United Religions Initiative
Template:Short description Template:Infobox Geopolitical organization
The United Religions Initiative (URI) is a global grassroots interfaith network.
It has local and global initiatives through more than 1100 member groups and organizations, called Cooperation Circles,<ref>Cooperation Circles, United Religions Initiative</ref> to engage in community action such as conflict resolution and reconciliation, environmental sustainability, education, women's and youth programs, and advocacy for human rights.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The organization was founded by William E. Swing, along with David Cooperrider and Diana Whitney.<ref>Cooperrider, David L. and Diana Kaplin Whitney, Appreciative inquiry: a positive revolution in change, page 31, Berret-Koehler Publishers Inc., 2005</ref> The URI Charter was signed by more than 200 people present, and hundreds more joining over the Internet, at a ceremony in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US, on June 26, 2000.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
URI also holds consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Activities
[edit]Before the formal charter signing in 2000, URI supporters around the world participated together in a project called "72 Hours for Peace", in which more than 250 local organizations united in projects promoting peace and justice during the turn of the millennium.<ref>Talcott, Sarah, Building the Interfaith Youth Movement: Beyond Dialogue to Action, p78, ed. by Eboo Patel and Patrice Brodeur, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2006</ref>
Examples of global and member initiatives documented in the public record:
- The Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative has played a key role in promoting peace in war-torn northern Uganda.<ref>Religion News Service, January 8, 2008, Jason Kane, Ugandan Religious Leaders Set Aside Rivalries in Pursuit of Peace Template:Cite web</ref> The Ugandan groups are also participants in the Northern Uganda Social Action Fund supported by the World Bank.<ref>Marshall, Katherine and Lucy Keough, Mind, Heart, and Soul in the Fight Against Poverty, The World Bank, 2004 pp232-233</ref>