The Religion in the Civil Service
A workshop by Nahar Ash-Shabab under Afkar project
The Cultural Center in Horch Tabet hosted the workshop entitled “The Religion in the Civil Service” that comes within the project “Young Journalists for an inter-religious dialogue”, carried out by Nahar Achabab and Assafadi Foundation within Afkar II program, financed by EU and managed by OMSAR. Dr. Jean Karam, the general director of An Nahar Training and Research Center, welcomed the participants and underlined that the meeting aims at promoting the inter-confessional openness among the Lebanese, in particular among the youth, and at finding a common ground between the religions and shedding light on it.
The representative of “Anta Akhi” association, Mr. Elie Tawk, noted that “the essence of the human being lies in their value, not religion… the other is my brother and the difference is not a cause of discord but a reason for gathering”. He added “each person has a role to play, no one was born without a reason, each one of us has a mission to accomplish in order to leave their mark on the world, thus, “Anta Akhi” association helps any person regardless of their confession, religion or race in order to build on a human basis and accept the other’s handicap”. Tawk also called upon the Lebanese “to take the initiative to get to know the other without suppressing themselves”, underlining that this objective can be reached through education that helps to change the mentalities within the society”.
The general director of “Christian Youth Association”, Mr. Ghassan Sayyah, stated that the motto of the association is “We’ll not ask what’s your religion but what you’re suffering from”, stressing that the association is not limited to the Christian youth but provides services to the whole society. He mentioned that the sectarian is the worst enemy of the civil associations, for they exploit the religion and resort to the civil action to propagate political ideas and to make personal profits. Sayyah added that “the problem does not lie in the religion, which is about love and mutual approach, but in the misuse of it”, considering that the inter-confessional civil services are the most useful.
A debate between the participants followed the speeches, during which mother Jeanne De Lacroix Abi Zeid, representing the Congregation of the Cross Nuns, underscored that the objective of the nuns is to serve the sick and suffering persons, for they believe in the principles of their founder, the blest Yaacoub the Capuchin who launched the famous saying “My confession is Lebanon and the persons in pain”… Mother Abi Zeid added “in our institutions we provide services to all who resort to us, regardless of their religion and confession; in fact, 50% of the persons we serve are non-Christian, for the spring will not ask if you are Christian or Muslim, but to come close if you are thirsty and drink”. She added “we have never preached to the sick persons we serve, as we have never thought of exploiting their presence among us to change their belief”. In response to mother Abi Zeid, Mr. Mahmoud Hossein considered that there is nothing wrong in letting the Muslims know about Jesus “for there is a lot we need to learn about, as the Christians should learn about Islam; each one of us should learn about their own religion, for there are some Muslims who do not know about Islam”.
Then, Mr. Ghazi Nahhal spoke on behalf of Oum el-Nour association. He underlined that the Muslim and Christian Associations are facing a challenge in their civil action, which relies on lay persons alone, excluding the clergymen, the theologians and ulemas, noting in this regard that the religious titles do not mean that the clergymen and nuns are present in the humanitarian action”.
Dr. Philippe Sammour, representing the delegation of the Congregation of the Cross Nuns stressed that “the religion and the civil service are complementary and everyone is called to recover from the schizophrenia they are suffering from. He noted that the congregation treats the Muslim and the Christian on an equal footing basis, but the problem is that when they return to their society they go back to their tribe and sectarian community forgetting all about the humanitarian aspect of the action of the congregation. As for Ms. Denise el-Murr, the representative of “Émergences” Foundation for technical assistance of Afkar program, she underscored the importance of “opening up a path towards the other to reach them and get to know their reality before having any prejudice”.
After the debate, the young journalists and participant associations came out with the impression that there are good seeds for the inter-confessional civil and social action that can be sowed despite the fact that some associations are brandishing religious banners”, and “despite the resent of some, these seeds can bear fruit to become a model of project launched by the religious associations that aims to provide services and help those who need help”.