Religion, Spirituality and Values

Inspired by the search for common values and mutual knowledge, the Foundation aspires at valuing the religious diversity as an asset for the region and establishing bridges of exchange between religious and secular communities based on the principles of tolerance, understanding, freedom and respect for human rights among people coming from different cultures and beliefs.

Often religions have historically been seized away from their original spiritual meaning and used as ideological tools with a powerful impact on society in support of wars and conflicts. Europe and the Mediterranean have probably been in this regard the most important laboratory for the instrumentalisation of the religious fact.

For this reason, the Foundation intends to explore how religions can be re-appropriated by communities of the region without distorting instrumental objectives, working with civil society, religious leaders and thinkers of the region, and to bring them together to examine how common values of interreligious coexistence and hospitality can be re-evaluated and valorized, proving that religions can share sufficient religious grounds to unite in social contexts where communities adhering to different faiths and secular contexts live together, and can help dealing with global social concerns.

The Action of the Foundation on the Field

The scope of the Anna Lindh Foundation action in the field of inter-religious dialogue includes

· Promoting new tools for teaching and learning about religious diversity through capacity-building and networking

· Empowering the role of civil society actors coming from different cultures and beliefs to cultivate the value of diversity

· Endorsing understanding among religious communities and establishing bridges between religious and secular communities inspired by the search of common values

· Creating opportunities of encounter and exchanges by co-organising and gathering religious actors and secular groups

· Promoting access to teaching and learning about religious diversity as well as facilitating development of educational resources for deep interreligious learning

· Enhancing interreligious agency and advocacy for 21^st century regional EuroMediterranean as well as global concerns.

The Preparatory Meeting

In the frame of the Anna Lindh Forum 2010, a preparatory meeting was held on 26-29 October 2009 in Tirana (Albania), titled “Challenges and Solutions for Inter-religious Co-existence in the Euro-Mediterranean Region”. Such meeting was organised in collaboration with the ALF Head of Network in Albania (the Albanian Forum for the Alliance of Civilizations) and included three roundtable discussions on education and religious diversity, civil society and inter-communal harmony, and the role of religious leaders and practitioners. The gathered recommendations ranged from brain-storming ideas to diligently elaborated considerations, including intercultural education, enhancement of religious sensibility, and interreligious learning on different levels of society and in various fields of professional and vocational training; training and empowerment activities in areas like conflict resolution, peace, and reconciliation; promotion of cultural and media activities enhancing interreligious perception; monitoring of good practice of interreligious coexistence; programmes developing a constructive interaction between religious communities and civil society and political powers on national and international levels. Concrete suggestions included further: Parental Charter, Religions Drivers License, support of NGO work in prisons to work with people effected by religious extremism; female religious authorities and leadership trainings across religious traditions; centers for inter-religious study and theological dialogue complemented by scholarships; enabling of religious leaders to foster social harmony; interreligious guidebook a la Lonely Planet; web-site on interreligious dialogue; interfaith programmes for youth, etc.

The Tirana recommendations made for the workshop on interreligious dialogue at the Barcelona Forum 2010 suggested in sum to select sensitive issues concerning inter-religious coexistence and centering around dialogue between religions and between religious and non-religious / secular visions on a number of matters essential to society.

Religion, Spirituality and Values in the Medina

Partner Contributions:

§   Our Shared Europe: Understanding European Muslims (British Council), Speakers: Martin Rose, Jan Heningsson

Project Ideas:

§   Places of Worship Homes of Peace AIESEC Egypt (EG), Abrar Ebada

§   Abrahamic Forum Interfaith Encounter Association (IL), Robert Carroll

§   Inter-religious Forum Volunteering for Peace (PS), Mohammed Tareq, Jalal Altamimi

§   Overcoming Intolerance Capital City Women’s Platform (TR), Fatma Unsal

§   Translating God(s) Irish School of Ecumenics (IE), Norbert Hintersteiner

Best Practices:

§   Tales About Religions Associació Cultural Casa Egípcia (SP), Montserrat Berché

§   Women’s Pathways to Peace Ecumenical Women’s Initiative (CR), Carolyn B. Tomasovic

§   1001 Actions for Dialogue Tineret Buzau 2007 (RO), Eduard Nicolescu

·          Knowing Through Diversity Isla Local Council (ML), Arthur Perici

§   Day of Dialogue Nieuwe maan (NL), Kristof de Ridder

§   GOING PUBLIC ’06 aMAZElab (IT), Claudia Zanfi

§   Enjoying the Countryside Centre for Local Policy Studies Edge Hill University (UK), Mohammed Dhalech

§   Oldham is for Everyone Centre for Urban Education, Manchester Metropolitan University (UK), Richard Shotton

§   Diversity Crew - Creative Witnesses of Discrimination Le monde des Possibles (BE), Didier Van der Meeren

RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE FORUM

§  Working with communities and the public sphere

At the level of the EuroMed Agenda, in an effort to enhance intercultural dialogues, to sustain the region’s prosperity and foster its peoples peaceful coexistence, it is generally recommended to draw on the potentials of religious traditions and cultures of faith through the means of interreligious dialogues and multifaith activities.

