Azza Karam: “Political power seeks to weaken and divide religious leaders”

Azza Karam: “Political power seeks to weaken and divide religious leaders”. 

Victoria Isabel Cardiel C. 21st November 2021 

Interview / First Muslim woman leading Religions for Peace, says she studies Pope Francis’ encyclicals: “His wisdom transcends Catholicism”. 

You are the first woman to head the global assembly of Religions for Peace. 

It is true that most religious institutions are headed by men. They occupy the offices, but women are engaged in other very important tasks. Moreover, we are more and more in management positions. Just look at the Vatican, the Lutheran and Anglican churches, the Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, and Muslim communities…. 

You have worked at the UN for two decades. Is it very different from what you are doing now? 

My job at Religions for Peace is to facilitate interfaith collaboration across faith communities. At the UN, I worked to help governments and civil society defend human rights and the planet. In both cases, the goal is for leaders to work together for the common good. 

In fact, your Manhattan office is just stepping away from the UN. How important is this connection? 

Our offices are located in the Church Center for the United Nations, which, by the way, was built by Methodist women. We are like a kind of United Nations in which different institutions and religious communities are represented. Multilateralism needs interfaith dialogue to be effective. We depend on the UN and the UN depends on us to defend human rights, peace, security, and sustainable development. 

In an increasingly secularized society, what is the key to being a moral authority? 

I don’t agree that we live in an increasingly secularized society. That is an ethnocentric perspective. Only in Western culture is it so and, in any case, only if certain religions are considered. In Canada and the United States, for example, indigenous peoples have never lost their faith. In fact, faith is part of their identity. As for moral authority, I think it requires a lot of humility. We are human, we err. And it is foolishness that gives rise to a certain degree of wisdom. To be a moral authority is to recognize that we will never fully understand divine authority. 

What about conflicts that sometimes involve religions? 

There are examples in South Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar, Haiti… where religious entities are powerful custodians of citizen sentiment and guardians of the collective moral voice. However, we increasingly see how political power seeks to weaken and divide religious leaders. They are drawn into the dirty political game. And they are increasingly vulnerable to manipulation. Inter-religious cooperation is strongest when religion is neither friend nor foe of political trickery. 

Can we then aspire to a peaceful world that leaves religion aside? 

No. Religion is intimately connected to the sense of peace. Faith is part of who we are and how we behave. Even when someone defines themselves as a non-believer; that is also a kind of relationship to faith. Seeking a world of peace without it being rooted in culture, which also includes faith, is like trying to build a road without first seeing the landscape. 

What can we learn from the US failure in Afghanistan? 

The same lesson we have learned from the colonialism of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries; the Vietnam War; the occupation of the Palestinian territories; or the Iraq War. No nation should build a state for another. And it is also an act of willful blindness to corner the religious fabric, without understanding its fundamental role in social cohesion. 

How has the pandemic affected religion? 

The fear that society has experienced has forged a powerful feeling that has exposed our weakness and powerlessness. We have seen how society in general has turned to the pursuit of spirituality. More alliances have been forged between politics and religion. For example, religious leaders have been at the forefront of the battle for universal access to vaccines. 

How would you define the figure of the Pope? 

He is a spiritual leader. His opinions, his visits and his speeches are appreciated beyond Catholic territory. I study his encyclicals in depth. His wisdom transcends Catholicism and can be applied to anyone, anywhere. Many leaders of other religions respect him and seek to meet with him. Nor is it surprising that heads of state or government, or UN representatives, seek an audience with him. 

This interview was originally published on Alfa & Omega.