October 18, 2009, Updated September 24, 2012

The results of a survey showing how members of five major religions view their religious leadership are being revealed in Haifa, Israel from October 18 to 22, at the fourth meeting of the Elijah Board of World Religious Leaders, a multinational, UNESCO-sponsored non-profit organization.

More than 50 religious leaders from around the world are participating in the conference on ‘The Future of Religious Leadership,’ representing Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism and Sikh. Representatives from the Vatican and of the Dalai Lama will be in attendance.

Highlights of the results: The religious are getting more religious; the faithful want peace, not politics; and the religious want their leaders to have interfaith dialogue.

The survey, conducted in August-September 2009, found that within the Jewish community there is great distrust and unhappiness with leadership, as well as low expectations. In contrast to other religions, Jews did not get more religious over the past five years. Also, Jewish responses showed the highest expectations for religious leaders to be involved in politics.

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