A call by theologians and scholars for restoring the dignity of women led to an unscheduled speech at the inter-faith World Conference on Dialogue that ended here Friday. The unscheduled speaker was a woman – the only one to address the ground-breaking Saudi-sponsored conference that brought together 200 representatives of Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Shintoism and Confucianism in an attempt to reinforce the common values shared by their respective faiths. Speaking in Spanish on ‘Disseminating the Culture of Dialogue and Co-existence”, Dr. Makkiah Al-Najjar, professor of International Relations at Universidat Autonama de Madrid (UAM), pointed out that women should be included in any inter-faith dialogue and that without their participations no such dialogue would ever succeed. She also noted that, in Islam, women are given the right “to participate and speak in all aspects of life and community.” The issue of discrimination against women was brought to the round-table Thursday when one delegate asked, “Where are the women?” To this, Saleh Bin Humaid, chairman of the Saudi Shoura Council replied, “You theologians don't usually include women in your hierarchy. Include them and then we will invite them.” Speaking afterwards, Juan Jose Tamayo, director of theology at Madrid's Juan Carlos III university said that the time has come for all men, especially clerics, to “restore the dignity of women.” “Women have been forgotten and marginalized in religions,” Tamayo said. “They are organised hierarchically and patriarchically, excluding women in all fields of knowledge and religious matters.” He said the holy books of the world's great religions have been “distorted by men.” “We must go back to the respective holy books of our religions to restore the idea of equality and non-discrimination.” Other theologians presented a variety of perspectives. Ahmad Bin Saifuddin, a Saudi professor of theology, said that that religious leaders must reread their holy books to clarify the position of women since the role of women was misunderstood. “Eve was born from Adam, so women and men are the same,” he said. But at the same time he said Islam puts women “on a high level” because they are mothers. Esther Ruiz, a Protestant pastor and theologian, agreed that women have not got their due status in religious practice because “doing the will of God is confused with doing the will of men.” He said that in Christianity, there is “repression and discrimination, which is expressed in the limited possibilities for women to fully develop the gifts God has given them...” “Often religion and culture have been used to justify this attack against the will of God to create a free human species, and to impose a partial, masculine and patriarchal vision of what God intended,” Ruiz said. Amparo Ruiz, a lawyer and director of the Buddhist Center, told the seminar that Buddhism “makes no difference between men and women.” William F. Vendley, secretary general of the World Conference of Religion for Peace in the United States, who rated Dr. Al-Najjar's speech as “brilliant”, and said that his organization was started a network for all, including women, to participate in inter-faith dialogue. The conference opened Wednesday with a speech by King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, in which he called on the world's major religions to turn their backs on extremism and embrace “constructive dialogue.” __
