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| Service | Pressedienst | Pressematerial | Internat. Tagung: "Der Status der religiösen Minderheiten in Europa und im Nahen Osten" (Wien, 12.-13. Juni 07) |
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INTERNAT. TAGUNG: "DER STATUS DER RELIGIöSEN MINDERHEITEN IN EUROPA UND IM NAHEN OSTEN" (WIEN, 12.-13. JUNI 07) P r e s s R e l e a s e The conference was hosted by: - Department for legal philosophy, Law on Culture and Religion at the Faculty of Law, University of Vienna - PRO ORIENTE Foundation The participants: Abdullah, Dr. Daud sg.pa@mcb.org.uk Deputy Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain based in London, author of several articles and books on Islam and the Palestine question Guindy, Dr. Adel adel.guindy@gmail.com Coptic writer on Middle East political issues based in Paris, France. Member of the Center for Freedom in the Middle East Ibrahim, Metropolitan Mor Gregorios Yohanna margregorios@net.sy Archbishop of Aleppo, Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East, member of the WCC Central Committee Inam, Hüseyin inam.hueseyin@web.de Member of the Christian-Muslim pastoral board of the Protestant Church in Westfalia, based in Herne, Germany. Member of the Muslim Federation of Theologians in Europe. Kobilica, Senaid senaid@mail.com President of the Islamic Council in Norway based in Oslo, Imam of the Islamic Community of Bosnia Herzegovina in Norway, Assistant to the Grand Mufty of Bosnia Herzegovina, Dr. Mustafa Ceric Luf, Univ.Prof. Dr. Gerhard gerhard.luf@univie.ac.at Deputy Director of the Department for Religious Philosophy, Law on Religion and Culture at the University of Vienna, Austria. Member of the Commission of Bioethics of the Austrian Government Yacoub, Univ.Prof. Dr. Joseph jyacoub@univ-catholyon.fr Chaldean Professor of Political Science at the „Institut des Droits de l‘Homme“ at the Catholic University of Lyon in France Yakupov, Valiulla Markovitch zamrin@bk.ru Deputy Mufti of the Republic of Tatarstan based in Kazan, Chairman of Vaqufs of Tatarstan, author in several Muslim newspapers and magazines Theme of the conference In the course of globalisation the world is irrevocably getting more and more multifold and interdependent. On the one hand the world is becoming the much cited “global village”, on the other hand each village more and more reflects the complexity of the whole world. These developments bring along with them that the set of topics regarding migration/integration is today of immediate interest. These considerations - as well as the concepts of “tolerance” and “freedom of religion” - have been the subject of the conference in the context of a comparison between indigenous Christianity in the Middle East, indigenous and migrated Muslims in Europe. A main challenge for the European countries is immigration, for the Middle East it is emigration. Due to the war in Iraq and the complete lack of security, the religious minorities (especially the Christians) are paying a heavy price. Half of the indigenous Christian community had to emigrate and its existence is heavily under threat. The conference reminds that Christian communities are in some countries discriminated against because of their legal systems and/or the practices of marginalization. The conference reminds of the problems of job discrimination, problems getting permission to build mosques and Muslim cemeteries, problems about lacking recognition of Islamic communities as public bodies (e.g. in Germany), head scarf problems, etc. In all such cases we have to keep in mind that in the dialogue one is often tempted to confront ones’ own theory which often is idealistically super-elevated to the practice of the others which often is presented negatively. Therefore specific concepts of the treatment of religious minorities in Europe and in the Middle East were presented and the theoretical background has been analysed. A lively discussion took place regarding the comparison between the situation of Muslims in Europe and the situation of the Christian minorities in the Middle East. The conference also discussed how legal regulations are applied by the courts and administrative authorities and how the theoretical concept and the practice of the authorities influences the everyday life of the minorities in Europe as well as in the Middle East. The conference urges: - to intensify the inter- and intra-religious and cultural dialogue on a local, regional and international level, - to include a better understanding and information about each other in all fields of education, - Muslims in the Middle East should have better relationships with non-Muslim minorities by learning from the experiences of the Muslims in Europe, - to be aware of the danger of widespread double standard practice and respect the internationally accepted human rights conventions, - the EU to activate its role within the Euro-Mediterranean partnership to promote European standards of human rights. This conference had the goal: - to elaborate concrete topics that could be the theme of follow up conferences, - to elaborate a sort of dictionary that discusses the terminology used in the West or by Christianity, as well as in the Middle East respectively by Islam in the fields of politics, law and religion. The conference brought out the well-known phenomenon according to which the numerous misunderstandings are rooted in the different terminology, - to extend a yearly invitation to guest lecturers/visiting professors at the University of Vienna – as an offer for interested faculties – dealing with the topics of the conference. |
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Der Status religiöser Minderheiten in Europa und im Nahen Osten