Representative of Church of Sweden (CoS) Mr. Goran Gunner visited MECC Cyprus office on July 8, 2006 to discuss the possibility of organizing a Joint Conference on ³Religious Minorities in a Muslim Society², an initiative of the CoS/Research Department, the Department of Inter-religiou s Dialogue at the Stockholm School of Theology, the Department for Missiology at Uppsala University, and the Christian Study Centre in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
Discussions covered, besides the urgent needs in the region what regards reconciliation and peace, the program of the Conference, topics that meet these needs, the choice of speakers and other participants that should attend in order to fulfill the aim and expected results of the conference.
Proposed topics include: Muslim/Islamic rule and Minorities, Majority and Minorities in Islam: meeting the challenges of pluralism, Minority within a Minority, the case of minority women in Pakistan, the Status of Non-Muslims in a future Palestinian State, the Status of Non-Muslims in Egypt, Minority Rights from a Christian and Muslim Perspective, the Socio-Political Impact of Arab Christians: the situation as experienced by the church, the Concept of Minority and International Law: (the Politics of Multiculturalism and minorities and the use of the concept minority: a protection or a burden), Common Patterns and Strategies for the Future (Managing Christian-Muslim Relations in the Pakistani Setting and Managing Christian-Muslim Relations in the Middle Eastern Setting
The Conference will be held jointly with the MECC. The MECC General Secretary will present the opening address and a working paper. A draft working plan was established to be circulated when final. For more information, kindly contact Ms. Alexa Abi Habib at: mecccypr@spidernet.net.cy
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/