It is urgent to find a "third way" for dialogue between Christians and Islam, one that would avoid a "triumphalism" closed in on itself, but also relativism in regard to the truth; it is important to read the new signs of openness in the Muslim world (the visit to the Vatican of the king of Saudi Arabia, openness to dialogue with monotheistic religions, greater frankness in encounters between Christians and Muslims); it is fundamental not to lose contact with the current situations in which the Christian communities in Muslim majority countries live.These are only a few of the appeals that have emerged from the first day of the encounter of the scholarly committee of the Oasis Centre, taking place in Amman from June 22-25.
An initiative of Cardinal Angelo Scola, the patriarch of Venice, the Oasis Centre is in fact a network of relationships among Christian and Muslim figures all over the world, involving academics, ecclesiastical authorities, scholars, etc.
Attending the scholarly committee this year are about 80 cardinals, bishops, university professors, and journalists from Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, south Asia, the far East, the United States.
The theme for this year is "Religious freedom: a good for every society". It includes widely discussed questions like the freedom to express one's own faith, the possibility of converting from one religion to another, working together for a more just society.
In his introductory address, Cardinal Scola brought to light first of all the temptations that exist in the world on the manner of understanding "religious freedom": an absolute freedom, uninterested in the truth (which creates a "supermarket of religions" and makes the choice of a religion unimportant); ideological isolation in one's own system of truth, together with disdain for those outside of it; the growth of religious communities different from the majority as an attack on social cohesion; finally, the acceptance of a private religious freedom that is not allowed to appear in public.
Citing the speech by Benedict XVI to the United Nations (April 18, 2008), patriarch Scola emphasised that religious freedom is not only "the free exercise of worship; on the contrary, the public dimension of religion must also be kept in consideration, and therefore the possibility of believers to play their part in the construction of the social order".
The path for implementing a solid defence of freedom was only briefly sketched. Prof. Nikolaus Lobkowitcz (Eichstätt, Germany) conducted an interesting historical excursion into the manner in which the West has practised religious freedom, and how the Catholic Church resisted this concept, until the declaration Nostra Aetate from Vatican Council II.
Prof. Khaled Abd ar-Ra'ûf al-Jaber, from the University of Petra (Jordan), a Muslim, demonstrated the current difficulties in a dialogue on truth and freedom: religion used for political ends; ignorance and prejudice about the religious premises of the other.
He also emphasised that dialogue on religious freedom is urgent in order to dispel the notion of a future "clash of civilisations", and indicated in the idea of a "fraternity in Adam" the possibility of a solid Islamic-Christian encounter, which would go so far as to eliminate "reciprocal subjugation" and "colonisation", to "remove injustice and persecution".
In order to correct ignorance and aid collaboration, prof. Hanna Nu' mân, from Amman, proposed that in the schools (including those of the Muslim majority countries) all of the religions would be studied, suggesting a common effort of "solidarity" in the face of violence.
During the discussion, Maroun Lahham, the bishop of Tunis, highlighted some signs of hope in the Muslim and Christian world: fewer violent demonstrations; frankness in dialogue (in "truth and charity", without concealing that which divides us); acceptance in principle that the believer can change religion, even if there is rejection of dramatic displays of conversion.
Among the negative signs, he recalled a "hardening" of the positions of the Algerian state (prohibition of conversion and evangelisation), but he also noted a "hardening" of the positions of some of the bishops' conferences, where there can be seen "a certain weariness in the face of Islam, a distrust, sometimes even fear": the same distrust that can be seen in various Muslim countries.
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