Sharing Our Faith Sharing Our Pride

An Interfaith Conference for Young People in the New Europe

December 6-10, 2006 Brussels, Belgium WELCOME here is the place of faith today in Europe? Is it an ar- Wchaic remnant from earlier times that only breeds hate and intolerance, or is it a way of living a spiritual and meaningful life, embodying ethical and moral norms and re- sponsibilities towards humankind? During this conference, together with participants from all over Europe and from different faiths, you will have the opportunity to explore answers to these questions and more. Together we will explore the role that faith may place in a united, but diverse and multi-cultural Europe. t this conference we will discuss challenges in Europe Ato members of the Muslim, Christian, and Jewish faiths respectively. Among the challenges that will be covered are integration issues, manifestations of hate and intolerance, and the often conflicting tensions between tradition and modernity for members of faith based communities. In order to accomplish this we have invited prominent experts from three different faiths to address the conference. Fur- thermore, there will be numerous workgroups where every participant will have the opportunity to have his or her voice heard on a variety of issues.

his conference is taking place in Brussels, the home of the TEuropean Parliament, in order to emphasize the Euro- pean aspect of the inter-faith issues that will be discussed. Throughout the conference, guided by MEPs and different political experts, the political dimension will be emphasized in order to set a proactive agenda for the conference. ll of us, citizens of Europe, need to understand the chal- Alenges that members of other faith based communities face, to appreciate the similarities and tolerate the differences amongst us. Barriers will be broken down and the groundwork will be laid for Europe to be a secure and comfortable home for people of different faiths to practice and be proud of their faith. Together we will build a strong coalition of young Europeans who are proud of their religious identities and who can express it in a multi-cultural and integrated Europe.

e wish you a meaningful stay in Brussels, W The EUJS Team P R OG R AMME Wednesday, December 6 - Arrival 18h30 Ice breakers at the Youth Hostel

20h00 Dinner - Introductory Address by Olga Israel, chairperson of EUJS

Thursday, December 7 7h00 Breakfast

7h30 Meet for Departure to the European Parliament in the Lobby of the Youth Hostel

9h00 religious Europe Today - Salle ASP A5G-3 -Chemsi Chéref Khan, President of the Institut européen de l’humanisme musulman -Baroness Sarah Ludford, Member of the European Parliament, Liberal Party

10h30 Break

11h00 Understanding the challenges of the Muslim Communities - Salle ASP A5G-3 Islamophobia, Integration issues in Europe, and the impact of radical religious factions - Yahya Sergio Yahe Pallavicini, Imam, Adviser to the Ministry of the Inte rior in the Council for Italian Islam - Lena Larsen, Vice-President of European Muslim Network

13h00 Lunch

15h00 Group discussion - Salle ASP A5G-3 16h30 Break

17h00 Understanding the challenges of the Jewish communities - Salle ASP A5G-3 Anti-Semitism and Anti-Israelism, Increas- ing security issues for the Jewish commu - nity, Jewish communitarianism

- Rabbi David Meyer, executive member of the CEJI - Serge Cwajgenbaum, Secretary Gen- eral of the European Jewish Congress

18h30 Free Time

20h00 Dinner at the Youth Hostels

Friday, December 8 7h00 Breakfast

8h15 Meet for Departure to the European Parliament in the Lobby of the Youth Hostel

9h00 Group discussion- Salle ASP A5G-3

10h30 Break

11h00 Understanding the challenges of the Christian communities - Salle ASP A5G-3 How Christian is Europe today?, Relevance of Christian values in multicultural Europe, The new role of Christianity in a changing political environment

- Father Norbert Hoffman, Secretary to the Vatican Commission for the religious - Oliver McTernan, Former Catholic parish priest, broadcaster, author and Fellow of Harvard University’s Centre for Interna- tional Affairs

13h00 Lunch

14h30 Group discussion - Salle ASP A5G-3

16h00 Free time

18h45 Shabbat Dinner followed by a discussion introduced by Professor Julien Klener, Presi- dent of the Belgium Consistoire, with the Chief Rabbi of Brussels, Albert Guigui and Father Norbert Hoffman . Departure from the Youth Hostels to the Synagogue

Saturday, December 9 8h00 Breakfast 10h00 Workshop (Gidon Van Emden, CEJI) Do I feel at home in Europe? Is Europe tolerant enough? Is my religion a private or a public issue? At what point does the State stop ensuring its secular character and begin interferring with religius freedom? 13h00 Lunch

15h00 Workshop (Bogdan Popescu) How do we make Europe a better, more tolerant place? Does religion belong in the public realm (& vice versa)? How can we use religion as a reconciliation reference point? 17h00 Exhibition “Dieux: mode d’emploi” guided tour by Eli Barnavi, author.

