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San Fransisco, Feb. 3: Testifying at the January 29th hearing of the US Senate Committee on Armed Services on global threats and national security strategy, former United States Secretary of State George Shultz singled out the United Religions Initiative and said it is the kind of positive, non-military approach that must be supported to deal with the rising violence of religious extremism.

“There is man in San Francisco named Bill Swing, the retired Episcopal Bishop of California, and he started something called the United Religions Initiative,” said Dr. Shultz.

The United Religions Initiative invites people of different religions in communities around the world to build connections around issues including conflict transformation, economic development, education, health care, nuclear disarmament, refugee and displacement issues, and women’s empowerment. Dr. Shultz called the Committee’s attention to the importance of the United Religions Initiative’s work as a global network of grassroots interfaith groups, which are called Cooperation Circles, who work together on issues of mutual interest in their communities.

The United Religions Initiative now has more than 665 Cooperation Circles in 85 countries.