Dear Friends,
As day six of my three-week trip to Europe comes to a close, I am having a bite in an outdoor cafe just outside Gran Place in Brussels. The sun is finally out--it was a gray day, although quite pleasant.
I arrived here last night after three days in Berlin with URI Europe Regional Coordinator Karimah Stauch and URI Global Council Trustee (and trainer) Elisabeth Lheure. Our first evening together we had dinner with Peter Amsler, his wife Susan and their young son at a fantastic Persian restaurant. The URI Workshop on Overcoming Religious Prejudice that was held over the weekend in Berlin was programmed as part of the Long Night of Religions, for which Peter was a lead organizer. He is also part of the beautiful Baha'i community that hosted the workshop, as well as a founding and board member of URI-Berlin and URI Germany. Berlin is well known for its 'long night' events -- long nights of museums, science and the like. But this was the first long night of religions, with more than 60 diverse faith communities opening their doors to 2000 participants. More on this later.
Friday we met with Dr. Heinrich Kreft, a minister with the Office of Foreign Affairs (Germany) who deals with Interreligious dialogue – a very thoughtful man who seemed genuinely interested in URI. He was also interested in Despina Namwembe’s (URI’s regional Coordinator in the Great Lakes Sub-Region of Africa) program and in URI’s work in Bosnia. We then went to the US Embassy where we met with Peter Claussen, Acting Cultural Affairs Officer and Tanya Gant Ward (Deputy Cultural Affairs officer). Because a Rabbi had been viciously attacked in Berlin two days earlier, we tried our best to talk about the need to be proactive in addressing religious prejudice.
The Embassy is housed in a stunning new building built on the original site of the American Embassy that had been destroyed during the war. The building is circular on the inside and features American art work everywhere (Stella, Rauschenberg, Warhol, among many others). Sadly, the only people to benefit from the art are staff and visitors, due to security.
On Saturday and Sunday, Elisabeth led an important training on Overcoming Religious Prejudice. Held at a peaceful and welcoming community center run by the Baha'is, it was attended by about 20 people of all ages and from many faith traditions. The community provided a lovely lunch of soup and vegetarian sandwiches. Day one focused on the multiple stages of prejudice and day two was more interactive, as we broke into small groups to discuss a case study of an unsuccessful attempt to prosecute hate speech.
The full group discussed the personal effects of prejudice: a university student talked about how she was bullied by five girls in grammar school because she was Baha'i and the teacher and school director would do nothing. A Muslim woman talked about bringing full body swimwear over from Australia to allow Muslim women to swim in public pools. The pool directors loved the opportunity to bring more Muslims to the pools, both to swim and to teach their children to swim, but a local politician stepped in at the 11th hour to prevent this. Now Muslim women are relegated to two hours a month in which they can swim in
private. Banning circumcision for religious reasons is also currently being considered in Germany, just as it became an issue before the San Francisco Board of Supervisors (but was later dropped, due to the pressure from faith communities).
It was an excellent training crammed into too few hours, but rich nonetheless. The participants included university students, a man who works for a member of Parliament on religious freedom issues, Charlotte -- who volunteered with Despina in Kampala for several months and is getting her Ph.D. in Protestant theology -- and Taufiq Mempel, co-chair of URI-Berlin and board member of URI Germany, among others.
On Day Two, an older Iranian woman and two younger relatives of hers came. When we did introductions again, she started to cry. She said the group was a miracle. Her husband had been shot to death during the revolution, persecuted for being Baha'i. She said (in Farsi and German as she spoke no English), "I forgive them. I am Baha'i. I am Muslim. I am Christian..." referring to our common humanity. To see a diverse group of people talking with each other was so moving to her -- and to all of us .
The Long Night of Religions had an opening event at City Hall with the Mayor of Berlin. Peter Amsler talked about organizing the event. There were a number of other speakers and an interfaith choir. About 300 people were in attendance -- a very diverse crowd!
Today I met with Cooperation Circle members Jean-Mathieu Lochten and Martin Gurvich at Jean-Mathieu's amazing loft. I had time to talk with Jean-Mathieu before Martin arrived. A retired Catholic priest who (with Martin) is part of the URI Convictions in Dialogue Cooperation Circle, Jean-Mathieu spoke of his efforts, both as a parish priest and now, in engaging the Jewish community in interfaith dialogue, and he spoke lovingly of his friendship with a woman who is a Rabbi. Her synagogue shared the church where he was priest and he found it challenging to get the two congregations to talk with each other. Still, when I asked him if he thought things had changed, he said they had. Perhaps it was slow, but more people were talking to each other. Jean-Mathiew exemplifies the URI spirit for me – that steady, unfailing commitment to interfaith dialogue.
After lunch, Martin took me on a tour of Brussels. We saw where the EU Parliament does its business -- a new building, huge, semi-circular and sort of ship-like at the same time. Martin took me to his office for the Hindu Forum of Europe. With his help (he really knows a lot of people), I will be able to meet with Robin Sclafani, the director of CEJI -- A Jewish Contribution to an Inclusive Europe -- on Wednesday. We hope they might be a program partner in Belgium.
Well, I have written this report (one finger typing!!) on my iPhone between salad, moules and espresso. I am ready for a walk! Tomorrow I am off to Antwerp for a day to meet with Chloe Dyckmans from Bonn zonder Naam. We will also be visiting the Embassy in Brussels and I’m happy to have her as a partner going with me!
With love,
Debra
