A rather overused metaphor suggests that if there without a seat at the table, one may find oneself on the menu. The complex roles of religious actors in global forums offer a case in point. In a world system organized around nation states, what, indeed, is the appropriate place for religious perspectives on today’s demanding world agendas, that include existential issues of peace, rights, justice, and the very survival of the planet?
The G20 Summit that meets this week in Rio de Janeiro, in parallel with two recent climate and environment meetings (Sixteenth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity [COP16] and 29th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change [COP29]), regional gatherings like Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation in Lima, the UN General Assembly and Human Rights Council, and many others. They offer examples of an ambiguity: religious institutions, which the Pew Research Center and other sources suggest involve large majorities of world populations, rarely have formal roles in these forums, despite their deep engagement on wide-ranging topics.
This anomaly has deep historic roots (religion and political authority were often indistinguishable in different eras) and ample contemporary complexities. Some national and international authorities do engage religious communities in seamless ways, but others hesitate even to recognize religious voices as relevant and constructive partners. Reasons, tacit and acknowledged, vary. They involve ideological approaches to religious roles in society (ranging from central to exclusion as private matters), but perhaps most of all the enormous diversity of religious expressions and thus roles in societies, economies, cultures, and politics. A first step to addressing the conundrum of difference is to appreciate the diversity of approaches to religious engagement and of religious communities themselves. A second is to engage in thoughtful and constructive ways.
The experience of the G20 Interfaith Forum (IF20) illustrates both the need and positive potential for engagement on priority global issues and some obstacles that stand in the way.
The G20 operates with a focus on leadership and political leaders, offering a flexible format and tacit recognition of geopolitical power. Over the years a complex institutional constellation has taken form around the G20, reflecting the roles of civil societies, business, women, youth, and other communities. For 10 years the G20 Interfaith Forum has worked to bring positive religious experience and ideas to the process. It is telling both that IF20 has gained respect and recognition in many circles, but also that it remains informal, as the G20 members, while recognizing other groups like audit organizations and cities, has not yet accorded formal recognition to the G20 Interfaith Forum. The forum operates much like other groups but faces some of the broader ambiguity towards religious engagement in policy noted earlier.
But the networks on which the G20 Interfaith Forum draws reflect an extraordinary array of experience and ideas. They demonstrate, as the name interfaith suggests, approaches to global issues that draw on wide-ranging traditions and experience. That experience has immediate relevance on virtually any issue one might cite, both at the community level and transnationally. In a tightly interconnected world, cross-sectoral approaches are the norm, but in countless cases religious dimensions are distinctive and relevant.
Here are three examples that are a focus for G20 interfaith work in 2024. A G20 priority (and a leading global challenge) is the hunger that is linked both to conflict and to chronic extreme poverty. The active engagement of religious communities in the many dimensions of hunger and poverty is central to understanding the problem and to solutions. Thus religious engagement in the new global alliance to fight hunger is vital to its success. Likewise, religious engagement on climate and environment is an integral part of advocacy and action, exemplified by the Faith Pavilion at the Baku Azerbaijan COP29 meeting, but also the array of community involvement across the world. Religious communities also continue to end the scourge of human trafficking, which continues despite official pronouncements and action calls linked to faith teachings against abuses.
In today’s polarized world, religious communities contribute both to divisions and to healing and reconciliation. The complex, diverse nature of religious institutions and ideas explains much of the ambivalence of institutional leaders to move towards formal engagement of religious actors in institutions like the G20. Recent decades have, however, witnessed a sea change both in attitudes towards religious engagement and in faith and especially multifaith action. In many places, faith and religion are indeed at policy tables.
There is, however, much room for thoughtful action to bridge numerous gaps and to build better mutual understanding. A simplistic call for religious literacy among secular (but also religious) actors needs translation into robust approaches that enhance appreciation and understanding. Dialogue needs to focus both on identifying the ample common ground that links understandings of human rights and development and humanitarian ideals (for example on refugees and migrants) but also perceived and actual areas of difference. The keys are to build understanding and, from there, trust.
Excluding religious voices from policy tables makes no sense, and it misses extraordinary knowledge, core ideas, and important challenges. The task before us is to navigate the complexities of both legacies and diversity and divides in contemporary societies as we work to translate the echoing call to find common ground and shared responsibility into practice.
