Assyrian church priest calls Iran land of goodness, beauties, coexistence of religions

Pars Today- The priest of the Assyrian Anglican Church in Tehran called the role of religious activists undeniable in establishment of peace.

Pars Today, quoting from the public relations office of the Organization of Islamic Culture and Communications, reported that Ninus Moqaddasnia, the Priest of the Assyrian Anglican Church of Tehran, underscoring religious activists as one of the powerful arms for settlement of peace and friendship in the international arena, said, "Yet, in the West, religion and its adherents have been abandoned from high levels of governance and society. The Western governments pay little attention to their religious activists except during elections in a bid to gain a few more percentages of votes."

He added, "However, there are active religious figures and communities in the world which try together for interaction and friendship of religions and nations in the way of peace."

The priest of the Assyrian Anglican Church in Tehran also stated on some barriers to use maximum capacities of religious diplomacy, saying, "No doubt, the existence of some misunderstandings among the followers of religions is among the most important barriers in this way. There are still suspicions and prejudices that are feeding on multi-century roots and poison the current mentalities. All parties had better to accept that they may need reparation, reformation and revision of their view about each other. The world today isn't the world of the past centuries and we need to know each other better."

Moqaddasnia continued about the usage of increasing religious communications of Iran with other countries in the fields like economy, and added,

"We were witness to setting up scores of interfaith seminars, especially with the three major denominations of churches in the world. The delegations of scholars and theologian experts who had visited Iran and, also, paid a visit to the beautiful cities of Isfahan and Shiraz for a few days, left our country with a changed look and a pleasant memory."

He went on to say, "Perhaps the view of these religious delegations will have little impact on the governments and rules of their countries, which may be hostile towards Iran, but it will undoubtedly have a good impact on the members of churches and the view of their society. The Western communities, unlike what they hear from their official media on Iran, should know that Iran has been and is the land of goodness, beauties and peaceful coexistence of all religions and ethnicities; and with traveling to Iran they can learn a lot from the rich culture of this country."

The priest of the Assyrian Anglican Church in Tehran then spoke about the assistance of activists of cultural and religious diplomacy to one another from the domestic and foreign viewpoint and said, "Religious and cultural activists have indeed a single objective which is the sublimity of society. In my view, the Organization of Islamic Culture and Communications of Iran has made the most effort in this regard. We have several times witnessed the cooperation and exchange of views of prominent domestic and foreign dignitaries in the confabs of this organization, some of which have continued and yielded good results."

Key phrases: religions in Iran, trip to Iran, Christianity in Iran, Islam and Christianity

RM/UR