Interfaith dialogue .. You have your religion and I have one...

Whenever I heard about interfaith dialogue, I wondered: Do religions negotiate and how? Who is talking to whom? How is the selection made? Who is fit or suitable for embodying one religion? Is it necessary for him to be a cleric, or is he satisfied with the sons and daughters of common instinct who are compelled and wanted, upon peace?And what do sons and daughters of religions gather under one roof? Does everyone roll up his sleeves to attract the other to his belief? As if it were a missionary complex.

The urgency of these questions increased on my head when announcing the establishment of one of the Saudi icons in the sky of European and global civilization (the King Abdullah Center for Interfaith and Intercultural Dialogue in Austria and headed by His Excellency Mr. Faisal bin Muammar), specifically in the period that followed the emergence of religious terrorism and preceded our liberation from extremism inside Saudi Arabia.

I inquired about the center, and then I attended several European conferences entitled Interfaith Dialogue. I learned that the civilizational purpose of the dialogue is not to impose belief on the other, but to simplify the relationship with the other and establish peace with him.

Religions do not compete, conflict, argue, or distort each other. Religions like each other. Collaborate to infuse light and morals.

Muslim, Christian and Jew prostrate to the same Creator. Allah. After completing the prayers, they turn to shoot each other in the name of the same Creator, who were united only minutes before prostrating to him.

Why do we reject each other? We did not waste our time arguing with ignorance. You will not take me out of my thoughts, and for myself, I am not thinking of removing you from the religion of your ancestors.

But the rivalry is deepening between us. It is a non-religious rivalry because I believe that religions are not contested.

Conflicts spread in the name of religion are far from it.

In our region, for example. A large part of the conflict is caused by the disgusting exploitation of the hearts of the faithful societies by politicized societies to reach the throne and ruling seats, motivated and supported by various international powers that ensure through their betrayal of their land and religion their hegemony in the Middle East.

In the world, a large part of the conflict occurred as a result of civilizational clashes and cultural gaps. Caused by globalization and the exaggerated closeness of human beings, instead of shaking hands with the stranger, shoot him. It may be a natural start to an acquaintance between people who do not know each other and feel threatened. Every human group sees the global village created by technology as a major threat to its identity and culture, so it fires randomly.

I was angry and sad when the great Amin Maalouf declared (the sinking of civilizations), but like others, I do not have the tools for change and I have nothing but hope, like every global citizen who claims not to have the tools to make peace.

However, as I received the invitation to attend the G20 Religious Values ​​Forum organized by the King Abdullah International Center for Interfaith Dialogue and other parties, I remembered how many challenges the Center had faced over the years as it sought all means to make peace and attract people of civilizations, cultures and religions to one table in order to achieve a historic dream today, as it gathered on We land five hundred religious figures in one forum.

Forum sessions go beyond issues of religious differences and transcend them into global environmental and social issues, including women’s empowerment and climate change. An enlightening role for religious organizations posed by the forum and a new challenge. As how religious figures will contribute to supporting the empowerment of women, and they are known for their determination to isolate women.

Does the religious figure, for example, believe in the existence of a religious woman like a cleric?

How will religious organizations play a role in addressing climate threats? Questions answered by the sessions of a forum organized by the Center for Interfaith Dialogue, whose message is transformed into a life methodology, a general culture and a daily language, we will all be peacemakers to save the civilization that Maalouf described as disappearing.

Greetings to the Forum on Religious Values ​​and its moral and environmental message, a new blow in the face of terrorism and extremism.

Love is the basis of religions.

Saudi writer

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