New York [US], August 30, 2026: Speaking at the “Universal Oneness Celebration” in Manhattan, Founding Secretary General of The World Council of Religious Leaders, Bawa Jain, on Saturday, August 29, delivered an address calling on global communities and faith leaders to reclaim trust, dignity, and shared humanity in an increasingly fragmented world.
Addressing an international assembly of religious leaders, scholars, and advocates, Jain highlighted how modern anxieties and digital platforms are fracturing long-standing communal bonds across borders.
“Neighbors who prayed side by side for generations now fear for one another. Hatred crosses borders and spreads through our screens, carried by machines that never sleep. Trust in institutions and one another is weakening. Even as new technologies transform how human beings and communities understand truth, exercise power and imagine the future,” said Bawa Jain.
Stressing that no single body can solve the global crisis of polarization alone, Jain noted that neither governments, technological systems, nor religious institutions can independently carry the weight of current geopolitical and social challenges. However, he emphasized that faith leaders hold a distinct moral imperative.
“Across different traditions, beliefs, histories and cultures, we affirm something fundamental,” Jain said. “Every human being has dignity. No community is less than another. And the suffering of another cannot be irrelevant simply because it is not our own.”
He underlined how humanity was meeting at a “consequential moment”, with conflicts, weakening trust in institutions and the rapid transformation brought by emerging technologies posing challenges that require collective moral responsibility.
“Today we meet at another consequential moment for humanity. We come from traditions older than nations, from scriptures, lineages, and ways of prayer that have carried billions of human beings through every joy and every catastrophe our species has known,” Jain said.
He acknowledged the dual legacy of religion, saying faith had demonstrated an “extraordinary power” to heal, reconcile and inspire, while also being used at times to divide, exclude and justify violence.
“We inherit both that legacy and the responsibility that comes with it,” he said.
Jain outlined commitments for religious leaders, beginning with introspection and accountability within their own communities.
“We will examine the words, teachings, institutions and practices of our own communities first. We will reject the use of religion to justify hatred, humiliation, dehumanisation or violence, and teach that deep conviction can coexist with respect for those who believe differently,” he said.
Calling for stronger ties between communities before crises emerge, Jain said religious leaders should build relationships across religious and cultural boundaries, particularly among young people.
“We will insist that human progress remain in the service of human beings and that technology strengthen rather than diminish dignity, truth, freedom and human connection,” he said.
Jain stressed that the commitments made at the gathering must continue beyond the event and translate into tangible action within communities.
“A global declaration matters only if it becomes legal action. We therefore ask every leader gathered here to undertake one concrete action,” he said.
Jain urged the audience to look past doctrinal differences and embrace principled coexistence on diversity, belief and compassion.
On diversity, he said, “Unity does not require conformity,” arguing that the Indian worldview has never demanded sameness to achieve oneness — that a garden is beautiful because of many flowers, not one.
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His remarks come as Madison Square Garden hosted the Universal Oneness Celebration, which also featured an address by RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat.