Some 600 people will meet in Barcelona on Sunday 29 May to participate in the first Catalan Parliament of Religions, which also plans a series of activities for children aged between 2 and 10. The organizers (Catalan Network of Interfaith Dialogue) explain to SIR that they are hoping for the participation of some sixty young children, both girls and boys. The Catalan Parliament of Religions was founded after the celebration in Barcelona of the World Parliament of Religions, as part of the Universal Forum of Cultures last year. Ihab Fahmy, spokesman of the Islamic Community of Valencia, and Abdelmajib Reieb, delegate for external relations and interfaith dialogue of the Islamic Cultural Centre of Valencia, will organize activities for peace with the children. It is the first time children of different religious traditions will meet to pray, sing and play together with the aim of contributing to a more just and peaceful world. There will also be theatre and painting workshops for peace in which they can express themselves during the morning. While their parents participate in meetings on religious traditions, mysticism, ethics or intercultural dialogue, the children will be left by themselves together with experts of interfaith dialogue. In the evening, once the Catalan Parliament of Religions has ended, they will be accompanied by their parents to share various recreational and formative activities. Participants at the Parliament, which has as its title “Why religions in the 21st century?”, will include, among others, Raimon Pannikar and Ramadan.
