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ISLAMO-CHRISTIAN DIALOGUE: EUROPEAN CONFERENCE (CCEE-KEK) STARTED IN BRUSSELS
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- Creato: 22 Ottobre 2008
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(From Chiara Biagioni, SIR's correspondent in Malines/Brussels) - Last night, Malines (Brussels) hosted the European Christian-Muslim Conference that from 20th to 23rd October will be gathering about fifty participants: delegates of the European Christian Churches (Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and Protestant) and members of the Islam communities of several countries (Austria, Luxembourg, Romania, France, Portugal, Italy, Turkey, Norway and Belgium). The conference - Being a citizen of Europe and a person of Faith. Christians and Muslims as active partners in European societies" - is promoted by the Committee for Relations with Muslims in Europe, a body of the European Church Conference (Kek) and the Council of European Bishops Conferences (Ccee). "Our conference - said Jean Arnold de Clermont, president of Kek, at the opening - is at the heart of a plan: to exchange our spiritual heritages to offer them better to a world that s trying to be better. In this sense, our meeting is a source of hope". After all, "the Europe that talks with Turkey, the Europe that is in contact with the Mediterranean countries, from which it has inherited what is essential about its culture, this Europe cannot do without the dialogue with Islam, as much as the Muslim countries cannot help talking with the Europe of human rights and independent politics and religion".
BEING MODELS OF CITIZENSHIP
(M. Chiara Biagioni, SIR‘s correspondent in Brussels/Malines) - "As one of the 138 Muslim Wise Men who signed" the letter "A common word between us and you" sent last year to the authorities of he Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant Christianity, "I wish to express the hope that, through this initiative as well as through this European Christian-Islamic Conference, Christians and Muslims will be able to renew a mutual knowledge and recognise in themselves and in the others that presence of the Merciful One, who guides our spiritual service and makes us the excellent models of citizenship in Europe and in the rest of the world". This was said this morning by imam Yahya Sergio Yahe Pallavicini, vice-president of Coreis (Islamic Religious Community), as he took the floor at the Brussels Conference promoted by Ccee and Kek. Pallavicini spoke of the initiatives that have been promoted after the letter of the 138 Muslim Wise Men. "A delegation of the signers of this letter was invited three months ago to an epoch-making meeting at Yale University with prestigious Christian theologians and American Protestant pastors. A few weeks ago in Cambridge we met the Anglican archbishop of Canterbury and we are getting ready for the forthcoming first Catholic-Muslim Forum in the Vatican, which will be ended by an audience with Pope Benedict XVI".
These are - said the imam - examples of "good practice" of Islamo-Christian dialogue that "seemingly only involves theologians, jurists, religious leaders, spiritual masters, university lecturers, intellectuals, but which in fact can and must produce an impact on the believers and the creatures that are still sensitive to the real nature of religion and dialogue between different civilisations". As to the letter "A common word", Pallavicini said: the "forms of exploitation of inter-religious dialogue" "have been responded by a current of Muslim wise men "that for years have taken on the responsibility for sharing an international network of doctrinal reconciliation, intensifying the relations between modernity and tradition, the East and the West, faith and reason, in order to protect the authenticity and independence of Islamic Orthodoxy from nationalisms or puritanical ideologies".
TOGETHER TO DEFEND RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
(M. Chiara Biagioni, SIR's correspondent in Brussels/ Malines) - Muslims and Christians can and must join forces to "defend religious freedom and freedom of the conscience". This was said this morning by card. Jean Pierre Ricard, archbishop of Bordeaux and vice-president of Ccee, during the European Christian-Muslim Conference (taking place in Brussels from 20th to 23rd October) as he outlined the spheres in which Christians and Muslims can join forces. "It is in the nature of man to receive the truth, to open up to transcendence. This pursuit and this opening cannot but be free. And this implies the freedom of believing, of expressing one's faith, of celebrating, teaching and showing it. "This religious freedom - added the cardinal - implies the respect of the freedom of the conscience: in other words, the possibility to freely adhere to or abandon a religion". Then, the cardinal spoke of "mutuality". "I do not know if that is the right word. But I know very well what is behind it, what is at stake: in other words, the credibility of the speeches that are made. Because one cannot claim full religious freedom somewhere and restrict it somewhere else".
