ADVERTISEMENTWorld leaders meeting in Hangzhou, China may be unaware that a few days earlier a shadow group of religious scholars met in Beijing. Since then, in successive countries where the G7, G8, and G20 meetings take place, groups have gathered to reflect on religious dimensions of the global issues at hand. Indeed, although the desire was to link the Forum to the upcoming G20 meeting, with its broad global agenda, and to the series of "faith" G20 meetings, the word religion was used sparingly and carefully. The themes in Istanbul mirrored more directly the G20 discussions, notably in efforts to link to issues of economic development and welfare. There were many papers exploring scholarship about religious traditions that have shaped China, touching more on "harmony" than on tensions.

Source: Huffington Post September 06, 2016 00:22 UTC