German interfaith dialogue expert visits Imam Khomeini University

Rasa Exclusive – Dr. Karsten Schmidt from Germany gave a lecture to the students and faculty of Imam Khomeini (RA) Specialized University, a branch of al-Mustafa (S) International University, about the importance of religious pluralism and interreligious dialogue in order to understand other faith traditions on their own terms.

News ID: 814

Date: 19 April 2014 - 18:58

Rasa News Agency reports - Today, Dr. Karsten Schmidt, a researcher in philosophy of religion at the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Frankfurt (in Germany), visited Imam Khomeini (RA) Specialized University in Qom, Iran. He gave a presentation on religious pluralism and interreligious dialogue to the students and faculty of the theology and philosophy departments.

Dr. Schmidt discussed the crisis of foundational claims for objective trust in European history of thought, saying that because of Europe’s history of colonialism, wars, and persecution of minorities, in this modern and post-modern era, Europe has had to look back at its past and criticize itself. He said people who live in a multi-religious society must have an “acute understanding of other religions. Studies of other religions must include self-critique, ethical considerations and evaluation of their own values in order to spread knowledge in order to have coexistence and peace.

He said that interfaith and intercultural dialogue has been especially necessary in his own country, Germany, as its crimes during World War II resulted in the deaths of many innocent people, which included murder of most Jews in Europe by the Nazis, and the in the post-war period, many Western European countries have become much more multicultural and multi-religious than they were in the prewar period.

Dr. Schmidt stressed that in a multicultural and mult-ireligious society such as Europe, it is necessary to have religious dialogue with the aim to understand other faith traditions in their own terms. He said that in a multi-religious society, we should be able to disagree with religions other than our own with respect and without animosity. Respecting others through their own perspectives is a necessary element of coexistence in the modern era as in one country there can be many ways of thinking

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