Interfaith Dialogue 2004

Challenges, Options, and Obstacles

1. Religion and politics

• Are the concepts of separating religion from politics and religious institutions from the state still viable?
• Is the interference of religion in politics at the end of the twentieth century a global phenomenon? What is the cause of such a development?
• What can we expect in the development of mutual relations between religion and politics in various parts of the world?
• What is the connection between religion and nationalism, religion and power, and religion and violence? What is the current attitude of different religions towards manifestations of intolerance?
• Are there any positive experiences from the cooperation of politics and religion? If yes, how they can serve as an inspiration to today's society?

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2. Place of religion in the secular society

• What should be the place of religion and its symbols in the public space of modern society?
• Where are the limits of laicity as a social attitude and when does it become an ideology replacing religion?
• How can we guarantee freedom and equality for everyone in the growing religious and cultural pluralism of today's West?
• To what extent can society, the state, or community interfere with individual choice in matters of religious culture and in its practical manifestations? Is it possible to define a legal framework for it?

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3. Islam and the West

• What are the concepts of tolerance on both sides? How can the mutual prejudices between Islam and Western civilization be overcome? How can the prejudices between Islam and the rest of the religious world be bridged?
• Is the relationship between Islam and the West a religious or a cultural problem?
• Who could serve as credible partners in a dialogue between both parties? How can a dialogue, based on the principles of tolerance, can be shifted closer to the individual and community level? What can the mechanisms of such a move be? Could the differences between Islam and the West be substituted by some form of a "common platform of tolerance?"
• What are the prospects of the Abrahamic concept as a common foundation of the three monotheistic religions?
• What are the points of agreement between Islam and other major religions? Could a mystic religious experience represent one of these points?

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