International Day for Tolerance |17 November 2017

President Faure shares message of respect, compassion and love

President Danny Faure visited nine religious institutions yesterday as part of activities to commemorate the International Day for Tolerance.

He met the heads and members of all these institutions to share three important values that he has decided to promote next year among the community.

“More values need to be brought in the community but essentially we need to concentrate on respect... Respect as a value needs to be promoted within our families and the schools. We are now seeing an assault on institutions and this can no longer be tolerated. We see citizens attacking foreigners and this is an assault on the economy, our bread. There’s also lack of respect in schools,” he said.

President Faure said the value of compassion needs to be applied to strike a balance between the level of consumption and materialism as the society develops and there is an increase in economical growth.

“A lot more needs to be done in this direction. Our society where citizens need to be more compassionate, we will be promoting compassion within the workplaces and families. Then the third most important value is love,” he said.

He said love thy neighbour as you love yourself.

“We need to have this sense of love especially as a small society where we all need one another. You never know when you might need another fellow citizen,” he said.

President Faure reaffirmed the government’s commitment to support the work being done by these groups.

The President also commended them for having tolerance which allows co-existence of various religious denominations.

The President seeks of their support in applying these three values and appealed to them to share this message using the influence they hold as leaders of various religious groups.

The visit started in Plaisance at the Kingdom hall of Jehovah Witnesses, where he met the President of the Jehovah Witnesses Association Raymond Dogley and the spokesperson Franck Duthuit.

Mr Duthuit said that it is not often to see a head of state encouraging compassion, love and respect.

“It makes me happy to hear a head of state saying such things; it’s as if I was talking to a religious leader. You do not come by a head of state encouraging compassion, love and respect that often. They are truly essential values for the society,” he said.

President Faure then received a tour of the Islamic mosque based in Mont Fleuri by Sheik Idris Yusuf.

Imam Yusuf stated that these three values are the core to the Islamic faith.

“One of the biggest challenges we face worldwide is the youth being disconnected spiritually and people are in comfort they think they do not need religion. There needs to be a moral renaissance towards spirituality and religion,” said Imam Yusuf.

The next institution toured by the President was a non-profit Christian based organisation. At the Pentecostal Assembly, Riverside, the delegation was welcomed by a number of Pentecostal pastors and members of the ministry.

The president of Pentecostal Assembly of Seychelles (PAOS) Hermitte Freminot commended President Faure for the steps he was making although unusual to most.

“What you are doing may not be that popular but I think you are making the right decisions. I know the Lord will bless you with strength to continue striving. A country on a straight line pleases the Almighty and his blessings will fall upon us. I am sure that Seychelles is a blessed country,” he said.

Pastor Eddy Payet who is in charge of the Riverside ministry gave a brief overview of the history and work being done by PAOS for the past 34 years such as programmes being undertaken within and outside of the church.

He also expressed the setbacks being faced by PAOS.

While visiting the Mosque in Victoria, the President met its executive board member and Ibrahim Afif expressed his gratitude to President Faure for taking such an initiative.

“We are very happy that you are supporting this diversity of religions in Seychelles and we have outreach programmes being done by the Islamic society to apply certain values in families of Seychelles,” he said.

Another member said the three values fall under one umbrella which they try to promote which is a positive mindset.

The fifth institution to be visited was the St Paul’s Cathedral where he met Bishop James Wong Ying Song, assisted by Archdeacon Danny Elizabeth, Father Daniel Kallee and Reverend Christine Benoit among other members of the Anglican church.

The President then met the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Seychelles at the National Baha’i Centre of Seychelles and then welcomed by the President of the Seventh Day Adventist Mission Pastor Ellfurth Baxan and other members of the mission.

Before his final visit to the Catholic Diocese, the President received a very warm welcome at the Hindu Temple with a prayer ceremony assisted by the chairman of Seychelles Hindu Kovil Sangam (SHKS) Veera Pandiyan Pillay.

At the Catholic Diocese, the president was met by Roman Catholic Bishop Denis Wiehe and Father David Alcindor along with staff members of the Domus, Bishop house, Cathedral, Centre d’Acceuil de La Rosière and other institutions. 

“I am very touched that the President visited all the religious groups on the International Day of Tolerance as I believe there should be respect for one another and one’s liberty to choose a religion as it is important not to simply follow the religion your parents followed but the one you want to live by,” said Bishop Wiehe.

All of the religious members expressed their gratitude to the President for paying this visit and pledged their full support towards the initiative being undertaken as from next year.

President Faure who was accompanied by the vice-president secretariat principal secretary (PS) Alain Volcère, received various tokens from the religious leaders such as books, bibles, Quran, CDs, among many others.