Ukrainian MEP and Jewish leader Oleksandr Feldman announced a global initiative to encourage youth to become better advocates for tolerance education and inter-religious dialogue.
Adressing a gathering of more than 300 religious and civic leaders from around the world in Kiev, Feldman, who founded the Institute of Human Rights and Prevention of Extremism and Xenophobia, said: "More than any other public figures, clerics and religious leaders bear the heaviest onus of responsibility to ensure that the world become a more loving and tolerant place."
"Education is the key to creating tolerance. The children of today need guidance in religious tolerance and sensitivities. If we start with the young, we have hope for the future."
He stressed that the events that have swept the globe in recent weeks, and in particular the unrest in several Arab nations, "highlighted the need for leaders of all faiths to come together in addressing hatred and intolerance."
As chairman of the Ukrainian Jewish Committee, Feldman responded to an announcement by the Israeli Chief Rabbinate to forego all interfaith efforts in response to a recent upswing in violence.
"Despite the Israeli Rabbinate calling for a halt in interfaith dialogue after the recent rise in terror attacks in the Holy Land, we feel the conversation and cooperation between different faiths must continue," Feldman said.
“Only good can come out of dialogue between our communities. Stopping to talk will solve nothing and will only be viewed by the terrorists as an achievement in disrupting all the successes our communities have already achieved.”
At the conference, Theophilos III, Patriarch of Jerusalem, said "religious leaders have a major role in creating responsible communities, denounce violence and engage in public and private interfaith dialogue."
"Let the voices from our traditions and scriptures be our guiding examples as we strive to free ourselves from violence and extremism."
Rabbi Levi Matusof, leader of the European Jewish Public Affairs in Brussels, called upon all the clergy and community leaders to take the messages of coexistence and interfaith dialogue back to their communities.
"We can’t just gather once a year and agree with others like us. We must take these ideas back to our communities and congregations and put them to action," he said.