20h00 Dinner- Closing Ceremony SPEAKE R S hemsi Chéref Khan was born in Turkey, to a Kurdish Cfather and a Turkish mother. He is a man of debate and dialog as well as an involved intellectual. He studied at the Turkish French high School of Galatasaray, Istanbul. He obtained a master in social sciences and a doctorat in Law from the Free University of Belgium. Chemsi Chéref- Khan directed a center on market studies and marketing (at the Sociology institute), up to 1979, then followed with a career in the private sector, as an administrator of diverse businesses. As an active member of Human Rights and Thoughts, Chemsi Chéref-Khan was the main organis- er of two symposiums: “Islam and Muslims in the Europe: Challenges of secularity” and “Europe, a luck for the Muslim woman”, (both of them at the European Parliament).

erge Cwajgenbaum was born in Lyon, France in Septem- Sber of 1946. He joined the World Jewish Congress in 1974. In 1979, he was elected Secretary General of the French Sec- tion of the WJC and in 1982, General Director of the Euro- pean Branch of the WJC. Since 1986, when the European Jewish Congress (affiliated to the WJC) was created, Serge Cwajgenbaum has retained the position of Secretary Gen- eral. Mr. Cwajgenbaum has been at the initiation of numerous programs and events. Amongst these are the “Commit- tee for Holocaust Information for High School Students”, a program created in coordination with the French Ministry of Education to educate and inform French high school students about the Shoah. In addition Mr. Cwajgenbaum is the founder of the CERA -European Center for Research and Action on Racism and Anti-Semitism and most recently, actively participated in the establishment of Medbridge - an organization gathering parliamentarians across Europe with the objective of forging a better understanding of the reality of Israel. In 1994 Mr Cwajgenbaum was awarded by the French Government the medal of «Chevalier dans l’Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur».

r. Dr. Norbert Hofmann is a Catholic Salesian priest or- Fdained in 1990. Biblical scholar in the field of apocry- phal literature, he was trained in Rome at the Pontifical Biblical Institute and the Gregorian University. He has served as Secretary of the Vatican’s Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews since November 2002.

lbert Guigui is the Chief Rabbi of Brussels and the Rabbi Afor the Central Consistoire of Belgium. Within these po- sitions, he plays a particularly active role in community life, and in teaching Judaism. He is member of the Conference of European Rabbis and he is involved in several institutes. He is the author of a large number of articles published in different books and magazines. He is also coauthor of vari- ous works, including “Health towards Human Rights, ethics and moral a Conseil of Europe Publication.

ena Larsen was the first woman to be the head of Islamic LCouncil Norway, is vice president of the European Mus- lim Network, and is on leave from the position of Coordina- tor of the Oslo Coalition on Freedom of Religion or Belief. She is doing her PhD project at University of Oslo at the research program of ‘Cultural Complexity in the New Nor- way.’ Her research topic is Islamic jurisprudence facing ev- eryday challenges with a focus on women’s issues.

aroness Sarah Ludford is London’s Liberal Democrat BEuro-MP and a life peer in the House of Lords. She is spokeswoman for the British Liberal Democrats in the Eu- ropean Parliament on the Civil Liberties, Justice & Home Affairs committee and Vice-Chairwoman of the European Parliament’s temporary committee on extraordinary ren- dition. She is also a member of the Economic & Monetary Affairs committee and the European Parliament delegation to South-East Europe, the Balkans. As a specialist in justice matters, Sarah Ludford has been particularly active in the construction of a common EU asylum system and coherent migration policy, combating discrimination and promo- tion of human rights. But she insists on the respect of in- dividual freedoms and avoidance of stereotyping Muslims in the context of anti-terrorism measures. She has been EP lead member on anti-racism, on rights for EU-resident legal immigrants, and on internment of prisoners in Guantana- mo Bay. She is active in the Parliament’s ‘intergroups’ on anti-racism & diversity (vice-President) and gay & lesbian rights. liver McTernan is Director and Co-Founder of Forward OThinking. Mr McTernan is also a senior advisor to the Club of Madrid. In 1998, he was awarded the Gold Medal- lion from the International Council of Christians and Jews in recognition of an outstanding contribution to interfaith dialogue. In April 2004, he was appointed a Senior Associ- ate Fellow of the UK Defence Academy. For 30 years Mr McTernan worked as a parish priest in Islington and Not- ting Hill in Central London. For 25 years he was an active member of the international executive committee of Pax Christi International, the Brussels-based peace and human rights movement and was responsible for coordinating the movement’s post-Helsinki East-West dialogue programme. He was also engaged at the highest level of discussions with the Soviet government on issues of human rights and political and religious freedoms. Mr McTernan is a renowned ex- pert in the area of religion’s role in conflict resolution, and his latest book Violence in God’s Name: Religion in the Age of Conflict was published in August 2003. He broadcasts regularly on the BBC and writes freelance for the Guardian and the Times.

