ROUND TABLE: “THE ROLE OF CHUrcHES AND RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES IN SUSTAINABLE PEACE BUILDING IN SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE” Under THE auSPICES OF: Mr. Terry Davis Secretary General of the Council of Europe Prof. Jean François Collange President of the Protestant Church of the Augsburg Confession of Alsace and Lorraine (ECAAL) President of the Council of the Union of Protestant Churches of Alsace and Lorraine President of the Conference of the Rhine Churches President of the Conference of the Protestant Federation in France Strasbourg, June 19th - 20th 2008 1 THE ROLE OF CHURCHES AND RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES IN SUSTAINABLE PEACE BUILDING PUBLISHER Association of Nongovernmental Organizations in SEE - CIVIS Kralja Milana 31/II, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia Tel: +381 11 3640 174 Fax: +381 11 3640 202 www.civis-see.org FOR PUBLISHER Maja BOBIć CHIEF EDITOR Mirjana PRLJević EDITOR Bojana Popović PROOFREADER Kate DEBUSSCHERE TRANSLATORS Marko NikoLIć Jelena Savić TECHNICAL EDITOR Marko Zakovski PREPRESS AND DESIGN Agency ZAKOVSKI DESIGN PRINTED BY FUTURA Mažuranićeva 46 21 131 Petrovaradin, Serbia PRINT RUN 1000 pcs YEAR August 2008. THE PUBLISHING OF THIS BOOK WAS supported BY Peace AND CRISES Management FOUndation LIST OF CONTEST INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................... 5 APPELLE DE STraSBOURG ..................................................................................................... 7 WELCOMING addrESSES ...................................................................................................... 8 Mr. Urlich Bunjes ................................................................................................................................... 8 Prof. Dr Jean-François Collange ......................................................................................................... 11 Mrs. Claudia Nolte ............................................................................................................................... 12 Mr. Boris Vukobrat ............................................................................................................................... 13 Mr. Zoran Pusić ..................................................................................................................................... 14 I SESSION OF THE ROUND TABLE ........................................................................................ 15 His Eminence Jovan Vraniškoski, Archbishop of Ohrid and Metropolitan of Skopje, Autonomous Archdiocese of Ohrid ........................................................................................................... 16 » Archbishop of Ohrid - The Church which is in 21st century persecuted by the government of the Republic of Macedonia His Grace Grigorije Durić, Bishop of Zahumlje and Herzegovina ...................................................... 22 » Religious Communities as an important factor for preservation and facilitation of peace His Grace Dr Porfirije Perić, Bishop of Jegar........................................................................................... 26 » The Role of Churches and Religious Communities in Sustainable Peace Building in Southeastern Europe His Grace Joanikije Mićovoć Bihop of Budim and Nikšić ..................................................................... 30 » The responsibility of churches and religious communities for the construction of inter-religious harmony and peace in Montenegro H.E. Msgr. Stanislav Hočevar, Archbishop of Belgrade and Metropolitan ........................................ 33 » Churches and religious communities in building lasting peace in Southeastern Europe The Very Rev. Dr. Mato Zovkić .................................................................................................................. 36 » Reciprocity in ecumenical and inter-religious relations in Southeastern Europe H.E. Msgr. George Frendo .......................................................................................................................... 44 » Religions and religious tolerance H.E. Adem ef. Zilkić ..................................................................................................................................... 49 » The contribution of the churches and religious communities in anticipation from conflicts II SESSION OF THE ROUND TABLE The Role of Churches and Religious Communities in Sustainable Peace Building in Southeastern Europe Reflections of Guests and Pominent Experts .................................................................................... 55 Reverend Richard Fircher ........................................................................................................................... 57 Mr. Anton Ilin ............................................................................................................................................... 61 Rev. Dr Don Ivan Grubišić ......................................................................................................................... 65 Prof. Dr. Radovan Bigović .......................................................................................................................... 71 Mr. Marko Oršolić ........................................................................................................................................ 74 Mr. Drago Pisel ............................................................................................................................................. 77 Dr. Drago Kuzmić ........................................................................................................................................ 82 ANNEX ........................................................................................................................................... 85 List of participants ....................................................................................................................................... 86 3 Agenda ........................................................................................................................................................... 88 Letter from Mr. Terry Davis ....................................................................................................................... 90 Letter from Mrs. Annelise Oeschger .......................................................................................................... 91 Letter from His Eminence Jovan, Bishop of Zagreb, Ljubljana and Italy ............................................ 92 Letter from His Eminence Irinej, Bishop of Novi Sad, Bačka, Sombor and Segedin ......................... 93 Letter from Don Dr Lush Gjerji ................................................................................................................. 94 Photographs ................................................................................................................................................... 97 4 INTRODUCTION Round table “The role of churches and religious communities in sustainable peace building in Southeastern Europe” was organized by the CIVIS - Association of nongovernmental organizations in SEE, under the auspices of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Mr. Terry Davis and with the support of Peace and Crises Management Foundation and the Konrad Adenauer Founda- tion office in Serbia, on June 20th 2008 in Strasbourg, in the Council of Europe. The title of the round table itself has left open possibilities to talk about what was the role in past 18 years, what is the role today and what is the perception of the future seen by the participants, where- fore what are their fears and hopes, what should be, from their point of view, avoided, redressed or minimized, what future would we like to have and how to act so we do not leave it only as a wish. “Southeast Europe” is quite a euphemism for ‘Balkan’, in order to avoid its political connotation. Be- sides as a geographical term, ‘Balkan’ became a pejorative political term with which nobody wants to identify. In the newest history, through the series of tragic conflicts, regressive for Europe at the end of 20th century, ‘Balkan’ confirmed its negative political reputation. Political conflicts turned into conflicts among nations, for what many are blameworthy but not equally, especially for inten- sifying these conflicts with the identification of national and religious preferences and justifying conflicts with the irreconcilability of existing cultures and civilizations. For Europe this is not something new. Fifty years ago, with the still unhealed wounds of the hor- rible war, some people from the countries that were for years generators of conflicts on the Eu- ropean continent, tried to thoroughly change their destiny. What is new indeed is that they have succeeded. And that gives us hope! Reasons for the fears are present now more than ever. Events in the countries of the Former Yugoslavia have shown how these fears are factual, often undervalued, how something that was supposed to be a process of democratization can go catastrophically astray; how the myths about national superiority are jeopardizing, encouraged and used by unscrupulous politicians, could get massive support and end in immense tragedies. This also belongs to a com- mon European experience from which many nothing have learned. The organizer of this round table, to which are invited priests of different religions and churches, is CIVIS, an association