(NEW YORK, 28 June 2007)—The V. Rev. Leonid Kishkovsky, Director of External Affairs of the Orthodox Church in America, has been elected Moderator of Religions for Peace, the largest multi-religious coalition of faith organizations working together to build peace through common action. Among his extensive international posts, Fr. Kishkovsky has served as Moderator of Action by Churches Together, a Geneva-based ecumenical alliance of Christian relief organizations. He is currently a President of Christian Churches Together in the USA.

The sixty-one member World Council, the seniormost governing body of Religions for Peace, elected a Moderator as part of its mandate following the Religions for Peace Eighth World Assembly in Kyoto, Japan, last August. At that time, more than 800 senior religious leaders from a hundred countries unanimously elected HRH Prince El Hassan Bin Talal of Jordan as President Emeritus of Religions for Peace.

The World Council elected two Vice Moderators to serve alongside Fr. Kishkovsky: H.E. Dr. Mohamed Ahmed al-Sharif, an eminent scholar of philosophy who has served as the Secretary General of the International Islamic Call Society in Libya for twenty-seven years, and Dr. Vinu Aram, Director of Shanti Ashram in India, an organization inspired by the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi that promotes the well-being of rural women and children.

“The entire Religions for Peace family is honored to be so ably served by the leadership of these eminent religious leaders,” said Dr. William F. Vendley, Secretary General of Religions for Peace. “Our religions have been hijacked by religious extremists, unscrupulous politicians, and the sensationalist media. It is the wise leadership of these religious leaders who will help guide all of us in our work to rescue religion from the hijackers and build peace in some of the world’s most troubled areas.”