Young Journalists Activists to Promote Dialogue between Religions
                                                                      Family in Islam and Christianity 



Within the framework of its AFKAR II project, Young Journalists Activists To Promote Dialogue Between Religions, which is funded by EU and managed by OMSAR, Nahar Ash Shabab and the Safadi Foundation organized the fifth workshop for interreligious dialogue entitled “Family in Islam and Christianity” in Our Lady of the Mountain Convent, Fatka on the 29th of December 2007.


                                     

The workshop was attended by representatives from social, religious, cultural, and civil organizations, and was opened by a word from Nahar Ash Shabab and Safadi Foundation representative Rabih Chaer, who stressed the importance of genuine dialogue, and specified the essential factors for dialogue: love and marriage, the role of the parents, sexual relations, and the challenges of our time. Father Joseph Salloum explained the concept of family in Christianity, which is a divine vocation based on marriage, one of the Seven Sacraments, and aims at creating unity between the spouses based on love and continuity.

Sheikh Khaled Soufan explained that a marriage in Islam is dissolved by divorce, “which is not encouraged, but is allowed by Islam in order to give freedom to the two parties in dispute.” He added, “For Muslims, family is a model of virtue for children.”

As for the president of the International Catholic Union of the Press – Lebanon, Father Tony Khadra, he considered that “a marital relation is more than physical contact; it is a lesson of sacrifice from both sides”. He stressed on the pontifical messages, where truth, transparency, and family are recurrent themes, calling for purging family and marital relations from social residues.      

The dialogue then shifted from a religious to a scientific perspective, when the supervisor of the media department at the Arab University Dr. Jamal Moujahid discussed how some groups in the West are trying to change the image of families in the Arab society and abandon a religious framework in Islam and Christianity, emphasizing the importance of activating civic and religious education in schools and universities.

Then Rania and Nazih Khalaf talked about their experience in the family committee of the Jounieh Maronite parish, stressing on the fact that a fine religious education in order to build a fine society starts from the home.

Furthermore, the head of the social department at the Arab University Chadi Ghanim stated in his intervention that social education constitutes the base for facing society.
In the end, Auxilia representative Ghassan Saad, focused on the economic situation that affects families, particularly mothers and orphans.

The workshop was closed with Chaer’s summary of the common points between Muslim and Christian families: love and education, culture, respect, and dialogue, as well as the necessity of activating their role at all stages of development, since they are the core for spreading awareness in civil society organizations.