BEING MODELS OF CITIZENSHIP
(M. Chiara Biagioni, SIR‘s correspondent in Brussels/Malines) - "As one of the 138 Muslim Wise Men who signed" the letter "A common word between us and you" sent last year to the authorities of he Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant Christianity, "I wish to express the hope that, through this initiative as well as through this European Christian-Islamic Conference, Christians and Muslims will be able to renew a mutual knowledge and recognise in themselves and in the others that presence of the Merciful One, who guides our spiritual service and makes us the excellent models of citizenship in Europe and in the rest of the world". This was said this morning by imam Yahya Sergio Yahe Pallavicini, vice-president of Coreis (Islamic Religious Community), as he took the floor at the Brussels Conference promoted by Ccee and Kek. Pallavicini spoke of the initiatives that have been promoted after the letter of the 138 Muslim Wise Men. "A delegation of the signers of this letter was invited three months ago to an epoch-making meeting at Yale University with prestigious Christian theologians and American Protestant pastors. A few weeks ago in Cambridge we met the Anglican archbishop of Canterbury and we are getting ready for the forthcoming first Catholic-Muslim Forum in the Vatican, which will be ended by an audience with Pope Benedict XVI".
These are - said the imam - examples of "good practice" of Islamo-Christian dialogue that "seemingly only involves theologians, jurists, religious leaders, spiritual masters, university lecturers, intellectuals, but which in fact can and must produce an impact on the believers and the creatures that are still sensitive to the real nature of religion and dialogue between different civilisations". As to the letter "A common word", Pallavicini said: the "forms of exploitation of inter-religious dialogue" "have been responded by a current of Muslim wise men "that for years have taken on the responsibility for sharing an international network of doctrinal reconciliation, intensifying the relations between modernity and tradition, the East and the West, faith and reason, in order to protect the authenticity and independence of Islamic Orthodoxy from nationalisms or puritanical ideologies".
TOGETHER TO DEFEND RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
(M. Chiara Biagioni, SIR's correspondent in Brussels/ Malines) - Muslims and Christians can and must join forces to "defend religious freedom and freedom of the conscience". This was said this morning by card. Jean Pierre Ricard, archbishop of Bordeaux and vice-president of Ccee, during the European Christian-Muslim Conference (taking place in Brussels from 20th to 23rd October) as he outlined the spheres in which Christians and Muslims can join forces. "It is in the nature of man to receive the truth, to open up to transcendence. This pursuit and this opening cannot but be free. And this implies the freedom of believing, of expressing one's faith, of celebrating, teaching and showing it. "This religious freedom - added the cardinal - implies the respect of the freedom of the conscience: in other words, the possibility to freely adhere to or abandon a religion". Then, the cardinal spoke of "mutuality". "I do not know if that is the right word. But I know very well what is behind it, what is at stake: in other words, the credibility of the speeches that are made. Because one cannot claim full religious freedom somewhere and restrict it somewhere else".
“I know – he added – that things are very complicated in political and cultural terms. And that Islam must not be confused with the practices of the States”. “But we need to hear that there is truly some cooperation between Muslims and Christians in Europe to promote all over the world those human values that seem fundamental to us”. In his speech, card. Ricard outlined other spheres of cooperation between Christians and Muslims. Of these, he highlighted the fight against social exclusion, speaking of the situation in which an increasing number of immigrants are living in the European cities: “ghetto cities or neighbourhoods, school dropouts, unemployment, the feeling to have no place or future in society, resentment and violence against a society that does not look so fair after all”. “There is – said the archbishop – a whole lot of work to be done to prevent violence breaking out in such situations and to take these people out of social exclusion”. An action – said the archbishop – that can also be carried out locally by way of a “work of social peacemaking” which the Christian and Muslim communities can do together in the so-called “difficult” neighbourhoods”.
