Interreligious Dialogue in the Netherlands

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Interreligious Dialogue in the Netherlands

• Practical examples of non-formal
• adult education

Abe Thijs Kerk en Vrede
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Introduction

• Kerk en Vrede (Church and Peace)
• 1300 members
• Founded in 1924
• Promote pacifist and non-violent thinking and
  acting on three different levels
• Political level convince political parties of
  the relevance of pacifism as an important
  political theory
• Societal level work on a the establishment of a
  culture of peace and non-violence
• Interreligious Dialogue promote dialogue between
  different groups, religious or cultural, in
  society.

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Interreligious Dialogue Why?

• Background
• Netherlands has a reputation and history of
  tolerance
• Lately people have developed fear of the other,
  especially of Muslims
• Several major events have encouraged fear
• 9/11 resulted in a identity change religion
  replaced country of origin as defining
  characteristic.
• 2/11/04 the Dutch film maker Theo van Gogh was
  killed. Results Muslims were harassed, Mosques
  and Islamic schools attacked and torched.
• The Dutch MP Geert Wilders started a political
  party, which is aimed at stopping the
  islamization of the Netherlands.
• Recent film Fitna is an example of Wilders
  methods.
• These developments give good reason to be worried
  about the way different cultures and religions
  live together in the Netherlands.

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Interreligious Dialogue Why?

• The roots of the problem
• Not the fear of Islam, but of religion all
  together
• Image of Islam and Muslims is very often
  simplistic, artificial and generalized.
• Influenced by media, bad experiences, gossip
• Power structures in Dutch society
• White Dutchman feels threatened by a different
  minority, and uses Islam as a means to accuse
  this minority
• Aforementioned Geert Wilders is very successful
  in using this method.

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Interreligious Dialogue How?

• Goals
• Work on conflict resolution regarding this
  societal conflict
• Introduce a new method of communication
  Non-Violent Communication (NVC)
• Respect
• Understanding
• Identification with the other - Empathy
• This has to be trained, because it unfortunately
  does not go without saying

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Interreligious Dialogue How?

• Methods
• Together with partner Islam and Dialogue we have
  developed four different methods.
• Different levels of education, which are
  reflected in these methods
• 1. Theoretical learning presentations, lectures
• Aimed at informing, and changing at level of
  knowledge
• Example a lecture about peace as one of the main
  principles of Islam
• 2. Psychological learning discussion
• Aimed at changing attitudes with the public and
  changing level of being
• Example participating at fora and discussions in
  teams of buddies

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Interreligious Dialogue How?

• Methods
• 3. Practical learning exchange of experiences,
  best practices training
• Aimed at exchanging, and changing at level of
  behavior.
• Example expert meetings of (semi-) professional
  trainers, who are working on interreligious
  dialogue, and learn from each other to improve
  their own practices.
• 4. Social learning learn to empathize,
  understand the other
• Aimed at understanding, changing social behavior
• Example role-play in which people from one group
  play people from the other group and vice cersa
  in context. This means the power structures is
  reversed and majority becomes minority and vice
  versa.
• Try this in a few moments with you

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Grundtvig Empatheu Project

• Working together on peace education
• In our Grundtvig program we work together with
  different European organizations
• Goal to improve our experience with peace
  education and learn from other practices
• A learning partnership
• Focus is on improving our knowledge of methods of
  Non-Violent Communication, and share our outcomes
  with other organizations
• Try to find a universal method for learning about
  peace, non-violence and the overcoming of
  prejudice