Annually, and in various Catalan towns, there is an event that takes place over the course of one night and one day, where different places of worship and spiritual centers open their doors, or dialogues are held around various religious or belief traditions. A few days ago, Vilanova i la Geltrú, a beautiful coastal town, hosted this initiative. The legend of Vilanova tells that two young lovers refused to submit to the yoke of the feudal lord who wanted to exercise his droit du seigneur. In their escape, they founded the town of Vilanova with the hope of creating a more just and peaceful society for all. Following the path of this legend, various religious and spiritual communities, with the support of the Catalan Network for Interreligious Dialogue and the local administration, offered a very courageous message over the course of one night and one day. This message explicitly expresses the will to actively contribute to the construction of peace and coexistence in daily life. It is an event of great symbolic value in the message it offers to citizens about dialogue, openness, and peace. Therefore, people of all creeds and beliefs were invited to engage in dialogue and visit the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Parish, the Orthodox Church, the Mosque, the Baha’i Community, the Pentecostal Evangelical Church, or attend the events of the interreligious dialogue group.
This message explicitly expresses the will to actively contribute to the construction of peace and coexistence in daily life. It is an event of great symbolic value in the message it offers to citizens about dialogue, openness, and peace
In fact, religions have been, and still are today, under scrutiny as one of the main suspected instigators of conflicts, wars, and defamation. However, history reveals to us countless silent examples where members and organizations from various religious traditions have appealed to dialogue, mutual recognition, and respect as the only effective way to live together. Thus, among many other examples, Hypatia of Alexandria in the 4th century led a school with great internal cultural and religious diversity, the Mughal Emperor Akbar promulgated the first law on secularism in the 16th century, and the 2024 Nobel nominees Women of the Sun – Women Wage Peace demonstrate today with their peaceful and determined actions, despite insults, that only through dialogue can war be ended, mutual rights be achieved, and peace be attained. The process of reaching agreements is sometimes very difficult, but “there are only two ways to organize human relations: dialogue or violence. Dialogue is the only path to eliminate violence” (Flecha, 2022).
References
- Flecha, R. (2022). The Dialogic Society. The sociology scientists and citizens like and use. Hipatia Press.
Image by GenerativeStockAI in Pixabay
Associate Proffessor in Sociology at the University of Barcelona.
Member of the Advisory Committee on Religious Diversity of the Generalitat de Catalunya.
Co-director of AUDIR, the UNESCO Association for Interreligious and Interconvictional Dialogue.
Secretary of the Association Adalil, Culture and Spirituality.