The first global forum organized by the Vienna-based King Abdullah International Center for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID) called for finding ways to end religious conflicts. “Religion should be part of the solution, not part of the problem or conflict,” said Faisal bin Muammar, secretary-general of KAICIID.
Addressing the forum’s opening session, Muammar, who is deputy education minister of Saudi Arabia, denounced the call for the clash of civilizations. “Such calls have no future. We should encourage cooperation between religious and cultural groups to tackle pressing human issues instead,” he added.
Muammar also emphasized the need to develop a culture of human rights to combat extremism, racism and discrimination by raising the cultural level of peoples around the world through dialogue. The forum, titled “Image of the Other” was attended by more than 500 religious leaders from around the world.
In his keynote speech, the Saudi official hoped that KAICIID, which was established last year at the initiative of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, would become an incubator for international dialogue organizations and an open forum for dialogue to promote global peace and stability.
“We all understand the cultural value of our diversity and peaceful coexistence,” Muammar told the gathering which included Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and Buddhist leaders.
Speakers at the forum stressed the importance of peaceful coexistence between followers of different faith communities, an organizer said. The participants reiterated their support for the center as they believed it would narrow the differences between the followers of various religions and bring them closer.
Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue at the Vatican, urged religious followers to respect one another.
“Each one of us is a citizen and a believer,” he said. “All of us belong to the same human family, which means that, we share the same dignity, we are confronted by the same problems, we enjoy the same rights and we are called to accomplish the same duties.”
Over the past 12 months, KAICIID has taken a proactive approach to research and training in the fields of interreligious and intercultural education. The Global Forum is the culmination of a series of four regional conferences started on May 13 in Vienna, Addis Ababa, New Delhi and Buenos Aires.
FAITH MATTERS: Faisal bin Muammar, secretary-general of KAICIID, with prominent religious leaders at the opening of the Global Forum in Vienna on Monday. (SPA)
“Over the next two days, we have a unique opportunity to extensively explore best practices in dialogue and existing standards in education, as well as to examine how followers of different religions can contribute to shared learning,” said the secretary-general. The opening ceremony gave way to an exemplary panel discussion that took the form of a practical interreligious dialogue on the Image of the Other, bringing together leading academic experts. It was followed by closed-door working group sessions, which focused on topics ranging from interreligious understanding and seminary training, to best practices in education, to the role of religion in conflict and peace-building.
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