic principle discovered by L. Ron Hubbard that reveals the hidden factor that causes conflicts and prevents them from resolving.
The next speakers were also featured in October’s Freedom Magazine: a team of Jewish and Arab community leaders who are working to bring calm to the West Bank through distribution of the nonreligious moral code The Way to Happiness, and a Druze religious leader who uses The Way to Happiness with his congregation to foster peace and harmony.
Fischler ended the program by releasing a new brochure, Voice for Humanity—Real People, Real Help, which describes humanitarian programs sponsored by the Church of Scientology that instill tolerance, raise awareness of human rights and uplift morality across whole populations.
The Center of Scientology of Tel Aviv is an Ideal Scientology Organization. Dedicated in August 2012, its facilities are configured to service Scientologists in their ascent to spiritual freedom and serve as a home for the entire community—a meeting ground of cooperative effort to uplift citizens of all denominations.
Luis Gonzalez, Church of Scientology International, http://www.scientology.org/, +1 (323) 960-3500, [email protected]
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