Azza Karam Quotes

Faith is one of those things that adds to that empowerment. Having a shared faith in faith itself and a willingness to serve together as faith-inspired folks—albeit very different faiths—to me, it’s the most beautiful thing. It might sound mushy, but I think that act is the spirit that moves. It moves mountains, it really does.

One of the most beautiful things I am learning is that I am honestly constantly amazed by the willingness of our religious leaders, who represent these different institutions. There are over 100 religious leaders who all come from different faith traditions, including indigenous ones. I am really deeply touched and hugely moved by how willing these people are to devote time to being part of this movement, this effort, this dream of religions for peace.

Violence is against the very fabric of any faith tradition. When the faiths come together, any form of violence is absolutely abhorrent and out of the question.

You don’t really become politicized by a certain event; you grow up politicized.

Two phenomena are happening at the same time. Either we are ignoring religion altogether or we are identifying individual religious actors as the most important. And both are actually problematic.

Religious concerns, positions, and services vary significantly according to the religion itself, as well as per country, region, and situation. Issues of reproductive health vary enormously.

I came to appreciate religion as a very important segment of our lives, and to appreciate that we should not see religion only as a political motor or with the lens of stereotypes.

when it comes to issues like climate change, what the world needs is more women like you.

...we are living in times when traditional institutions of all types are fast losing their legitimacy and their public support. Indeed, we are facing a crisis of all things institutional.

Political leadership and religious leadership have to be seen as unique and distinct, when there is too much of an overlap between the political institutions and the religious institutions, it doesn’t become so much about faith anymore for the religious—it becomes more about power politics.

...Humanitarian crises, such as natural disasters, wars, famine, etc., make it imperative to work together. Governments are hardly capable of addressing everyone’s needs during those times, so folks often come together naturally. That has led to the formation of numerous of our Interreligious Councils.

I think that’s a natural response for women – to want to help as many people as possible. And for young people, they are often the ones to get out there and do something. And then seeing this response from the women and youth, I think encouraged those older, more established religious institutions to say, “Absolutely, we must come together and address the needs of our entire, multireligious community.

Ignorance about the role of religion in people’s lives, or a secular fundamentalist attitude which essentialises religion, seeing all religions as the same and all as being largely harmful, are major hindrances to those of us urging a better understanding of the role of the religious in civil society.

I believe in the power of pebbles, and I believe what we are trying to do is collect the pebbles, one by one, and as many as we can, to slowly make those transformations.

...the gender dividing line was not necessarily that clear at all times. In fact it is far less clear in these groups what women should or should not do. In the secular world, that dividing line seemed a lot clearer.