European Parliament Intergroup on Freedom of Religion or Belief & Religious Tolerance

European Parliament Intergroup on Freedom of Religion or Belief & Religious Tolerance

First from left: Ahmad Shaheed, UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief. Third from left: BIC Representative, Rachel Bayani
Brussels—25 April 2017

The European Parliament’s Intergroup on Freedom of Religion or Belief and Religious Tolerance organised a meeting on “Best practices: How religion and belief communities reach out to each other in words and deeds,” to explore the ways in which religious communities support each other and jointly contribute to the betterment of society.

Dr Ahmed Shaheed, UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief (FORB) gave the keynote speech, which emphasized the importance of focusing on the positive role of religion, and engaging with other faith communities as a way of advancing the human condition.

“While religion is often associated with violence and conflict,” Dr Shaheed shared, “to ignore the positive role that religious and belief communities can play is to lose some of the best resources that the world has to address some of the pressing challenges of our time.” 

“Those who know the pulse of communities best are the faith-based communities. This is why we are here today: to listen to those experiences,” Dr Shaheed further encouraged the meeting. “It is vitally important that we harness the resources faith-based organisations bring to the table to build peace and generate hope and solidarity.”

Rachel Bayani, Representative of the Bahá’í International Community (BIC) Brussels Office, spoke on behalf of the European Platform on Religious Intolerance and Discrimination (EPRID) of which the BIC is a member, stressing the importance of considering which narratives religious communities choose to promote, and how we choose to view and speak about each other.

In particular, Ms Bayani encouraged religious leaders to think carefully about which narratives are helpful in fostering religious collaboration, emphasizing the need to move “beyond claims of exclusivity or finality, or privileged access to truth” which can serve as barriers to wholehearted collaboration, while also “shifting the focus from highlighting differences in doctrine, ritual and legal codes to focusing on that which unites us.”

In his closing remarks, Dennis de Jong, co-chair of the Intergroup and convener of the meeting, highlighted that the essential common element of the faith organisations present, is how humanity is put at the centre of all actions.