The challenge of pluralism

“You become a person by passing through the Other. Peoples and nations, as well as inter-religious communities, are called to undertake this transformation process and a sincere encounter, in the awareness that dialogue is our future”. In the foreword of the essay “Living together in the new Europe. The role of Religions” (Social Communications editorial), Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, metropolitan bishop in Naples, introduced the survey by Adolfo Russo and Edoardo Scognamiglio, professors of theology at the Saint Thomas Aquinas Department of the Theological Pontifical Faculty of Southern Italy and experts in inter-religious dialogue. “For centuries, the history of the European continent has been intertwined with the history of evangelization and inculturation. Europe is not a closed or isolated territory – added Cardinal Sepe – crossing the seas, meeting other peoples, other cultures, other civilizations and religions, created it. This story entails that Europe cannot afford to turn in upon itself”. Languages and words. Russo’s analysis: “The European Union and the Challenge of Pluralism”, focuses upon religious alterity in the realm of the current world financial crisis. Its point of departure is that “Coexistence has never been an easy task. Today it is even more difficult, especially in those regions of our planet where the cultural and economic homogeneity of its inhabitants has become more problematic than it was in the past”. Reflecting on the role that religion is called to play in a context of “profound restlessness”, brought about after the events of September 11 2001, and after the conflicting situation between the Islamic world and Christian Western societies, the scholar asks if “intolerance is part and parcel of the very nature of religion or whether it depends on the way it was experienced, conveyed and manipulated in given contexts”. “If there will be God in our future, it won’t be the one passed down to us from our own culture. If religions intends to preserve a significant role in the next millennium they will need to adopt different languages and learn to verbalize different terms: pluralism, respect for the other, mutual integration”. After having delved into the relationship between laity and religious pluralism, recalling that as relates to the European roots, “the presence of Christianity was crucial and its ideals of liberty and equality – an element of pride of our civilization – sprang in that area of the world, nourished by the message of the Gospel”, Russo takes into exam the “European Declaration on inter-religious dialogue and social cohesion”, and offers various future prospects. “Religions can play a primary role in promoting mutual legitimization and in removing deep-rooted prejudice. European Institutions appear to have grasped its significance and have enhanced the role of inter-religious dialogue, viewed as a priority tool in Community action, both domestically, to step up pacification and social cohesion, and externally to counter extremism and fanaticism, that foment violence and terrorism”. The problem of integration. “The image of Islam recently spread throughout the world, primarily conveys a violent and fundamentalist aspect of Mohammed’s religion”. Thus commences the paper by Edoardo Scognamiglio, “Islâm in Europe”. Retracing recent episodes of violence and rejection, from the cartoons on Mohammed to the murder of Father Andrea Santoro, killed in February 2006, the scholar highlights the current historical moment, pointing out that “over 13 million Muslims, originally from ex-colonial empires in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean, currently live in European Countries. “Muslims’ integration is marked by two complex forms of tropism: one tends towards the dâr al-islâm (that is the space governed by Islamic law, or the Muslim world or state: (the home of Islam), the other is linked to the local realities of the hosting country”. By examining the four models of Islam related with European state, developed by experts and consisting in the neo-fundamentalist, neo-ethnic, lay, and individual models – Scognamiglio explores the situation in Italy and its implications at European level: “The question of Islam in Italy, as throughout other European countries places integration as a major issue. As relates to the migrating populations, integration policies ought to be viewed as a tool determining a change of Islam in Europe”. Thus the theologian concludes: “dialogue ought to be developed step by step, starting from small territories, and from scarcely visible experiences”.