avid Meyer, Born in 1967 in Paris with dual French Dand Israeli nationality, David Meyer first obtained a BA in Mathematics as well as an MA in Oriental study and on social sciences. He then began his rabbinical studies and recieved a diploma from The Leo Baeck rabbinical seminar of London. He served as a Rabbi for 11 years in London, in Brussels, and then in Brighton. David Meyer has written a number of articles in the Belgium and French media as well as a few books. As an executive member of the CEJI and Jew- ish contribution to an inclusive Europe, he participates in the Jewish contribution to Europe. He currently teaches in two Brussels universities as well as at the Athenee Ganenou and he is currently writing two books on Jewish philosophy. David Meyer regularly volunteers to be a resource person in activities organized by the Jewish Social Service and he runs a group of reflection and support for survivors of the Tutsi genocide. lie Barnavi is Director of the Department of History at Ethe University of Tel Aviv and Associate Professor at the Ecole des Haute Etudes et Sciences Sociales in Paris. He was Israeli ambassador in France from 1999 to 2002. He is currently the directior of the Europa Museum in Brus- sels. He has published number of books on history, philosophy and the Middle East.

ahya Pallavicini is member of the Italian Minister of Ythe Interior’s Council on Islam in Italy. In 1997 he was made a member of the Italian National Committee for Inter- cultural Education and of the Committee for the Heritage and Memory of Mediterranean Culture. ISESCO, the Islamic Organization for Education, Science and Culture, appointed him to the board of governors of the Supreme Council for Ed- ucation in the West and the European Islamic Conference, the first Islamic NGO recognized by the European Union, and conferred on him the function of ambassador for relations with the Vatican and then made him responsible for international relations. At present he is vice-president of the CO.RE.IS. (Comunità Religiosa Islamica) Italiana and serves as the imam of the al-Wahid Mosque of Milan in Via Meda, where he coordinates the training of imams in Italian. The European Union Of Jewish Students HE EUROPEAN UNION OF JEWISH STUDENTS T(EUJS), founded in 1978 in Grenoble, France, is the um- brella organisation for thirty-four national Jewish student unions in Europe and the Former Soviet Union, represent- ing over 180,000 Jewish students. Cognizant of the religious, linguistic and cultural diversity that make up the Europe- an Jewish community, EUJS strives to present a variety of perspectives through its leadership training programs, edu- cational seminars and international conferences, all tailor- made to the needs of its students. EUJS has placed itself at the cutting edge of inter-cultural and inter-religious pro- gramming in the European context.

n contrast to the view that today’s students are tomor- Irow’s leaders, EUJS operates on the basis that the students have a duty to act as leaders today, paving the way for a future infused with a strong Jewish identity and in turn, a commitment to the humanistic ideals embraced by Judaism. The Union is a constituent member of the European Youth Forum, and is the only Jewish organization represented at that level. EUJS is also an accredited NGO to the ECOSOC VIEWPOINT We have presented here three different viewpoints, found in the op-ed pages of major world newspapers, in order to stimulate thought and discussion about these issues.

