Issued by the Catholic Center for Studies and Media - Jordan. Editor-in-chief Fr. Rif'at Bader - موقع أبونا abouna.org

Published on Saturday, 16 November 2019
Fr. Bader: King Hussein coined the term 'Peace to the Children of Abraham’

Duba--en.abouna.org :

Director of the Catholic Center for Studies and Media (CCSM) in Jordan Fr. Dr. Rif’at Bader took part in the two-day 2019 World Tolerance Summit titled, “Tolerance in Multiculturalism: Achieving the Social, Economic and Humane Benefits of a Tolerant World” which kicked off on Wednesday, November 13 with the participation of over 3,000 people from 100 countries in the world.

Fr. Bader started his intervention by referring to the martyred priest and his father who have been killed together in Deir ez-Zor in Syria. He said that they were killed because unfortunately intolerance still prevails among extremist and terrorist groups. He also praised the soul of King Hussein on his birthday anniversary stating, “King Hussein, may his soul rest in peace, was the one who coined the term ‘Peace to the Future Generations and to all the Children of Abraham’ as they are brethren in faith. Consequently, he transcended Jordan to the ranks of exemplary countries with regards to mutual respect, interfaith dialogue and tolerance. He also paved the way for sublime initiatives launched by Jordan during the reign of His Majesty King Abdullah II Ben Al-Hussein with Jordan becoming a source of global harmony.”

In his intervention, Fr. Bader addressed seven clues to spreading an atmosphere of peace within societies. The first clue was the need for integral development to serve Arabs, because without attaining a decent life for families no attention can be paid to caring for society and public welfare. Consequently, this has a link to political, security, educational life, as well as to social and economic environment, and the fight against poverty, unemployment and inequality.

He said that, “The road is long; we do not want to hurry, to transcend all the stages and to ignore the tribulations of people. We want to get the desired results represented in the fruits of patient and careful work. We have to be patient with our societies. They are in a state of fruitfulness which could face impediments, but this will definitely create generations that believe only in the power of love and justice for all.” He stressed the need to resort to wisdom stressing that the third clue includes demanding the presidents, as well as the political and religious leaders to encourage friendships rather than to create schisms.

Fr. Bader pointed out that the education system in the Arab world, or rather in the entire world, needs comprehensive reform which includes the curriculums, the life of teachers, the infrastructure and equality of the students. He quoted the 2018 message of the Catholic Patriarchs of the East as saying, “There is a need to educate new human beings who can generate a new society in which justice, freedoms and cooperation prevail to all the citizens regardless of their religious affiliations. The sound religious education, whether for Christians or Muslims, enables them to build a new national project where everyone is a human, everyone is a citizen, and everyone believes in his own religion. The national project builds a homeland for all."

The CCSM director called for the preservation of plurality including the religious freedom which is the mother and the crown of freedoms. He quoted the Apostolic Exhortation, “Church in the Middle East” which states that “it is important to proceed from religious tolerance to religious freedom.”

Fr. Bader accentuated the importance of modern social media outlets in a way that complies with ethics and positivity. He said, “The modern media tools which have become the fifth authority, are capable of frustrating the general climate as well as of creating an atmosphere of calm, of tranquility, of positivity, of hope, and of grace.”

Fr. Bader added in his intervention in a seminar titled, “Instilling Communal Peace and Harmony Within Societies” by saying that there are countries and individuals who excel in erecting walls that separate people. On the other hand, there are countries and individuals who excel in building bridges among people based on understanding, respect, and cooperation designed to solve the dilemmas of humanity.

He concluded his intervention by stating that Jordan and the United Arab Emirates are among the countries that build bridges rather than walls.

UAE Minister of Tolerance Sheikh Nahyan Ben Mubarak Al Nahyan had earlier opened the summit convening for the second time in Dubai, which included several panel discussions and workshops focusing on promoting the principles of common living, mutual respect, acceptance and understanding of the others.

Models were presented during the summit sessions on the experience of various states in tolerance. They also included the role of social media in disseminating messages based on respect for cultural and religious pluralism, on shared commitment to dialogue, on respect for others, on the role of higher education and media curricula in promoting the values of tolerance and peace, in addition to the importance of participation in community and global initiatives to promote these human values.