The plans to make Beirut a hub for interreligious dialogue
A two-day interfaith conference at the UN headquarters in New York this week encouraged dialogue among different faiths while rejecting the use of religion as a tool for terrorism and violence. Eighty nations participated in the Conference for Dialogue between Religions and Civilizations, which ended Thursday and was initiated by Saudi Arabia as a follow-up to a similar symposium it led in Madrid last July. More than a dozen heads of state attended, including US President George W. Bush, Saudi King Abdullah, Israeli President Shimon Peres (raising some eyebrows among Arabs), and Lebanese President Michel Sleiman, who went to the conference with the specific mission to promote Beirut as a hub for similar interfaith conferences in the future. While concrete results of these efforts remain to be seen, analysts remain optimistic. But considering its history of sectarian fighting, will Beirut’s distinction as the most religiously diverse nation in the Middle East be enough to host such a forum?
Lebanon and interfaith dialogue
Although this week’s conference was initiated by Saudi Arabia – not a country known for embracing religious differences – and held in New York, many view Lebanon as a highly viable candidate to lead interfaith dialogues in the future. Shia cleric Sayyed Hani Fahs, a founding member of the Arab Working Group on Muslim-Christian Dialogue, noted that “Lebanon is the result of dialogue,” as the country officially recognizes 18 sects and has a long history of hard-learned coexistence. Mohammad Shayya, professor of Modern Philosophy and Methodology and dean at the Lebanese University, pointed out that Lebanon is the only country in the Middle East in which a religious minority, the Christians, has an open voice. These traits give Beirut a symbolic value absent in other regional centers, making it a prime spot for interfaith gatherings.
There is also a practical side to Beirut hosting interfaith dialogue, as it is home to the Arab Working Group on Muslim-Christian Dialogue, which was founded 13 years ago by a gathering of prominent intellectuals, religious scholars and public figures from across the region. The only such organization of its kind and size, the Arab Working Group is a dynamic body that engages in scholarly and advocate activities, as well as dealing in politics. For example, several years ago it hosted the Lebanese Encounter for Dialogue in which a variety of Lebanese political factions — including Qornet Shehwan, Hezbollah and Amal — came together in a town in Switzerland. Some of the factions had never spoken to each other before the gathering.
Reasons for success
President Sleiman had been planning with intellectuals and advisors for months to promote Beirut as the next interfaith center at the New York conference. And according to Shayya, his very presence, along with that of Information Minister Tarek Mitri – an active founding member of the Arab Working Group and a man well known for his work and publications on religious dialogue – means that efforts toward building Beirut up as the regional capital for religious forums will be taken seriously.
Reverend Riad Jarjour, Secretary General of the Arab Working Group, echoing the sentiments of many Lebanese who resent changes being imposed from the outside, told NOW Lebanon that bringing the dialogue home from an international setting will make it more effective. Holding an interfaith conference at the UN “kills the dynamics” and repels people from the very dialogue it encourages, he said, adding that “we have been living together as Christians and Muslims for centuries, and therefore, any extra force or power or instrument that would come from outside to interfere or to enforce, even if it is to enforce dialogue on us” will be “a big mistake and failure.”
But for all the rhetoric on Beirut’s role as a regional hub of interreligious dialogue, Lebanon still has many problems to deal with before being able to host any such event, let alone its recent – and historic – bouts of sectarian violence. For now, Shayya said, the state of Lebanon’s own interfaith discourse is “a dialogue for the sake of dialogue.”
Parliamentary elections have yet take place for a stable government to take power, create an air of security and eliminate the threat of more of the sectarian violence that has jarred Lebanon recently. Before that happens, an interreligious forum would seem out of place.
Source:Now Lebanon
