Meetings for brotherhood among nations are flourishing in Italy

Peace Times 11

In these times of great discord and violence on our doorsteps, increasing dialogues are organised by civil society bringing religions into conversation.

Some four hundred people crowded an inter-religious roundtable gathering organised by the Rotary Club of “Colli Briantei” last March: “Comparing Religions: to know one another to better understand one another”. As emerged from the talks, there is an essential need for religions to bring a united message: spirituality is one solution for this world; by developing inner peace, world peace can be achieved where each keep their own cultural identity and their own religious convictions. A challenge for religions in a world where communities are ever increasingly of mixed cultures and religions: how to say the truth with unity. Today this can no longer be a dream. «According to the bible, human life began with one couple, created by God, so no one could ever claim that his or her ancesters are better than the next one’s» said Rabbi Elia Kopciowsky. Lama Gangchen shared the idea of creating a Permanent UN Spiritual Forum for World Peace and spoke of the need for mass media to overturn violent culture trends into a new culture of peace. The debate held by representatives of some of the world’s most important religions: Buddhist, Catholic, Islam and Jewish, converged on one recurring theme: Truth.

Under the theme “Cultural, ethnic and religious minorities in time and space”, the Lions Club of Asti, organised an event to promote interreligious dialogue and create a thought provoking debate to encourage better understand among people, based upon tolerance and respect. Hundreds of people crowded the hall of the Cultural Centre of Asti, on the 15th of April, to take part in one of today’s most relevant topics: how to transform our violent culture into a peace culture.

On the 25th of April, the Crespi Bonsai company concluded a 10 day “East meets West” spiritual exhibition and workshop with an interreligious dialogue, inviting Monsignor Francesco Fumagalli and Lama Gangchen to speak to a packed audience of well over 300 people. They both spoke of the need to transform darkness into light. “To build peace should be seen as a contribution by all those who are not against, even if they are not aware of it, everyone contributes in their own way - we can build it together” said Monsignor Fumagalli.

Isthar D.-Adler