ecumenism and dialogue " "
A hundred or so imams and rabbis will meet in Brussels from 3 to 6 January 2005 to reaffirm together that peace and reconciliation are the very heart of their religion. “If the leaders of the Jewish and Moslem communities explains a thick dossier on the congress succeed in having a unified position about the world, this will permit their peoples to imagine a different future”. The Congress is being promoted by the Foundation “Hommes de parole”, founded five years ago by Alain Michel to create “spaces of dialogue” at the service of peace. Last year, for example, it brought together, at Caux in Switzerland, some forty personalities that play a leading role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The meeting ended with the signing of a Charter in which the participants pledged to build “the foundation on which future generations will be able to construct a world of peace”. In this same spirit, “Hommes de parole” is promoting the Congress of Imams and Rabbis next year. It has already obtained the royal patronage of His Majesty Mohammed VI, king of Morocco, and His Majesty Albert II, king of Belgium. The participants will include authoritative exponents from the international Islamic and Jewish worlds, such as Dalil Boubakeur (rector of the Paris mosque) and the rabbi René-Samuel Sirat from France. Leading Israeli figures will also take part: the participation of Chief Rabbi David Rosen, international President of the World Conference of Religions for Peace, has been confirmed, while the “Palestinian Territories” will be represented by Talal Sedir, religious affairs representative of the Palestinian Authority. Members of the organizing committee include Andrea Riccardi, founder of the St. Egidio Community. Other Christian participants will be present in the person of Jean-Arnold de Clermont, president of the Federation of French Protestant Churches and of the Conference of the Christian Churches of Europe (CEC). The whole Congress from the round tables to the speeches is born from the consciousness that “today peace can only be achieved with the support of the population”. “A peace signed only by governments explains Alain Michel without the backing of the people is a false, cold, unstable and ephemeral peace. That’s why it is not only governments and political and military leaders who have responsibility for peace, but first and foremost the peoples themselves”. The Congress underlines the founder of “Hommes de parole” has no political objective. It will be held on an “exclusively religious terrain” in which the religious leaders of the two communities will “meet together” to “build bridges between people”. Alain Michel further recalls that at least 15 personalities from the Christian world will be present at the meeting in Brussels with the task of performing a role of mediation: “We will be simultaneously interpreters, experts and witnesses”.
