Religion and dialogue group exchange with Members of European Parliament

ICCS news:

On 18th January 2022, the Committee of INGOs at the Council of Europe, which works on questions of religious education and dialogue and in which ICCS participates, had the chance to exchange with Members of the European Parliament. The ‘Group for intercultural dialogue’ of the European People’s Party (EPP), invited them to reflect together how religious and faith-based communities can contribute to a democratic and peaceful society.

The representatives of the Committee for the interreligious & interconvictional dialogue (IRICDC) of the Conference of INGOs, Sören Lenz (Conference of European Churches), Gabriela Frey (European Buddhist Union) and Jean-François Bour (Democracy, European Construction and Religions) stressed that education programmes and projects led by religious communities are an essential element of dialogue, especially inter-religious and interconvictional dialogue. Education understood in the sense of “Bildung” focuses on a holistic education, where empathy, respect and self-reflection are a major part of. Such programmes are foremost about learning a self-critical analysis of one’s positions in relation to others, who think and feel differently.

The EPP group for Intercultural dialogue showed high interest in this new initiative by religious and worldview-based INGOs at the Council of Europe. Next steps of this initiative include the compilation of education projects from around Europe including analysis and the organisation of webinars on these matters. ICCS will continue participating in this process with its board members James Barnett and Bianca Kappelhoff.