Targeting Muslims - The New Inquisition by Bradley Burston (Ha’aretz, main Israeli Newspaper, 22/10/2006) Were I a Muslim living in the West, I’d be mad as hell. Not to mention terrified. Were I a Muslim living in the West, I’d begin to believe that a new Inquisition had begun. An inquisition aimed at no one but Muslims. Were I a Muslim living in the West, my wife, or my sister, or my daughter might well decide to wear a headscarf or a veil when she went out in public. Perhaps it would be because she was tired of men and boys ogling her, objectifying her. Perhaps it would be because she felt she was entitled to her dignity. Perhaps she simply might prefer modesty and privacy to fashion slavery. Perhaps she just thought it was a free country. And perhaps, on that last point, she would have been mistak- en. For years, and especially since 9/11, law-abiding Muslims have been verbally and physically attacked across North America and Europe. They are scorned for their faith, shunned for their piety, falsely condemned for dual-loyalty, blamed for the crimes of terrorists they abhor. Of late, however, there has been a disturbing new trend, particularly in Europe, where cabinet ministers and influential law- makers have increasingly made it their mission to combat, of all things, the head scarf and veil worn by growing numbers of Muslim women and girls. • In Germany, the states of Baden-Wurttenberg and Bavaria recently introduced legislation to outlaw the wearing of head scarves in schools.Bavarian Education Monika Hohl- meier said the head scarf was increasingly being used as a political symbol. To the understandable ire of Muslims, Hohl- meier went on to say that it was acceptable to wear Chris- tian crosses or Jewish symbols. • In Spain, home to the original Inquisition, Minister for So- cial Affairs Juan Carlos Aparicio was quoted as having said that the Muslim veil was “not a religious sign but a form of discrimination against women,” and having compared it to genital mutilation. • In Britain, the government minister for race and faith relations, Phil Woolas, was quoted this week as demanding that Muslim teaching assistant Aisha Azmi, 24, who refused to remove her veil at work, be fired for that reason. “She should be sacked,” Woolas was quoted as telling the Sun- day Mirror. “She has put herself in a position where she can’t do her job.” Azmi worked at the Headfield Church of England junior school in Dewsbury, which took pains to state that her suspension had nothing to do with religion. The scarf issue had already taken center stage when former British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, now an MP and Leader of the House of Commons, voiced public objections to the wearing of the niqab, a full-face veil, at face-to-face meetings with his constituents. The cancer of anti-Semitism in Europe By Jeff Jacoby (Boston Globe Newspaper, 3/14/2004) I HAVE BEEN meaning to write about the resurgence of anti- Semitism in Europe, a topic to which I last devoted a column in April 2002. Jews, I wrote then, “are the canary in the coal mine of civilization. When they become the objects of savagery and hate, it means the air has been poisoned and an explosion is soon to come.” At the time, much of official Europe resented the attention being paid to the return of anti-Jewish hatred to the continent where 6 million Jews were murdered between 1938 and 1945. “Stop saying that there is anti-Semitism in France,” the French president, Jacques Chirac, admonished a Jewish editor. “There is no anti-Semitism in France.” Official Europe takes the attacks on Jews, most of which are the work of Muslim immigrants from the Middle East, more serious- ly now. At a conference in Brussels last month, Romano Prodi, the European Commission president, acknowledged that there are “vestiges of the historical anti-Semitism” in Europe today. “Attacking a Jew,” French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin has said, “is tantamount to attacking the French republic.” Chi- rac told the president of Israel during a state visit that he would be “uncompromising” in rooting out anti-Semitism. And yet the hatred spreads. At the University of Geneva, a Jewish researcher wearing a small Star of David necklace was attacked in a campus elevator by Arab students. When she reported the attack, she was told not to wear the necklace in public. In Hasselt, Belgium, Muslim fans at a soccer match between the Israeli and Belgian national teams waved Hamas and Hezbollah banners, and chanted: “Jews to the gas chambers!” and “Strangle the Jews!” The British Political Cartoon Society awarded first prize in its an- nual competition to a cartoon depicting a gigantic, naked Ariel Sharon biting off the head of an Arab baby. “What’s wrong,” reads the caption, “you’ve never seen a politician kissing a baby?” In Germany, scores of Jewish graves and Holocaust memorials have been defaced. At the cemetery in Beeskow, for example, “Heil Hitler” and “Crap on the six million lie” were painted on gravestones. At Langenstein-Zwieberge, a sub-camp of the notori- ous Buchenwald concentration camp, vandals plastered the walls with copies of anti-Semitic Third Reich newspapers. According to a poll conducted by the European Union last fall, 59 percent of EU citizens identify Israel as the world’s greatest threat to peace -- ahead of Iran, Iraq, and North Korea. In Decem- ber, millions of Europeans with satellite TV reception were able to watch “Al-Shatat,” a Syrian film that portrayed Jews as blood- drinking monsters who conspire to rule the world. In a leading Greek newspaper, a journalist wrote that the Jews “have vindicated the persecutions of the Nazis. . . . They deserved such an executioner [as Hitler] since they proved to be murder- ers themselves.” At a televised reception to mark the publication of his memoirs, Mikis Theodorakis, the composer of “Zorba the Greek,” denounced Jews. “These little people are the root of evil,” he told an audience that included two Cabinet members -- neither of whom reacted to his anti-Semitic outburst. The hatred has been most palpable in France. There have been so many attacks on Jews in recent months that the chief rabbi has urged religious boys and men to wear baseball caps instead of yarmulkes outside their homes. In November, a newly built wing of the Merkaz Hatorah school outside Paris was gutted by arson. Last week, in a newspaper column headlined “Jewish children are in danger,” six French scientists described recent episodes of anti- Semitic violence in Parisian schools. In one of them, a girl was thrown to the ground and beaten by 20 students, who were yell- ing, “Dirty Jew! Dirty Jew!” As of late Friday afternoon, about 36 hours after the massive bombing that tore apart Madrid’s commuter-rail network, the death toll reached 199. Another 1,500 victims have been wound- ed, many severely. The Arabic newspaper Al-Quds al-Arabi says it has received a statement of responsibility purportedly issued in the name of Al Qaeda. The statement describes the bombing as “part of settling old ac- counts with Spain, the crusader, and America’s ally in its war against Islam.” Spanish police have found a van with seven deto- nators and an Arabic tape of verses from the Koran. Whether this massacre, like those in Istanbul and Bali and at the Pentagon and the World Trade Center, was the work of radical Islamists, the world will know soon enough. What the world should already know but so often forgets is that Jews are the canary in the coal mine of civilization. Anti-Semitism is like cancer; unchecked, it can metastasize and sicken the entire body. When civilized nations fail to rise up against the Jew-haters in their midst, it is often just a matter of time before the Jew-haters in their midst rise up against them. © Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.

