My neighbour's faith and mine

MY NEIGHBOUR'S FAITH AND MINE
Religious identities : For better or for worse?
An interreligious encounter in Geneva
12-14 November 2005

Français

PUBLIC PANEL DISCUSSION
12 November 2005

A BURNING AND TOPICAL ISSUE

Over the centuries, fragile bridges have been built between the different religious traditions in the world. In recent decades, a more systematic dialogue has developed, taking a genuine interest in the rich diversity of those religions.

PANEL SPEAKERS:
Ruth Dreifuss, Marc Raphaël Guedj, Jean-Claude Basset, Lama Wangchouk, Larbi Kechat [More details...]

Now, however, at the start of the 21st century, not least because of the political, economic, social and cultural changes affecting the world, many voices are speaking out against the religions and their excesses. This makes it all the more important for us to make progress towards a better mutual understanding of our respective spiritual and religious approaches.

Amidst the historical diversity of the religious traditions, and with all the weight of misunderstanding and ambiguous discourse that has gone before, we – Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jews, Muslims and people of other faiths – would like to invite you to join with us in a concerted effort to reflect on how, together, we can best share in the reality of interfaith experience.

A GOAL IN KEEPING WITH THE "ESPRIT DE GENEVE"

True to the spirit of Geneva, and confident that the path of peaceful coexistence, concertation and goodwill can lead to progress, various personalities in the field of inter-faith dialogue and young people from all over Europe will reflect on the religious and spiritual dimension of our lives in contemporary society, in discussion with representatives of the confessional communities, the population of Geneva and the city’s international community.

SOME QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT

This will be a unique event, modest but nevertheless ambitious in its approach. Discussions will be introduced by the following questions:

How do we want to set about achieving a more human world?
In what circumstances does the quest for religious identity encourage deeper spiritual development?
Must this quest inevitably lead to opposition to other religious traditions?
Given our heritage, what are the essentials that we would want to transmit to future generations?

In preparation for the discussions, an inter-faith text on the challenges of religious pluralism, and including a declaration of intention, will be drawn up by the WCC to be be distributed to participants before the event.

Conference speakers

CONTACT US!