Hindus have welcomed reported establishment in Vienna of King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Center for Dialogue among Followers of Religions and Cultures by Saudi Arabia, Spain and Austria.
During its ordinary seventh session held at Riyadh on February 20, “Majlis Al-Shura approved a draft agreement on establishment of King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Center for Dialogue among Followers of Religions and Cultures signed by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Spain and the Republic of Austria”, a release said.
Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that it was a “step in right direction”. This Center should work for creating mutual trust among various faiths so that world could jointly concentrate on issues of human development.
Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, stressed that interfaith dialogue was highly needed to arrive at a common agenda for the overall welfare of the humanity. We needed to learn to live together harmoniously despite our seriously different traditions with a broader, deeper and more inclusive understanding of religion; and we should attempt to overcome prejudices, caricatures, and stereotypes with the help of dialogue, Zed added.
Rajan Zed further said that he hoped that this Vienna International Center for Dialogue would give due representation to Hinduism, oldest and third largest religion of the world with about one billion adherents.
