“Keeping alive the memory of the victims, sharing the suffering and celebrating hope”: these were the objectives of the “Train for Life” that pulled out of the station of Atocha on Sunday, 9 May. It was at Madrid’s Atocha station that 200 people were killed and 1000 injured in the most barbarous terrorist atrocity of recent Spanish history on 11 March. The ‘train of life’ travelled to Alcali di Henares, the town where the train of death started its journey. All the participants who boarded the train to commemorate the victims bought the ticket for the journey, “just as all the victims did”. Three carriages full of representatives of all the religious communities of Madrid made the journey from Atocha to Alcalá di Henares as a sign of peace and expressed the hope for “an inter-religious, interethnic and interracial future”. The victims of 11-M in fact included people of various religious traditions, especially Catholics, Orthodox and Muslims. The Platform for Inter-religious Dialogue organized the event: after the train journey, an inter-religious service was held at the University of Alcalá di Henares, one of the most ancient in Spain. Each religious tradition read out a sacred passage, emphasizing the dedication of each religion to peace. A thousand or so citizens gathered for the occasion. “We believe terrorist acts in general, and especially those of 11-M, need to be decoupled from religions”, say the members of the Platform for Inter-religious Dialogue. “Terrorism has nothing to do with the principles of religions, and there will be no peace in the world without peace between religions”, they add. Many representatives of Islam were present at the act of remembrance, including the imams of the three great mosques of Madrid.
