NEW YORK: The congregation of spiritual and religious leaders - from faiths ranging from Anglican to Zorastrianism - began signing an ambitious document on Wednesday titled ``Commitment for Global Peace'', which emphatically stated that ``all religions are equal'', as are men and women.

The document, to be signed by more than 1,000 of the Millennium World Peace Summit participants, unequivocally condemned violence committed in the name of religion and sought to play a decisive role in reducing conflicts, poverty and ensure environmental protection as a priority.

The summit concludes on Thursday. On the penultimate day, the summiteers were tackling a clutch of complex issues such as ``Conflict transformation in the Balkans'' (as well as Russia and Central Asia), ``Forgiveness and reconciliation: Global challenges, local initiatives'' and ``Poverty: Is this how the world should be?''

Organisers are hoping that there will be a lingering effect of the Millennium Summit on the future of the United Nations which is going into another summit next week: this one of over 100 heads of government - including Atal Behari Vajpayee and General Pervez Musharraf. Will they, too, talk of tolerance, peace and reconciliation - the leitmotif of the religious summit?

Some of the delegates to the current summit maintain that although the speeches, prayers and invocations within the General Assembly have been cerebral and captivating because of the inherent interfaith nature, the ``real action'' has been unfolding outside the summit.

A Tibetan delegate sitting along with an Indonesian maulavi, a Hindu priest talking to an African bishop, striking some sort of undefinable chord. Rev. Joan Brown Campbell, a former executive director of the National Council of Churches, says such symbolism ought not be ``underestimated''. It sends out a ``powerful image'' when religious leaders, who at most times are very busy themselves, are sitting side by side discussing, she said. It shows possibilities for resolving differences.

The areas of conflict are many - Bosnia, West Asia, Russia, Central Asia, Indonesia, Africa and, of course, Tibet and China - all present at a summit where 83 per cent of the world's population are represented through 75 different faiths.

Albert Lincoln of Baha'i International says opportunities for meeting with Iranian clergymen will be invaluable - Baha'i faith is banned in Iran as a heresy. Eritrean Bishop Zekares Yahames plans to meet his counterpart from Ethiopia - the two countries have been embroiled in a bloody border conflict.

So, the opportunities for religious leaders from hostile countries to exchange views outside the rigid formality of the General Assembly are seen by them as one invaluable offering of this summit.

Apart from the grave error in not inviting the the Dalai Lama to the Summit for fear of Chinese pressure, this gathering has been mostly free of controversy, although odd moments of dissonance have been there. While most speakers kept to the interfaith tenor in their remarks and prayers, Anne Graham, daughter of Evangelist Billy Graham, in her message opted for a more partisan line when she claimed the way to attain world peace was to ``accept Jesus as the Prince of Peace''.

Besides the declaration, there is a proposal to create a Council of Religious Leaders to advise the UN on preventing and settling disputes.

For India, for all its simmering religious discord, it provided a wonderful platform to display its secular traditions. Not just through its revered spiritual masters but being represented by such a breathtaking array of religious leaders from Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Jainism, Sikhism, Zorastrianism and Buddhism.

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