Pave the Way Foundation (PTWF) a non-sectarian organization founded to remove obstacles between religions in order to foster cooperation and to end the misuse of religion, participated in the World Conference on Dialogue among Religions and Civilizations on October 26-28 in Ohrid, Macedonia. Over 400 representatives of the world’s diverse religious groups attended the conference in order to discuss the advancement of religious dialog.
Gary L. Krupp and Meredith Krupp, Co-founders of Pave the Way Foundation, were invited to attend the conference as a guest of the Macedonian government. They commented that the hospitality of the Macedonians was second to none and that much was discussed during the three day conference. The event culminated with a positive declaration which spells out the common message of benevolence of religion and urges all to oppose the intentional misinformation and the abuse of the religious word.
Gary Krupp spoke on two occasions where he urged the group to consider panel meetings to deal not only with Inter-Religious dialogue but also with Intra-Religious dialogue. "If we are to dialogue with other religions we also need to dialogue with each other," stated Mr. Krupp. "These differences exist in each of the three Abrahamic faiths and should be addressed at future events. Lack of discord and communication within each religion allows religious extremism to exist unchecked. Religious zealots must be responded to by religious leaders not governments." He also called for "an international panel of respected religious leaders who will act quickly to condemn in each faith, crimes and acts committed against the innocent in the name of religion."
Reportedly, the largest growing sector in world wide religion is actually secularism. PTWF believes that growing secularism is due to the lack of respect and confidence individuals have for their respective religious leaders, in part due to their "politically correct" silence when religion is perverted and abused by those who have their own agenda. We believe that the everyday person is also inpatient with the division within each faith due to differences that tend to be exaggerated. We often hear that "I am spiritual but not religious." This is a symptom of the failure of the religious leaders who will put ceremonial differences and customs ahead of drawing closer to one another. PTWF believes in order to bring the spiritual back to their respective faiths that religious leaders need to spend more time on the true message of religion rather then the politics which only serves to polarize us..
About Pave the Way Foundation
Pave the Way Foundation is dedicated to bridging the gap between religions through cultural, technological, and intellectual gestures. The Foundation has a simple yet monumental vision: To enable all the world’s religions to mutually realize that extremism, politics and personal agendas must not be allowed to poison the true benevolent message common to all faiths. Bigotry and hatred must be abolished by the faithful embracing their similarities and savoring their differences. More information on the Foundation can be found at www.ptwf.org.
