The art of co-existence” “

The “First meeting of civilizations” was held at Antakia (ancient Antioch) from 25 to 30 September. The interfaith meeting was inaugurated with a speech by Turkish premier Tayyip Erdogan . Religious leaders of almost all the confessions present in Turkey, eight Turkish government ministers, forty or so ambassadors representing their respective countries, and hundreds of scholars and experts in the history and sociology of religion attended the conference. The Catholic Church, and the Catholic Bishops’ Conference in Turkey, were represented by Bishop Luigi Padovese of Antioch, and the Vatican by the apostolic nuncio in Turkey, Msgr. Edmond Farhat , the secretary of the Pontifical Council for inter-religious dialogue, Msgr. Luigi Celata , and the secretary of the Prefecture for Economic Affairs, Msgr. Franco Croci . A message of Pope BenedICT XVI was read out during the conference. PEACE AND RECONCILIATION. “In the effort to discern the permanent values present in the various cultures, we can derive enrichment from them. This is especially urgent in an era of globalization in which there may be a danger of fundamental human values being sacrificed in the name of progress or being lost due to destructive secular ideologies”, declares Benedict XVI in the message in which he greets the participants at the meeting in Antioch. “Priority – according to the Pope – must be given to the reinforcement of the dignity of the person, who is always at the very heart of each true civilization. This involves the need – continues the Pope’s message, read out by Monsignor Celata – to find the means and structures that may ensure that life in all its richness be respected; that everyone have access to the conditions of a decent life; that security be assured to everyone; that the young be educated in the truth and in noble ideals; that cultural communications flourish; and that religious freedom, including that of minorities, be protected. I pray – continues the Pope – that you may be able to strengthen your determination to celebrate, in your spiritual and cultural heritage, those values that recognize the centrality of the person and promote mutual understanding, respect and peace. Antioch is a city that has witnessed the succession of various civilizations. We must not forget to learn from the contribution that each of them has given, while tackling the challenges of the world today. We cannot fail to remember that at Antioch the followers of Jesus Christ were for the first time called Christians, indicating that the message of the Gospel is not confined to a single people but traverses all ethnic and cultural divides”. THE NEED FOR DIALOGUE. Bishop Padovese made an appeal for dialogue. In “our ever more globalized world”, he said, dialogue is needed for “our very survival, indeed it is the only option open to us if we are not to succumb to the spiral of violence that has no end. What is needed, as Augustine wrote, is to ‘kill war with words rather than kill men with the sword and procure peace with peace and not with war'”. Not only globalization, but also religious pluralism, “impose the need for dialogue, and in this regard religions have a fundamental role to play. They are not ideologies, but must on the contrary reduce the aggressiveness between human beings”. According to Padovese, the culture of dialogue “is today one of the primary tasks that religions have in contrast to all those who want to maintain boundaries, exclusion and mistrust”. To enter into dialogue means to “seek together, as Pope John XXIII said, not what separates us, but what unites us. We cannot dialogue if we have not first learned how to be tolerant. Tolerance, in fact, precedes dialogue”. The fact that the meeting was being held at Antioch, said Padovese, was not casual: this city has “the art of co-existence in its DNA”. “The history of Antioch – he explained – where men of different faiths have lived peacefully together for centuries, is especially an indication for our own time. Antioch calls us to a dialogue of life, where people live together and share together; to a dialogue of works where Jews, Christians and Muslims work together for the common good; and lastly Antioch calls us to a dialogue of religious experience where the spiritual riches of prayer, contemplation and ways of seeking God are shared”. NO TO THE CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS. “We must reject the clash of civilizations and of religions, and embrace instead dialogue and harmony”, declared Turkish premier Erdogan, who emphasized that “terrorism cannot be ascribed to any religion and therefore we cannot even speak of Islamic terrorism. Terrorism is a crime against humanity and is therefore alien to every religion. Globalization – he added – imposes a choice between global terrorism and global peace. The latter is a great opportunity and must be our choice”. Erdogan then declared that the formula we need to follow is that of “pluralism in unity and unity in pluralism”. But he also recalled “the aspiration expressed by Sufism” – a mystical form of Islam, traditionally strong in Turkey – “to become in the end one thing only”.