Under the slogan of “East and West for Human Coexistence,” the two-day Bahrain Forum for Dialogue kicked off on Thursday, under the patronage of Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa.
Egypt’s Grand Imam and Sheikh of Al-Azhar Ahmed Al-Tayeb, Pope Francis of the Catholic Church, as well as a number of symbols, leaders and representatives of religions and cultures from all over the world are participating in the forum.
This global forum is organized by the Council of Muslim Elders, the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs in the Kingdom of Bahrain, and the King Hamad Global Center for Peaceful Coexistence, Al-Azhar Sheikhdom said in a statement.
In his speech, UAE Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al-Nahayan stated that the forum reaffirms the need for the spiritual nature of religions and human values, which people everywhere share, to be the basis for bringing about legal, moral, ethical, behavioral and economic changes in people’s lives, achieving acquaintance, dialogue and joint action between everyone, and for the benefit of everyone.
Bartholomew I, the archbishop of Constantinople and Ecumenical Patriarch, said in his speech at the forum that the deliberate distortion of the other pushes everyone to interfaith dialogue. It is not possible to eliminate the fear of the other and exclusion except through constructive dialogue and effective meetings that are characterized by a spirit of complementarity, trust and respect.
Source: Egypt Today Magazine