Mabda Report 05/05/13

Interreligious Dialogue in Morocco: Peaceful Co-existence between Divine Religions

Like several countries in the Middle East, Morocco witnessed a popular movement that fell short of a revolution. But citizen demand for government reform did lead to a number of changes. These changes included a referendum on a new constitution, limiting the Moroccan monarch’s authority, as well as elections, which led to a victory for the Justice and Development Party, an Islamic political party.

While many people feared an Islamic political party might not respect the faiths of non-Muslim nationals, Morocco is showing its commitment to the promotion of co-existence between Moroccans of different faiths under the Justice and Development Party.

http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/interreligious-dialogue-in-morocco-peaceful-co-existence-between-divine-rel/0019777

‘Terrorism’ Irks German Islam Conference

Repeating earlier years’ dilemma, a government-sponsored conference on Muslims in Germany has sparked a storm of criticism for focusing on terrorism as a key subject rather than promoting dialogue between the government and the Muslim minority.

“The conference only makes sense as a dialogue with Muslim religious communities,” Erol Pürlü of the Association of Islamic Cultural Centers (VIKZ) which says it represents 300 Muslim communities nationwide, told the Süddeutsche Zeitung in a report cited by The Local.de.

http://www.onislam.net/english/news/europe/462493-terrorism-irks-german-islam-conference.html

Interfaith Trialogue brings together the three Abrahamic faiths — Judaism, Islam and Christianity

Religious leaders from the three Abrahamic faiths — Christianity, Islam and Judaism — are getting together this month to lead a series of conversations about topics important to them all.

“The belief of the organizing group is that while each one of us has a commitment to its own faith tradition — and we believe strongly in certain values of these traditions and we’re not going to change — we have a commitment to the community where we live and, in order to build a community, we have to know each other,” said Imad Damaj, president of the Virginia Muslim Coalition for Public Affairs.

http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/local/chesterfield/article_d99e3a6d-1fd5-5a80-ae92-6864fcdc7b7d.html