WE HAVE TURNED A NEW LEAF
(M. Chiara Biagioni, SIR's correspondent in Brussels / Malines) - "We have spent a lot of time trying to understand whether we could talk to each other. Now we have turned a new leaf. We no longer talk of talking. We talk about some key issues about man and society that we share, that confront us and that we have to respond to together". Mgr. Jean-Luc Brunin, bishop of Ajaccio, summarises like this the value of the European Islamo-Christian conference of Brussels that from 20th to 23rd October, on the initiative of Ccee and Kek (which gather all the Christian Churches of Europe), is gathering about fifty Christians and Muslims to discuss citizenship in Europe. Tomorrow, the Conference will end with a final statement. "In this conference - explains mgr. Brunin -, we are speaking of citizenship and how our being men of faith, Christians and Muslims, can colour and determine our being citizens of Europe". There are - according to the bishop - many issues on which Muslims and Christians can reflect together: "on the dignity of man and woman, the respect of life from the beginning through to its end, reflections on bioethics, social justice, migratory policies, education to diversity and plurality".
A HELPING HAND TO BE WELCOMED
(M. Chiara Biagioni, SIR's correspondent in Brussels / Malines)) - The appeal made by the 138 Muslim Wise Men to the leaders of the Christian Churches means "offering a helping hand, that is accepted very willingly by the leaders of the Christian Churches". These are the words of mgr. Pero Sudar, auxiliary bishop of Sarajevo, during the Islamo-Christian conference that from 20th to 23rd October is gathering about fifty Muslims and Christians in Brussels to discuss European citizenship. The 138 authors of the Letter "A Common Word" include the Great Mufti of Bosnia Herzegovina, Mustafa Ceric. "I believe that this initiative - says mgr. Sudar - is very important because it has come at a time in which we feared a head-on conflict from the intellectuals and felt the risk that confrontation might be the chosen approach. This letter is like offering a helping hand. We are off to a good start, then, because at last we are understanding that no religion, no Church or religious community is believable today in the world, unless it finds a way to cooperate with the other Churches and religious communities. I look at these initiatives with great hope and confidence". "We - adds mgr. Sudar - have a centuries-old experience in the cohabitation of different ethnic groups and religions, and we can testify that this is possible. On the other hand, unfortunately, we can also testify that everything will end up in tragedy if dialogue with the others is not raised to the level of a preferential option".
A BUSINESS MEETING
(M.Chiara Biagioni, SIR's correspondent in Brussels/ Malines) - "It has not been a conference for an exchange of doctrinal views on theological differences or similarities, but rather a business meeting to find those issues that can see us join forces and work proactively at a common European project". These are the first conclusions drawn about the European Islamo-Christian conference, that will end in Brussels today with the proclamation of a final statement, by father Hans Vocking of Ccee (Council of European Bishops Conferences) which promoted the event along with Kek (Conference of European Churches). "First and foremost, we had a chance - says Hans Vocking - to spend three days with about twenty Muslims who came from different European countries and different traditions, to tackle together the socio-political issue of citizenship and responsibility as men and women of faith in European society". This strengthened "that network of Muslims counterparts that will enable the Commission for Relations with Muslims in Europe within Ccee and Kek to keep working" in some directions.
"I am thinking for instance - says Vocking - of Muslims and Christians revising schoolbooks so that students can study textbooks which deal properly with the Christian and Muslim traditions of faith". Another goal - goes on the Ccee expert - is "to keep working together within the European community by liaising with the political world, that is the European Commission and European Parliament, and in this sense this conference is the beginning of a process of institutional relations to be carried on and expand, as we find out issues we can submit together to the European political community".
WE ARE CONFIDENT
(M.Chiara Biagioni, SIR's correspondent in Brussels/ Malines) - "This is not about making our attitude of cooperation and dialogue with Muslims in Europe conditional on any change in the situation that may happen in other countries in the future. Dialogue can start from here and is for today". With these words, card. Jean Pierre Ricard, archbishop of Bordeaux and vice-president of Ccee, wanted to explain "not so much my opinion but rather what has been said about mutuality during this meeting". The archbishop is speaking from Brussels, where the European Islamo-Christian conference promoted by Ccee and Kek will end, and where the archbishop gave an opening address, speaking also of religious and conscientious freedom. "We - he says to SIR at the end of the meeting - are confident in those Muslims who really want to create an Islam of Europe, an Islam for Europe, starting from the European scenario. We are confident in them". That's not all. Christians and Muslims are responsible for "handling a European public opinion that can be tempted by Islamo-phobia. While in some parts of the world Christians are denied religious freedom and therefore the possibility to celebrate in places of worship and sometimes they risk becoming discrminitade against, paradoxically this situation risks spreading Islamo-phobia in Europe".
