EGIC: Interfaith dialogue and strategies for trust-building in turbulent times

 ROME – Experts, diplomats and the general public met at the Euro-Gulf Information Centre in Rome to discuss the importance of building interfaith dialogue in times of crises, highlighting the launch of the King Hamad Award for Coexistence and Tolerance. The award aims at recognising individuals and organisations for “their pioneering efforts in promoting the dialogue of civilisations and coexistence and tolerance” and for “fostering values of global solidarity and human diversity, while rejecting extremism, violence and hatred.”

 The award was launched by the King Hamad Global Centre for Coexistence and Tolerance — a key partner of EGIC — under the honorary patronage of HRH King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of the Kingdom of Bahrain.

 To spotlight the importance of interfaith dialogue, EGIC hosted two distinguished voices in the field to discuss fostering mutual understanding between cultures and religions, the Ambassador of Bahrain to the Italian Republic, HE Ausamah Al Absi, and scholar and journalist Dr Andrea Gagliarducci.

 The discussion stressed the need for panels, such as the one held at EGIC, in times of crisis to prevent people falling back on more archaic, even tribal, identities, and instead help to promote global cooperation.

 The two speakers underlined that religious, national and ethnic identity being misused to stir up conflict or to justify violence is not something exclusive to our time and has been around for centuries. Religion, especially, has been used throughout history as a façade and justification for individual political ambition. Ambassador Al Absi highlighted that those who use religion to promote violence against others are not true followers of the faiths which promote respect of others.

 Interfaith dialogue surrounding identity, religion and violence is more important than ever in alleviating ignorance, which in turn can be harnessed to breed hatred and radicalisation. It has been proven, time and time again, that people from depressed (financially and socially) socioeconomic backgrounds or who have no hope for the future are more easily radicalised and often these are people who do not want to engage in dialogue, when dialogue and education about diversity may benefit them the most.

 The panel stressed that to understand why people do not want to engage with dialogue, we must first understand the individual person. We must understand what the interests of the person are, how the dialogue may benefit or empower them and why are they refusing dialogue, for example they may be apprehensive of how personally emotional the dialogue may be. It is not that we necessarily must convince other people to believe the same ideology we do, it is more important to learn to tolerate and coexist with a wide range of diversity.

 It must also be understood that change does not happen in days, weeks or months: change can take decades or centuries to show noticeable, widespread progression, however change must start somewhere. The King Hamad Award for Coexistence and Tolerance strives to encourage and be part of this change to provide cooperation for centuries yet to come.

 Nominations for the award are still open and will close Oct. 10. The submissions will be judged by an international panel, and the winner will be awarded by a monetary sum determined by Royal Order. 

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