1. The Comeback of Religion – A Potential Danger for the Secular State?
By: World Economic Forum
Thursday January 24 2008 12.45 – 14.15
Secularization was a decisive step towards peaceful cohabitation of different religions in Europe. However, not every religion considers the separation of state and religion as a natural course of action. For example, Islam is a unity between sacred and profane spaces of society. Thus, Islamic states claim that the state represents Islamic communities and that state law is rooted in religious law.
1) How can states in Europe guarantee religious plurality and religious freedom while simultaneously maintaining their own forms of life and culture embedded in Christian values and traditions?
2) How does the Islam see the relationship between state and religion? Are there any repercussions on the cohabitation of different religions in secularized states?
3) Does Islam face a similar question to the one Christians have intensely struggled with since the time of Enlightenment – namely, recognition of a separation of state and religion?
Speakers
- Mohammad Khatami, President, Foundation for Dialogue Among Civilizations; President of the Islamic Republic of Iran (1997-2005)
- Ingrid Mattson, President, Islamic Society of North America, USA
- Ulrich Schlüer, Co-organiser of the Minaret Initiative, Swiss People‘s Party, Switzerland
- Thomas Wipf, President of the Council, Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches, Switzerland
Moderation
- Marco Meier, Swiss Television
Webcast
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Gigih Arleedstanto
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Alan de Ferguson
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MS.Sheikh…Switzerland
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