United Religions Initiative

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The United Religions Initiative (URI), founded by Bishop William Swing (from California, member of the Episcopal Church), was inspired to bring people of diverse faith into cooperation for peace by the example of the work of nations of the world through United Nations working to bring peace. The movement to found it began in 1996, culminating in the signing of the United Religions Initiative Charter in 2000.^[1]

"The purpose of the URI is to promote enduring daily interfaith cooperation, to end religiously motivated violence, and to create cultures of peace, justice and healing for the Earth and all living beings."

The URI emphasises a decentralised, grass roots structure that includes not only representation of the world's major religious organizations, but also other voices not often heard. It complements the work of and collaborates with other local and international interfaith organizations, such as the Council for a Parliament of the Worlds Religions.

[edit] Organizational Design

The URI is composed of over 300^[2] Cooperation Circles (CCs) – groups of 7 or more individuals dedicated to the URI Preamble, Purpose, and Principles (collectively, the Charter). For administrative purposes, these CCs are divided into 8 regions:

Africa
Asia
Europe
Latin America & the Caribbean
Middle East & North Africa
Multi-regional
North America
Pacific

Each region elects 3 Trustees to sit on the Global Council (GC), which functions as the Board of Directors for the United Religions Initiative, Inc. (a California 501(c)(3) non-profit organization). The GC is elected every 3 years; the most recent elections were held in 2005. In addition as serving as the fiscal agents for the global URI, the GC sets policy formal policy and approves new member CCs. The GC is defined by the URI Charter and Bylaws as primarily an advisor to the local CCs, rather than a command-and-control body.