On the first morning, the Sunday, a Sikh woman introduced one of the main prayers of her faith and served us prasad, the ritual food which Sikhs share after worship. On Monday, two Muslim women from South Africa introduced us to the daily ritual prayer of Islam, inviting the rest of the group to join in the ritual movements of that prayer. They also told us about what is an appropriate form of clothing when attending a mosque.
The following day, a Hindu woman showed us some of the objects and symbolic actions she uses to practice her daily prayer and she sang a hymn, or bhajan, for us in her own devotional language. On Wednesday, a Jewish woman invited us to imagine a short service in a synagogue and she recited her favourite prayer from the prayer-book.
Finally, a Christian woman explained the growth of Christianity and she also expressed her sadness for the mistakes that Christian people had made in relation to people of other religions, especially Jews, in the past. Then she invited everyone to join in the common prayer of Christians, the "Our Father".
Against the background of these daily experiences of shared prayer and meditation, the work on the objectives of the conference took place:
The Programme
On the first evening the participants introduced themselves saying a little about their work in education and/or inter-faith dialogue. This was very helpful in order to get to know everyone and especially to learn something about the varied experience and different contexts from which each came.
The following morning we entered more deeply into the subject asking how religion, religious rituals and traditions are learned and taught. We felt that it was easier to communicate about cultural aspects than about religious dogma, but that it is often difficult to differentiate between the two.
In the afternoon, Prof.Tikva Frymer-Kensky demonstrated, (with an example from the story of Dina in the Hebrew Bible) how one must be careful in reading and interpretation of traditions which have been used to the detriment of women and/ or other religions.
On Monday morning we looked at the following questions:
From Tuesday morning to Wednesday morning we worked in groups discussing the following questions in depth:
Finally, we worked on a draft statement which represented the thinking of the whole group. This statement was drafted by one of the participants and incorporated the work of the smaller groups.
Overall, the group worked very well in a very short period of time and there was a sense of achievement at the end of the few days. Good relationships were established and it is hoped that the dialogue will continue on "Women in religious education" and "Women in interfaith dialogue". It is also hoped that a further meeting will be arranged after two years to discuss the results.
Christiane Hartmann works as elementary school teacher since 1993. She lives in Cologne, Germany. Among other things she teaches religious education and is the deputy-headmistress.