At the level of the ALF Programme, it is recommended to support projects on the local and regional level initiating participatory multi-faith mechanisms intersecting interreligious dialogues with the public sphere. Such projects shall acknowledge and draw on the Euro-Mediterranean societies’ willingness and need to be observant of and aiming at cultures of religious diversity and flexible religions; a societal dialogue on reasonable pluralism and social cohesion; social-cultural change and societies’ renewal; peace, conflict resolution and reconciliation; actions of solidarity and gender justice; promotion of human rights; ecological and climate justice.

§   Engaging in capacity building

At the level of the EuroMed Agenda and the ALF Programme, it is recommended to develop and/or support programmes on “religion and international relations”, which acknowledge and explore the role and potential contribution of religion in creating a more human model of governance. On an intergovernmental level, a strong Euro-Mediterranean diplomatic training initiative “religions and international relations” should be organised in collaboration with Euro-Mediterranean diplomatic training institutions, experts in religion and international relations, interreligious dialogue, and religious leaders.

§   Valuing diversity within religions and enabling dialogue between believers and non-believers

At the level of the EuroMed Agenda and the ALF Programme, the diversity within the Abrahamic religions as well as other faiths and the non-religious should be considered during all activities.

At the same time, the dialogue between religious minorities, believers and non-believers, and between religious and secular individuals should be promoted.

§   Promoting educational and training tools

At the level of the ALF Programme, it is recommended to continue supporting the development of educational and training tools on religious diversity so that divides in people’s cultural religious memories and societies’ interreligious stress can be addressed and the differences between religious traditions better understood. Here it is also recommended that ALF, through its local networks develops a Euro-Mediterranean interreligious dialogue website as an educational and monitoring tool, concentrating on the religious ingredients of cultural and intercultural dialogue.

Moreover, ALF should develop and carry out a start-up funding scheme to enable intercultural theologies and interreligious studies centres and programmes in several Euro-Mediterranean regions, concentrating on EuroMed postgraduate programmes in intercultural theology and interreligious studies, as well as programmes for the development and training of female religious authorities and leaderships across religious traditions as well as to strengthen women’s leading role and participation in intercultural and interreligious dialogue.

• Supporting migrant religious communities

As the ALF acknowledges that the Euro-Mediterranean is heavily influenced by global migration, by changing ethnic demographics, socio-cultural fabric and religious landscapes, it is recommended that the ALF, especially at the level of dialogues of religious and secular communities, provides tools and supports projects to help migrant religious communities and religious individuals to participate in the Euro-Mediterranean pursuit of new modernities; to better accommodate into areas of secular and postsecular societies and to promote cultures of religious diversity, interreligious identity formation and flexible religions across the Euro-Mediterranean.

Credits

These recommendations were developed with the inputs of the participants and the following experts:

§   Coordinator: Norbert Hintersteiner (Irish School of Ecumenics, Trinity College, Ireland)

§   Chairs: Besnik Mustafaj (Advisory Council, Albania), Traugott Schoefthaler (Former ALF Director, GTZ, Germany), Antoine Nasri Messarra (Advisory Council, Lebanon), Caroline Fourest (Advisory Council, France)

§   Rapporteurs: Fatma Unsal (Baskent Kadn Platformu Capital City Women’s Platform, Turkey), Adrian Cristea (Parish based integration Project, Churches in Society Forum, Ireland)

§   Presentations: Thomas Kämmerer (CAMC – University of Tartu, HoN Estonia), Brian Gates (Religious Education Council of England & Wales, UK), Robin Sclafani (CEJI, Belgium), Martin Rose (British Council, HoN UK), Robert Carroll (Interfaith Encounter Ass., Israel), Hasan Al-Anbari (Jordanian Institute of Diplomacy, HoN Jordan), Manuel Manonelles (Foundation for a Culture of Peace, Spain)

§   Opening remarks: Hemayet Uddin (Organisation of the Islamic Conference), Deema Fayad (Deir Mar Musa, Syria), Abdallah Harsi (Fondation Esprit de Fès, Morocco), Carolyn Boyd Tomasovic (Ecumenical Women’s initiative, Croatia), Mohammed Chaib (Ibn Batuta, Spain), Arjola Agolli (Center for Change and Conflict Management, Albania), Tatevik Margaryan (SDA, Egypt), Abe Radkin (The Aladdin project, France), Rasim Gjoka (The Albanian Foundation for Conflict Resolution, Albania)