"This is one more reason - added card. Ricard - to face this challenge together, clearly explaining every situation, and, whenever possible, taking common positions together". Such conferences as the Brussels one and the one due to take place in the Vatican from 4th to 5th November with the 138 Muslim Wise Men who wrote the Letter "A Common Word" are important, because they help create, between Christians and Muslims, "a climate of mutual esteem, respect and understanding. If we are really men of religion and stay loyal to our religious traditions, inhabiting them cleverly, the encounter with the other in a climate of friendship and esteem is possible and fruitful".
FINAL STATEMENT, "MUSLIMS AND CHRISTIANS TOGETHER FOR EUROPE"
"Christians and Muslims are called to work hand in hand in appropriate ways with the state to which we belong without becoming subservient to governments. We say this because we believe that religious communities and the state should work together for the common good ". It means saying ‘no' to confining religion to the personal sphere and to the "request to forsake one's religious identity", through, for instance, the "prohibition to wear or display religious symbols in public places or neutralization of religious festivities with the pretext that their being allowed would harm the sensibilities of other believers or that they would go against the principles of the secular state". In the final statement of the European Islamo-Christian Conference jointly promoted by Ccee and Kek which ended in Malines today, the 45 Christian and Muslim delegates from 16 European nations thus wanted to reassert all their willingness to interact and cooperate with the State, without forsaking however their religious dimension. "As Christians and Muslims - states the text published today -, we affirm that we are citizens and believers, not citizens or believers. We believe that the future of our European societies will depend in large measure on our willingness as citizens and persons of belief to preserve and develop the cultural and religious foundations of Europe". In the statement, the signers reassert “the principle of integration” and acknowledge “the right of freedom of conscience” and therefore the right to “change one’s religion or decide to live without a religion”, “the right to demonstrate publicly and to voice one’s religious convictions without being ridiculed or intimidated into silence by prejudice or stereotyping intentionally or through lack of knowledge”. Christians and Muslims, as citizens and men of faith, “offer their common witness so that the human being may discover his/her own identity through his/her relationship with God” “This leads us to affirm – goes on the statement – the utmost importance and vital role of the family, of human dignity, of social justice, of care for the environment” as well as “the condemnation of the use of violence in the name of religion and those hostile forms of militant secularism that create discrimination among citizens and leave no space for religious belief and practice”. To promote mutual acquaintance, the signers also propose “to open the churches and mosques to visitors from other communities and to academic meetings”. We need to get into the spirit of religions, as well as their outer clothing. We pledge ourselves to avoid generalisations about the other. Human rights are universal and include the right to religious freedom. In order to promote it, we hope in a partnership between Christians and Muslims in Europe. Solidarity with those who suffer inside and outside Europe must be encouraged, and a mediation must be offered whenever possible. We are called to build bridges across cultures and faiths. Europe is called to be a laboratory of learning for both Muslims and Christians. We wish - this is the end of the statement - the future generations may live in peace and harmony within religious differences. Interreligious dialogue - which must not be limited to Christians and Muslims but extended to the devotees of the other main religions too - must begin in those places where children and young people meet, that is, at school, in the halls of our colleges and in the religious communities".
News by SIR
WE HAVE TURNED A NEW LEAF
(M. Chiara Biagioni, SIR's correspondent in Brussels / Malines) - "We have spent a lot of time trying to understand whether we could talk to each other. Now we have turned a new leaf. We no longer talk of talking. We talk about some key issues about man and society that we share, that confront us and that we have to respond to together". Mgr. Jean-Luc Brunin, bishop of Ajaccio, summarises like this the value of the European Islamo-Christian conference of Brussels that from 20th to 23rd October, on the initiative of Ccee and Kek (which gather all the Christian Churches of Europe), is gathering about fifty Christians and Muslims to discuss citizenship in Europe. Tomorrow, the Conference will end with a final statement. "In this conference - explains mgr. Brunin -, we are speaking of citizenship and how our being men of faith, Christians and Muslims, can colour and determine our being citizens of Europe". There are - according to the bishop - many issues on which Muslims and Christians can reflect together: "on the dignity of man and woman, the respect of life from the beginning through to its end, reflections on bioethics, social justice, migratory policies, education to diversity and plurality".
