Astana’s 8th Interfaith Congress cast religion as a practical tool for peace, urging the protection of sacred sites, and concluded with the Astana Peace Declaration 2025.

ASTANA, Kazakhstan – In a world saturated with conflict and division, a city in Central Asia has quietly staged a counterpoint. This September, Astana hosted the 8th Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions. In this unlikely forum, imams, rabbis, bishops, monks, and politicians mingled with UN officials and peacebuilders to wrestle with the spiritual dimensions of global disorder. The theme — “Dialogue of Religions: Synergy for the Future” — sounded almost quaint. Yet, for three days, it became a crucible for ideas about whether faith can still serve as a bulwark against fragmentation.

More than 100 participants from 60 countries descended on Kazakhstan’s capital, representing major religions, international organizations, and civil society groups. The agenda ranged from the practical to the philosophical, encompassing topics such as protecting religious sites from attack, countering extremism, debating spiritual values in the era of artificial intelligence, and convening young leaders under the banner of “Youth for Peaceful Coexistence.” Even in a conference circuit crowded with initiatives and declarations, this one carried a particular resonance. In a century where religion is too often blamed for fueling conflict, here was an attempt to recast it as an antidote.

Guterres’s Call for Bridges

The United Nations lent its imprimatur through a video message from Secretary-General António Guterres. His tone was blunt: “The United Nations was founded on the conviction that dialogue leads to peace. Today, that truth is more important than ever — especially as conflicts, inequalities, the climate crisis, and geopolitical divisions grow. We need to build bridges in our fractured world. That’s exactly what you are doing.”

It was both an endorsement and a warning. Guterres framed the gathering not as a polite interfaith exercise but as part of a larger survival strategy for a planet under stress. Faith leaders, he suggested, remain uniquely placed to inspire cooperation and counter intolerance at a time when politics alone seems incapable of stemming polarization.

A Swiss Diplomat’s Turn to Religion

Few embodied that conviction more vividly than Laila Sheikh, the newly appointed director of the House of Religions – Dialogue of Cultures in Bern, Switzerland. A veteran of two decades in Swiss diplomacy, Sheikh assumed her current post in June with a mission to translate her country’s tradition of neutrality and mediation into the religious sphere.

“Religious leaders have a strong influence on their communities. They can always use it positively for peaceful means, to reduce tensions, and even violence,” she told the Astana Times. “This can be done very rapidly in case of an open violent conflict or to calm down a situation. However, conflict resolution and lasting peace often require a long-term investment.”

Sheikh’s biography reads almost like a parable of coexistence. Raised as one of the few Muslim children in the Catholic canton of Fribourg, she learned early that identity could cut both ways: as a source of alienation but also as a bridge. “Belonging to a minority group in Switzerland made me aware, at a young age, that people have different viewpoints and perspectives, depending on their background. Early on, I became a bridge builder,” she said.

Her Bern-based institution is itself a microcosm of pluralism. The House of Religions hosts ceremonies for Alevites, Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, and Muslims in designated spaces, while Jewish, Baha’i, and Sikh representatives participate in events ranging from exhibitions to school programs. Sheikh calls it a “showcase of coexistence” — a living demonstration that diversity can be not just tolerated but celebrated.

Kazakhstan’s Bid for Soft Power

For Kazakhstan, staging the Congress was more than a civic gesture. It was a calculated extension of the country’s “multivector diplomacy” — a strategy of positioning itself as a bridge between East and West, secular and sacred. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who chaired the plenary session, has repeatedly cast interreligious dialogue as part of Kazakhstan’s contribution to global peace. The Congress has become one of the country’s signature brands, alongside its mediation efforts in conflicts from Ukraine to Syria.

There is a soft-power dividend here. In a region often associated with authoritarian politics and resource rivalries, Astana is attempting to brand itself as a convening capital — a place where dialogue is still possible. Hosting religious leaders from across the spectrum allows Kazakhstan to project an image of tolerance, even as it navigates its own domestic debates over faith and freedom.

Faith as a Tool of Geopolitics

Skeptics might dismiss such gatherings as high-minded talk shops with little impact on real conflicts. And yet, the persistence of the Congress — now in its eighth iteration — suggests that something deeper is at play. Religion, after all, remains one of the most enduring sources of authority in human affairs. Political regimes collapse, economic systems transform, but the moral authority of faith endures. Harnessed constructively, that authority can help de-escalate tensions faster than any UN resolution.

Sheikh underscored the point in Astana: “The better religious leaders are connected and have the capacity to reach out to representatives of other communities, and in the best case, to unite and stand firmly together, the more positive impact they can have.”

It is not a naive claim. Instead, it reflects the pragmatic insight that in conflicts where governments are mistrusted, clerics and spiritual guides may be the only figures capable of persuading combatants to lay down arms.

The Gender and Youth Imperative

Perhaps most striking was Sheikh’s insistence that women and youth must be at the heart of interfaith peacebuilding. At the House of Religions, the majority of staff and volunteers are women. “Women represent half of the world’s population but are still too often left out in decision-making. Stable, prosperous, and peaceful societies depend on gender equality,” she said.

Youth engagement, too, is becoming more than a rhetorical flourish. The Congress featured a Forum of Young Religious Leaders designed to connect aspiring clerics and activists across traditions. For Sheikh, such initiatives matter because “human connections and first-hand knowledge are powerful tools to reduce prejudice, foster empathy and create a common future.”

Beyond Declarations

By the end of the Congress, participants had endorsed the Astana Peace Declaration 2025, a comprehensive document that calls for dialogue, respect for diversity, and joint action against extremism. Such statements rarely shift policy overnight. However, they can serve as markers — reminders that, amid war in Ukraine, instability in the Middle East, and rising authoritarianism elsewhere, there are still voices advocating for patience, empathy, and common ground.

The Congress also staged a special session on protecting religious sites, co-organized with the UN Alliance of Civilizations, in recognition of the rising threats to sacred places worldwide. It was a sobering acknowledgment that dialogue alone cannot shield communities from violence, but that defending heritage remains a frontline in the struggle for peace.

A Showcase, Not a Panacea

The Astana gathering did not resolve the contradictions of our era. But it did provide a rare tableau where differences were not only acknowledged but framed as sources of potential strength. Guterres’s phrase — “differences can be a source of strength” — echoed through the halls like both a plea and a challenge.

The question, of course, is whether such synergy can extend beyond conference halls and photo ops. The House of Religions in Bern offers one modest answer: coexistence is possible, but it requires constant tending, resources, and a willingness to embrace equity among all communities. Kazakhstan, for its part, is betting that by hosting these dialogues, it can carve out a niche as a peacebuilder on the global stage.

At a moment when cynicism about international cooperation runs high, Astana’s Congress was a reminder that faith — so often caricatured as a source of division — can also be mobilized as a resource for survival. The path from prayer to peace may be long and uneven, but as Sheikh put it, the alternative is far worse: a world without bridges.