³Religion and Human Rights and Duties² was the theme of the second Christian-Muslim Dialogue Consultation between the MECC and the IIFD, held March 21-22, 2006, in Cairo, Egypt, under the auspices of H.H. Pope Shenoud a III and the Great Sheikh Al Azhar, Dr. Mohammad Sayed Tantawi.
The inaugural session gathered over 500 Christian and Muslim religious, political and community leaders. The spiritual leaders of both communities addressed the audience, highlighting that their dialogue focused on what they have in common rather than what differentiates them. They underlined their common interests, issues and concerns stressing that what rejoices on e of them, rejoices the other, and what hurts one, hurts the other. Dialogue should be real, honest, sincere and positive. They expressed their wish and their will to reach the unity of minds for the good of humanity.
The MECC and the IIFD presented their respective working papers on the them e during the first session, each from their own religious perspective. The second session was entirely devoted to the in-depth discussion of the two papers, the outcome of which was the agreement on many common points betwee n the Christian and Muslim perspectives.
The Consultation issued a Communiqué underlining the points of agreement between the two organizations and a Call to the United Nations and International Community to join efforts to issue and International Law on the Respect of Religious Diversity and the protection of Religious Institutions and Symbols, affirming that the violation of religious sanctities and symbols have nothing to do with the freedom of opinion and expression, and securing and protecting the peaceful coexistence between communities and eliminating cells of violence and terrorism in the world. The Call and the Communiqué are posted on the MECC website at: www.mec-churches.org <http://www.mec-churches.org/
The inaugural session was aired live on all the TV channels of the region for about 3 and half hours, outreaching Middle Easterners in their homes.
The MECC takes this opportunity to thank once again the TV channel Télé Lumière/NoorSat for covering the whole event, outreaching all other regions in the world. For more information, kindly contact Fr. Hady Mahfouz, responsible for the MECC Christian-Muslim Dialogue Program at: hadymahfouz@usek.edu.lb
Middle East Council of Churches Office of International Ecumenical Relations P.O. Box 5376, Beirut, Lebanon
Guirgis Ibrahim Saleh, General Secretary
mecc@cyberia.net.lb or guirgissaleh@cyberia.net.lb
+961-1-353-938 http://www.mec-churches.org/