As to the appeal of the 138 Muslim Wise Men and the meeting due to take place in the Vatican from 4th to 5th November, mgr. Brunin speaks of initiatives that look “promising for the future”. And he adds: “it is the first time that Muslims have made the first move to ask for a dialogue with the Christian leaders. And have also given a basis on which they asked us to talk to each other. That is, spirituality and the love for God and our neighbours. On this basis, we still have a lot of things to tell each other”. This is echoed by the Imam of Lisbon, sheikh David Munir. “Those Muslims who really know Islam – he says – know that there is a common root that binds us to Christianity. That’s why Christians are respected. Through these meetings and by getting to know each other deeply, we learn not to commit the mistakes of the past any more”. Then, as to the Brussels initiative, the imam said: “Such conferences reassure us that we are not alone, there are many people who believe in dialogue, and these people live in different parts of Europe. This means that, after this conference, every one will go back to their communities to build bridges and renewed relations”.
A HELPING HAND TO BE WELCOMED
(M. Chiara Biagioni, SIR's correspondent in Brussels / Malines)) - The appeal made by the 138 Muslim Wise Men to the leaders of the Christian Churches means "offering a helping hand, that is accepted very willingly by the leaders of the Christian Churches". These are the words of mgr. Pero Sudar, auxiliary bishop of Sarajevo, during the Islamo-Christian conference that from 20th to 23rd October is gathering about fifty Muslims and Christians in Brussels to discuss European citizenship. The 138 authors of the Letter "A Common Word" include the Great Mufti of Bosnia Herzegovina, Mustafa Ceric. "I believe that this initiative - says mgr. Sudar - is very important because it has come at a time in which we feared a head-on conflict from the intellectuals and felt the risk that confrontation might be the chosen approach. This letter is like offering a helping hand. We are off to a good start, then, because at last we are understanding that no religion, no Church or religious community is believable today in the world, unless it finds a way to cooperate with the other Churches and religious communities. I look at these initiatives with great hope and confidence". "We - adds mgr. Sudar - have a centuries-old experience in the cohabitation of different ethnic groups and religions, and we can testify that this is possible. On the other hand, unfortunately, we can also testify that everything will end up in tragedy if dialogue with the others is not raised to the level of a preferential option".
A BUSINESS MEETING
(M.Chiara Biagioni, SIR's correspondent in Brussels/ Malines) - "It has not been a conference for an exchange of doctrinal views on theological differences or similarities, but rather a business meeting to find those issues that can see us join forces and work proactively at a common European project". These are the first conclusions drawn about the European Islamo-Christian conference, that will end in Brussels today with the proclamation of a final statement, by father Hans Vocking of Ccee (Council of European Bishops Conferences) which promoted the event along with Kek (Conference of European Churches). "First and foremost, we had a chance - says Hans Vocking - to spend three days with about twenty Muslims who came from different European countries and different traditions, to tackle together the socio-political issue of citizenship and responsibility as men and women of faith in European society". This strengthened "that network of Muslims counterparts that will enable the Commission for Relations with Muslims in Europe within Ccee and Kek to keep working" in some directions.
"I am thinking for instance - says Vocking - of Muslims and Christians revising schoolbooks so that students can study textbooks which deal properly with the Christian and Muslim traditions of faith". Another goal - goes on the Ccee expert - is "to keep working together within the European community by liaising with the political world, that is the European Commission and European Parliament, and in this sense this conference is the beginning of a process of institutional relations to be carried on and expand, as we find out issues we can submit together to the European political community".
