DOHA, April 28, 2006 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) -
Muslim and Christian clerics, joined by Jewish rabbis, ended the fourth
edition of an inter-faith dialogue in Qatar Thursday, April 27, with a
call for United Nations action to ban blasphemy and offenses to religious
symbols.
Participants in the three-day forum "call for the respect of
religious sanctities and symbols, affirming that respect for sanctities
does not clash with the right to (free) _expression_," they said in a
closing statement carried by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"The participants look to the issuing of international
legislation by the United Nations that would call for the respect of
religions and declare any insult to their symbols to be a crime," the
statement said.
The participants also declared that religions have nothing to
do with "terrorist acts" carried out by "fanatics."
The call, one of 10 recommendations adopted by the
conference, follows a crisis sparked by the publication of cartoons that
lampooned Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) in European
papers, which infuriated Muslims around the world.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and European External
Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner have suggested that the EU
and the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) co-draft a UN
resolution on religious tolerance.
The OIC and the Arab League, the Muslim world's main
political bodies, are seeking a UN resolution, backed by possible
sanctions, to protect religions against blasphemy.
"Cultural Workshop"
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Huntzinger said the workshop aims
at "countering the risk of the development of misunderstandings,
prejudices and fear among peoples and civil societies."
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France announced on the sidelines of the conference
the launch of a "cultural workshop" starting in September in a bid to
promote understanding between the West and the Islamic world.
The workshop, which is the brainchild of French
President Jacques Chirac, will hold its first session in Paris on
September 13-15, ambassador-at-large Jacques Huntzinger told
AFP.
Huntzinger said the workshop aims at "countering the
risk of the development of misunderstandings, prejudices and fear among
peoples and civil societies" on the two banks of the
Mediterranean.
According to a presentation of the project, a copy of
which was obtained by AFP, the second session will be held in the Spanish
city of Seville February 7-9, 2007 and the third in the Egyptian port of
Alexandria in June next year.
Participants in the "dialogue of peoples and cultures"
will come from non- governmental organizations although organizers will
seek the support of the governments concerned.
"The platform must be given to historians, educators,
researchers and new thinkers on both banks. With the help of the media,
satellite channels and the Internet, they will know how to fight
stereotypes," the document says.
The series of workshops will be open to Arab countries
of the Maghreb, Levant and Gulf, in addition to modern-day Israel, Turkey
and member states of the European Union.
Themes to be debated will range from the role of media
to the relationship between society and religion in secular systems and
those based on Shari`ah.
Earlier this month, Spain urged the West to engage in
a more constructive dialogue with the Muslim world to promote mutual
understanding.
Seeking to repair damages caused by the cartoons,
Denmark, whose mass-circulation daily Jyllands Posten first
published the odious cartoons in September, is planning to boost its
spending on Middle East relations by up to 20 percent.
Doha also played host in February to the second
conference of the UN-sponsored Alliance of Civilizations, which urged
action not talk to bridge the yawning gap between the Muslim world and the
West in the wake of the cartoons crisis.
