By Jeremy Reynalds
Correspondent for ASSIST News Service

MADRID (ANS) – King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has called on followers of the world’s main religions to turn away from extremism and embrace a spirit of reconciliation.

The king was opening a conference in Madrid which brings together Muslims, Christians, Jews and Buddhists.

BBC News reported he said the great conflicts of history were not caused by religion, but by the misinterpretation of religion.

King Juan Carlos of Spain, the co-host, said Spain had always sought to encourage international dialogue.

A story reported on the BBC News website said critics have dismissed the gathering as a propaganda gimmick by the Saudis who, they say, are not best suited to host a meeting on religious tolerance.

The BBC said that Wahhabism, the type of Sunni Islam that is officially practiced in Saudi Arabia, is considered one of the religion’s most conservative and intolerant forms.

“My brothers, we must tell the world that differences don’t need to lead to disputes,” the BBC reported King Abdullah said.

He added, “The tragedies we have experienced throughout history were not the fault of religion but because of the extremism that has been adopted by some followers of all the religions, and of all political systems.”

The BBC reported correspondents say King Abdullah has made reaching out to other faiths a mainstay of his rule since becoming king in 2005. He is the first reigning Saudi monarch to meet the Pope, for example.

The BBC said that in June, Abdullah held a religious conference in Mecca in which participants pledged improved relations between Islam’s two main branches, Sunni and Shia Islam.

The conference is sponsored by Saudi Arabia and is billed as a strictly religious, non-political affair. The BBC reported it is off limits to journalists apart from the inaugural session.

According to a report on the Arab News website, the Muslim World League (MWL) organized the conference at the directive of King Abdullah.

The king “has been calling for this type of dialogue between religions for the past three years,” Saleh Al-Namlah, undersecretary at the Saudi Ministry of Culture and Information, told reporters.

The Arab News said that about 200 people are expected to attend the event. They include representatives of the world’s major religions: Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism and Hinduism.

Secretary-General of the World Jewish Congress Michael Schneider and Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, who is in charge of dialogue between the Vatican and Muslims, are prominent among them.