Islam and the West… for a better world @
already generating new forms of internal conflicts not only within weaker national identities like Africa or like Former Soviet Union but of developed and strong national entities as well like France or the United States. It is possible that the new conflicts we are going to see in the near future may not be those between the supposedly irreconcilable civilizations or religions (Islam and the West) but between the rich and the poor. Let us not forget that in poverty there is an immense pain for the poor, but eventually there is so a menacing violence towards the rich. A violence that starts from the desperation of the damned of the earth, as Franz Fanon, once said. The great risk is that the whole world of the poor may start walking, maybe after having found its leaders, on the path of violence and terrorism. In face of the complexity of the world and of the challenges we face the answer is ethical and moral. There is a great role that religion can and should play in fostering dialogue and comprehension. There is also a great responsibility of fostering peace and dialogue at all levels because if we do not do it nobody else will. Religions have in their very own genes words of peace and coexistence. Since they have the ability to talk to the heart of men and women, they are the only reality that can lead us out of a culture of the enemy. Yes, religions have a great task and a great responsibility that often they do not understand. The Community of Sant’Egidio in its yearly inter-religious meeting, following the one that the late Pope John Paul II organized in Assisi in 1986, has been trying for 20 years now to tap into this weak strength of peace that comes from religions. From dialogue, and from meetings, such are those of the Community of Sant’Egidio, may eventually derive a new moral code that could become, irrespective of the civilization or religion, a common commitment: 1. Value more what unites than what divides.
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