Merkel backs more Christian EU constitution http://www.guardian.co.uk/eu/story/0,,1860140,00.html Nicholas Watt in Brussels Tuesday August 29, 2006 The Guardian Europe’s “Christian values” should be enshrined in a new ver- sion of the EU constitution, the German chancellor declared yes- terday after meeting the Pope. In remarks which will reopen the debate on religion in the EU, Angela Merkel threw her weight behind Pope Benedict’s cam- paign to recognise Europe’s Christian heritage. “We spoke about freedom of religion,” she said after talks at the Pope’s summer residence near Rome. “We spoke about the role of Europe and I emphasised the need for a constitution and that it should refer to our Christian values.” Mrs Merkel will take charge of efforts to revive the constitution when Germany assumes the EU’s rotating presidency next Janu- ary. Any attempt to mention Christianity - or simply God - in the text will be met by stiff resistance from secular France, from Britain, which treads carefully in this area, and from northern Protestant countries such as Sweden and Denmark. During the tortuous negotiations on the constitution in 2004 there were con- cerns that any religious reference could upset Europe’s Muslims and Jews. But Mrs Merkel, the daughter of a Protestant pastor, is determined to reopen the debate when she tries to revive the constitution, a controversial move in itself because many EU leaders want a slimmed down document after last year’s no votes. The chancellor is leader of the strongly Catholic CDU party whose most senior figure in Brussels is determined to include a reference to God in the new constitution. Hans-Gert Pöttering, currently leader of the EPP-ED group in the European parliament, is on course to become the assembly’s president next year. We thank for their help, advise and support:

Mr. Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, Joelle Fiss, Tamara Goldstein Arzu Donmezer-Mouchtar Adam Mouchtar, Bogdan Popescu Gidon Van Emden, Thidar Wald The Jewish Community of Brussels, The Jacques Brel Youth Hostels, The Council of Europe, The Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung, All speakers who have kindly accepted our invitation U sefull I nfo r mation

acques Brel Youth Hostels, J30 rue de la Sablonière, Tel: 0032 2 218 01 87 Metro Ligne 2, stop: Madou

he EUJS Team: T Chaim : 0032 478-817 608 Arielle: 0032 499-226 679 Olga: 0032 474 691 060

r E L I G I O U S se r vices osque: Centre Islamique et Culturel, 14 Parc du MCinquantenaire (Metro: Station Schuman). - Tel.: +32 2 7352173 hurch: Catholique, Paroisse du Sacré Coeur, Rue le CCorrège 19, (Metro: Station Schuman ). Tel.: +32 2 7351579 - Orthodox, Avenue de Stalingrad 34 (Metro: Station Lemmonier). Tel.: 0032 2 736.86.59 Synagogue: 32 rue de la Régence. Tel: +32 2 5124334