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Charter For "Living in Harmony". Interfaith Youth United for the Future
Protestant Federation of France - Youth Department

During the World Youth Days in Paris in 1997, leaders of Jewish, Muslim, Orthodox and Protestant youth movements felt a lack of interfaith encounter in the program. Leaders of the Youth Department of the Protestant Federation of France then drafted a Charter for “Living in Harmony” and presented it to other Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim and Orthodox youth movements for approval and signature. Following is an English translation of the French text of the Charter.

On the 24th day of August, 1997, the last day of the XIIth World Youth Days organized by the Roman Catholic Church, we, the young people of different faiths, declare our desire to live together in unity as we enter the next millennium.

This unity must be based on a sincere pledge of tolerance.

• We wish to note that there is no single type of youth, but many types, just as there are many ways of living one’s spirituality.

• We affirm that in order to live together we must know and understand each other better. We must also listen to one another more attentively in order to be more receptive to each other.

• We wish to live together and put our differences into common, so that all our efforts and undertakings will be enriched.

• We wish to share the spiritual riches of our respective faiths.

• We affirm the urgency of building our future together on trust, fraternity and solidarity, rather than distrust, hatred and self-seeking. We also commit ourselves to a more just and more fraternal world.

• We believe that the current crises affecting our world are not inevitable acts of fate. We share responsibility for these events.


The future of this world depends in equal part on our individual and our collective commitments. For this reason we oppose all ideologies of exclusion, fundamentalism and fanaticism, sources of violence and injustice, devoting to this all our energies and our resources.

On the strength of what already unites us and with deep respect for our differences, we invite the youth of all countries and religious persuasions to join us in this effort.

Paris, France
May 6, 1997