Bishop Munib Younan of Palestine to Get 34th Niwano Peace Prize

TOKYO, Feb. 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Niwano Peace Foundation will award the 34th Niwano Peace Prize to Evangelical Lutheran Church Bishop Dr. Munib A. Younan of Palestine in recognition of perseverance and compassion in his work to encourage dialogue between interreligious groups in the Middle East and elsewhere.

An award presentation ceremony will take place in Tokyo on July 27 at 10:30 a.m. In addition to an award certificate, Bishop Younan will receive a medal and prize money.

In a world characterized by leaders who seek to emphasize difference and hatred, Bishop Younan, also President of the Lutheran World Federation, has consistently strived for the opposite, embracing peace over power and unity over domination. He embodies the qualities that the Niwano Peace Foundation values in religious leaders.

In selecting Bishop Younan as a recipient for 2017, the Niwano Peace Prize Committee said he "has devoted his life to building peace with justice in the Middle East and globally." He "continues tirelessly in a self-sacrificing manner promoting dialogue and joint action between religions and over ethnic and national divisions" while strongly condemning all kinds of religious extremism and terrorism, it said.

Niwano Peace Prize:

The Niwano Peace Foundation established the Niwano Peace Prize to honor and encourage individuals and organizations that have contributed significantly to inter-religious cooperation, thereby furthering the cause of world peace, and to make their achievements known as widely as possible. The foundation hopes in this way both to enhance inter-religious understanding and cooperation and to encourage the emergence of still more persons devoted to working for world peace. The prize is named in honor of the founder and first president of the lay Buddhist organization Rissho Kosei-kai, Nikkyo Niwano.

Niwano Peace Foundation:

The Niwano Peace Foundation was chartered in 1978 to contribute to the realization of world peace and the enhancement of a culture of peace. The foundation promotes research and other activities based on a religious spirit and serves the cause of peace in such fields as education, science, religion and philosophy.

Contact:
(Mr.) Seiji Hironaka
Niwano Peace Foundation
Tel: +81-3-3226-4371
Fax: +81-3-3226-1835
E-mail: s.hironaka@npf.or.jp
URL: http://www.npf.or.jp/english/