Addis Ababa: Participants in the celebrations of the Special African Spiritual day urged religious leaders to play a greater role in fostering social cohesion and promoting peace throughout Africa and beyond.
African Spiritual Day celebrated today for the fifth time in Addis Ababa at the headquarters of the African Union.
The 5th Special Africa Spiritual Day Celebration was marked under the Theme: ‘Educating the African Person to be Spiritually Enlightened in the 21st Century: Building resilient education systems for increased access to inclusive lifelong, quality and relevant learning in Africa.”
The event is jointly convened by the African Union Citizens and Diaspora Directorate and the Interreligious Association for Peace and Development – Africa. (IAPD)
The objective is to serve as a platform whereby spiritual and religious leaders of diverse backgrounds within IAPD speak with one voice, thereby fostering unity among them as well as to lift spirituality to its rightful place in human life and society
in general and to promote universally shared values.
Promoting character building for the youth and true family values for married couples is also the objective behind the celebration and advocate peace and coexistence in different regions of Africa and the world.
Leaders of different religions and representatives of religions and community leaders in African countries and the international community attended the event.
On the occasion, the participants emphasized the need to strengthen the spirituality of the African citizen through the introduction of religious education and African culture in regular education systems.
The participants encouraged religious leaders to teach Africans to use their minds, hearts, and hands for peace and development in the continent.
Unity among religions in Africa is instrumental to addressing the problem of conflicts that result from religious differences, it was indicated.
The African Union Commission under the Civil Society and Diaspora Directorate (AUC-CIDO) founded
the African Union Interfaith Dialogue Forum to promote interreligious dialogue to build peace and enhance social cohesion in Africa.
Source: Ethiopian News Agency