Source: Spero News
Coming after Pope Benedict's recent pilgrimage to the Holy Land, a conference on Christian-Muslim dialogue held this week rejected violence and called for more dialogue between the two faiths.
The conference, organised jointly by Jordan's Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies (RIIFS) and the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue (PCID), was titled "Religion and Civil Society." It focused on how to develop a culture that promotes dialogue and rejects violence whilst building a democratic state that respected ethnic, cultural and religious diversity.
The participants agreed on the importance of civil society for a sound and integral development of individuals and communities, recognizing the particular and indispensable contribution that civil society can provide as a valuable forum for dialogue in the context of the responsible exercise of freedom.
They stressed the importance of educating youth in the values of mutual respect and in the culture of dialogue, rejecting violence, so as to promote peaceful coexistence on the basis of full citizenship.