The Chaldean Archbishop of Basra and the
south, Habib Jajou contributed in the Conference on Intercultural and
interreligious dialogue held in Zgreb, Croatia between Thursday and
Friday, 7-8 December on behalf of HB Mar Louis Raphael Sako. The reason
of holding the Conference was to celebrate the 20th Annual EPP Group Intercultural Dialogue with Churches and Religious Institutions. The
title was: From understanding to cooperation, promoting interfaith
encounters to meet global challenges. The president of Croatia, the
Prime Minister, Memberes from the European Parlament, religious leaders,
and Concerned Christian organizations have contributed in the
conference.
The Archbishop spoke about a number of points:
First, ‘promoting interreligious and intercultural dialogue and encouraging cultural diversity as a sign of maturity in the understanding of the modern social life to create a peaceful and stable society. The dialogue is influential to battle extremism and proclaim the human values where religions and cultures share many mutual factors.’
Second, ‘stakeholders are called upon to record the previous examples of dialogues and update then upgrade the existing initiatives and tools.’
Third, ‘states, religions and cultural institutions are responsible for improving ways to promote dialogues on different levels, to encourage cooperation between different charity and solidarity organizations for social cohesion and stability.’
Fourth, ‘every country is called upon to establish a council to organize the dialogue projects for better results. This will encourage interest to open new ways for the human family to respect diversities. It will help them to resolve many dilemmas: violent, terrorism and extremism.’
Fifth, ‘we face the loss of local cultures due to mass immigration, consequently, training men and women from different communities is very significant to create a competence that is capable of contacting people from different ethnicities.’
In ending his speech, Archbishop Habib Jajou called for more action for Intercultural and Interreligious Dialogue because the World is facing countless challenges and numerous opportunities at the same time.
The Archbishop spoke about a number of points:
First, ‘promoting interreligious and intercultural dialogue and encouraging cultural diversity as a sign of maturity in the understanding of the modern social life to create a peaceful and stable society. The dialogue is influential to battle extremism and proclaim the human values where religions and cultures share many mutual factors.’
Second, ‘stakeholders are called upon to record the previous examples of dialogues and update then upgrade the existing initiatives and tools.’
Third, ‘states, religions and cultural institutions are responsible for improving ways to promote dialogues on different levels, to encourage cooperation between different charity and solidarity organizations for social cohesion and stability.’
Fourth, ‘every country is called upon to establish a council to organize the dialogue projects for better results. This will encourage interest to open new ways for the human family to respect diversities. It will help them to resolve many dilemmas: violent, terrorism and extremism.’
Fifth, ‘we face the loss of local cultures due to mass immigration, consequently, training men and women from different communities is very significant to create a competence that is capable of contacting people from different ethnicities.’
In ending his speech, Archbishop Habib Jajou called for more action for Intercultural and Interreligious Dialogue because the World is facing countless challenges and numerous opportunities at the same time.
