Najafov noted that influential religious figures can make big contribution to solving this global problem.
The professor said that religion had significant impact on the development of world culture, the formation of the worldview and norms of behavior of peoples, universal values and ethical principles.
“However, for centuries there have been forces that used religion for their political purposes, personal ambitions,” Najafov added. “This led to negative consequences in history, resulting in interreligious wars and bloodshed of innocent people. Unfortunately, we see the scale of religious radicalism and extremism in hotspots around the world, in particular in the Middle East, as terrorist groups, hiding behind the curtain of religion, commit massacres. Naturally, all these crimes aren’t consequence of religious education.”
The reason is that religion was turned into an instrument of political games, and religious education is deliberately distorted, the professor said.
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