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                                                   Intercultural Dialogue


Islam, Christianity and Europe: CSC contribution to the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue

The European Union declared the year 2008 “European Year of Intercultural Dialogue”. The initiative aimed at reinforcing social cohesion and civic peace in Europe. It stemed from the acknowledgement that Europeans must learn to live together in the diversity increased by the circulation of people and ideas. The year also sought to give expression and a high profile to best practices and process of intercultural dialogue and to establish a sustainable strategy beyond 2008.

As a part of their contribution for the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue, CSC, COMECE and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS), in association with Muslim partners, organised a series of seminars under the overall theme of “Islam, Christianity and Europe”. The seminars were hosted by the European Parliament. The target audience of the seminars were EU politicians and civil servants. The main rationale was to expose the complexity of issues linked to Islam, Christianity and Europe and by doing that to question stereotypes. Each seminar was arranged in the form of a panel discussion with a moderator, an academic expert, a Muslim speaker, a Christian speaker and a Member of the European Parliament in charge of the synthesis. 
  

17 April 2008   Intercultural dialogue: response to which problems?
Christian and Muslim perspectives

PROGRAMME    EVENT REPORT

29 May 2008   Visibility of religion in the European public space: the question of worship places and religious symbols in clothing

PROGRAMME    EVENT REPORT

3 July 2008   ‘Christian Europe’ and Islam in Europe

PROGRAMME   EVENT REPORT

11 September 2008   The external relations of the European Union with Muslim countries
and the international responsibility of religious communities

PROGRAMME   EVENT REPORT



White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue

In the spring 2007 the Council of Europe organised a public consultation on intercultural dialogue. In addition to the general questionnaire, the Council of Europe addressed targeted groups with specific sets of questions, among them churches and religious communities and migrants’ organisations. CSC and CCME organised a joint internal consultation which enjoyed high interest among the constituencies. 30 member churches and organisations took part in the consultation. These responses were submitted to the Council of Europe along with the joint CSC-CCME response.

CSC/CEC and CCME's joint response to the Council of Europe White Paper consultation on Intercultural Dialogue

CSC/CEC and CCME member churches and organisations' individual responses to the Council of Europe White Paper Consultation on Intercultural Dialogue

Right after the end of the consultation period, in June 2007, the CSC Plenary Meeting in Armenia addressed the issue of intercultural dialogue. Mr. Ulrich Bunjes, coordinator of the Council of Europe's Office for Intercultural Dialogue, was invited and delivered a speech responding to CSC and CCME's joint response.

The White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue (French version) was published on 7 May 2008. It formulates a coherent and long-term policy for the promotion of intercultural dialogue within Europe and between Europe and its neighbouring regions. It serves as a reference document to policy makers and practitioners at national, regional and local levels, providing them with guidelines and analytical and methodological tools for the promotion of intercultural dialogue.

CSC Briefing on the Council of Europe "White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue" - December 2008


The Council of Europe website on intercultural dialogue: Intercultural Dialogue