Symposium and interaction program held; collaboration common issues emphasized:-

Lalitpur, June 2-

A symposium and interaction programme on “The Role of the Christian Community in the Development and Transformation of the Nation” was held at United Vision Nepal (UVN) hall, coordinated by United National Nepali Church Council (UNNCC).

Chaired by Uttam Pariyar, former member of the Privy Council, the central coordinator of UNNCC, Ps. Bhab Ghale facilitated the program attended by about 40 people including presidents of various political parties, social workers, businessmen, media persons, including former member of the National Human Rights Commission, Dr. KB Rokaya who gave the main presentation.

Especially recently, the agenda of legally recognizing same-sex relationships as marriage has emerged as a serious risk to global human civilization and the existence of our very nation, said Dr. Rokaya, who shared his studies and efforts on this topic for the past decade and a half and also presented a comprehensive scenario of how this topic is connected with political and economic policies in the world, and what legal provisions exist in various countries.

At the end of his presentation, he claimed that the religious community should be aware and active on this issue, that he was alone against it, that even political parties and religious leaders were afraid to speak against this agenda, and that it was driven by foreigners. Then the atmosphere suddenly got hot. He had claimed that no one cares about the future of the country, the country has become hollow and there is no hope, which provoked the attendees who critcized Dr. Rokaya are pessimistic, discouraging and self-aggrandizing way of speech. He was criticized for changing his stance which might have been opportunism, and a public denouncing of Hindu kingdom was demanded from him.

In the end, everyone had the same opinion that it is useful to have these kinds of clear ideas directly, to listen and tell them. Bhav Ghale, coordinator of UNNCC, clarified that UNNCC is not for any other purpose but to provide a platform as a common ground for exchange of ideas for organizations, parties and servants working in religious, spiritual, political, social, economic and development fields. He also said that such programmes will continue to be organized in the future.

Overall, this program has indicated that we should be able to stand on the same platform on contemporary issues and that cooperation is possible.