WE ARE CONFIDENT
(M.Chiara Biagioni, SIR's correspondent in Brussels/ Malines) - "This is not about making our attitude of cooperation and dialogue with Muslims in Europe conditional on any change in the situation that may happen in other countries in the future. Dialogue can start from here and is for today". With these words, card. Jean Pierre Ricard, archbishop of Bordeaux and vice-president of Ccee, wanted to explain "not so much my opinion but rather what has been said about mutuality during this meeting". The archbishop is speaking from Brussels, where the European Islamo-Christian conference promoted by Ccee and Kek will end, and where the archbishop gave an opening address, speaking also of religious and conscientious freedom. "We - he says to SIR at the end of the meeting - are confident in those Muslims who really want to create an Islam of Europe, an Islam for Europe, starting from the European scenario. We are confident in them". That's not all. Christians and Muslims are responsible for "handling a European public opinion that can be tempted by Islamo-phobia. While in some parts of the world Christians are denied religious freedom and therefore the possibility to celebrate in places of worship and sometimes they risk becoming discrminitade against, paradoxically this situation risks spreading Islamo-phobia in Europe".
"This is one more reason - added card. Ricard - to face this challenge together, clearly explaining every situation, and, whenever possible, taking common positions together". Such conferences as the Brussels one and the one due to take place in the Vatican from 4th to 5th November with the 138 Muslim Wise Men who wrote the Letter "A Common Word" are important, because they help create, between Christians and Muslims, "a climate of mutual esteem, respect and understanding. If we are really men of religion and stay loyal to our religious traditions, inhabiting them cleverly, the encounter with the other in a climate of friendship and esteem is possible and fruitful".
FINAL STATEMENT, "MUSLIMS AND CHRISTIANS TOGETHER FOR EUROPE"
"Christians and Muslims are called to work hand in hand in appropriate ways with the state to which we belong without becoming subservient to governments. We say this because we believe that religious communities and the state should work together for the common good ". It means saying ‘no' to confining religion to the personal sphere and to the "request to forsake one's religious identity", through, for instance, the "prohibition to wear or display religious symbols in public places or neutralization of religious festivities with the pretext that their being allowed would harm the sensibilities of other believers or that they would go against the principles of the secular state". In the final statement of the European Islamo-Christian Conference jointly promoted by Ccee and Kek which ended in Malines today, the 45 Christian and Muslim delegates from 16 European nations thus wanted to reassert all their willingness to interact and cooperate with the State, without forsaking however their religious dimension. "As Christians and Muslims - states the text published today -, we affirm that we are citizens and believers, not citizens or believers. We believe that the future of our European societies will depend in large measure on our willingness as citizens and persons of belief to preserve and develop the cultural and religious foundations of Europe". In the statement, the signers reassert “the principle of integration” and acknowledge “the right of freedom of conscience” and therefore the right to “change one’s religion or decide to live without a religion”, “the right to demonstrate publicly and to voice one’s religious convictions without being ridiculed or intimidated into silence by prejudice or stereotyping intentionally or through lack of knowledge”. Christians and Muslims, as citizens and men of faith, “offer their common witness so that the human being may discover his/her own identity through his/her relationship with God” “This leads us to affirm – goes on the statement – the utmost importance and vital role of the family, of human dignity, of social justice, of care for the environment” as well as “the condemnation of the use of violence in the name of religion and those hostile forms of militant secularism that create discrimination among citizens and leave no space for religious belief and practice”. To promote mutual acquaintance, the signers also propose “to open the churches and mosques to visitors from other communities and to academic meetings”. We need to get into the spirit of religions, as well as their outer clothing. We pledge ourselves to avoid generalisations about the other. Human rights are universal and include the right to religious freedom. In order to promote it, we hope in a partnership between Christians and Muslims in Europe. Solidarity with those who suffer inside and outside Europe must be encouraged, and a mediation must be offered whenever possible. We are called to build bridges across cultures and faiths. Europe is called to be a laboratory of learning for both Muslims and Christians. We wish - this is the end of the statement - the future generations may live in peace and harmony within religious differences. Interreligious dialogue - which must not be limited to Christians and Muslims but extended to the devotees of the other main religions too - must begin in those places where children and young people meet, that is, at school, in the halls of our colleges and in the religious communities".
News by SIR