The Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) organized a seminar titled, “Public Discourse in Wartime: Towards Dialogue to Reduce Hate” as part of the “Light of Hope” initiative, which MECC launched in response to the serious security developments in Lebanon and the Middle East. The initiative also covers the MECC ongoing humanitarian, field, and relief work and updates.

The seminar was held at the MECC Platform of the Word, with an online participation from Religious and Spiritual Leaders, intellectuals, and experts from various fields and sectors of life. It aimed to highlight the importance of the proper use of language, words, and discourse in building peace, especially amid escalating conflicts. It also stressed the need to overcome hate speech, promote values of love, dialogue, and respect, and strengthen a culture of dialogue and encounter among the diverse components of society.

The seminar was presented by the Coordinator of Media and Church Relations at MECC the Journalist Lea Adel Maamary. In her address, she called for “professionalism and credibility, avoiding fast-paced reactive media, confronting rumors, demonstrating patriotism, upholding social responsibility, preventing incitement and hate, producing transparent content, avoiding being driven by agendas, ensuring that media serves as a tool for construction rather than destruction, relying on official and trustworthy sources, spreading awareness, making words a path to salvation, prioritizing the public good over all else, avoiding exaggeration, and steering clear of cyberbullying.”

Then, a welcoming address was delivered by Coordinator of the “Dialogue, Social Cohesion, and Human Dignity” programs at MECC Professor Laure Abi Khalil. She said: “Today we meet not only to reflect, but to confront together a profound question: What does war do with words?? And what do words do in times of war? In this context, we cannot speak about public discourse in isolation from the human reality we are living in Lebanon. This reality is no longer measured only by analysis, but by numbers which summarize pain without fully expressing it.”

Afterwards, the Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) Professor Michel Abs delivered an address titled, “Hatred and Demonization Between Discourse and Practice.” He noted: “We are dealing, today, with a sensitive and dangerous issue that pervades our contemporary lives, threatens stability, and constitutes a ticking social time bomb: demonization and hate speech. In an era of mass migrations, both voluntary and forced, population mixing, the internet, and social media, the spread of information has become rapid, but at the same time, it has created a fertile ground for negative ideas, prejudices, and vilification among individuals and societies.”

The seminar opened with a spiritual reflection titled, “The Lord Said,” delivered by the MECC Associate Secretary General Father Dr. Nicolas Bustros. It also included speeches, interventions, and intellectual, cultural, spiritual, and media perspectives examining the role of words and the ethical responsibility of media and public discourse during times of crisis.

The event also featured short segments produced by MECC under the title “Light of Hope.” As well as, Candles were lit for peace in Lebanon, the Middle East, and the world.

Speakers included: Director of the Catholic Media Center  in Lebanon Monsignor Abdo Abu Kasm; Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Tyre and Sidon and their Dependencies His Eminence Bishop Elias Kfoury; Former Lebanese Minister of Agriculture Dr. Abbas Al-Hajj Hassan; Secretary of the Islamic-Christian Dialogue Meeting in Tyre, Lebanon His Eminence Sheikh Rabih Koubayssi; Secretary General of the Islamic-Christian Meeting around Our Lady Mary His Eminence Sheikh Judge Mohammad Al-Noukari; Researcher on Middle Eastern and Caucasus affairs Dr. Youssef Dardarian; and Writer, Director, and University Professor Mrs. Betty Taoutel.

In this context, participants discussed ways to confront inciting discourse and replace it with responsible speech that preserves human dignity and reduces conflict. They also emphasized the role of Religious and Cultural Leaders, as well as media platforms, in shaping public opinion, and the importance of enhancing societal awareness.