Chris Cross Nieuws - news & comment of particular relevance to the Netherlands - of in het nederlands; archived in chriscrossnieuws; for other news, see chriscrossnews; see also chriscrossholland.
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Mayor Cohen & Amsterdam welcome Interfaith Dialogue Conference
~ Job Cohen has an excellent record of encouraging dialogue between all manner of people, whether their 'differences' are cultural, religious or racial, and he was the driving force behind the creation of the highly successful Amsterdam Dag van de Dialoog - www.amsterdamdialoog.nl - in 2004, following the success of the Rotterdam Dag van der DIaloog in 2001 www.dagvandedialoog.nl -, which was initiated after 911, Rotterdam having possibly more civil unrest than Amsterdam, with its long cosmopolitan history. Since 2005, and with the support of het Oranje Fonds, Dag van de Dialoog had become national, het - www.nederlandindialoog.nl - the next day being in November, a choice of day in the first complete week, 3 to 9.
On May 29, Mayor Cohen was presented with the DutchVersity's first Martin Luther King Award at a special event at the Heineken Music Hall. Isaac Newton Farris, the nephew of Martin Luther King II
and chairman of the "The King Center", came to The Netherlands "to personally honor Mr. Cohen for the way he realised Martin Luther King's dream of justice, equality and peace." - Job Cohen wins first "Dutch" Martin Luther King Award
~ Re. this mail, see also http://groups.yahoo.com/group/foref-nl & http://groups.yahoo.com/group/chriscrossreligion &
Some parts of the article below have been highlighted by CCN by being reset in bold and italic. The attached document is the original supplied by Gemeente An\msterdam
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Embargo until Wednesday 4th of June 2008 9.00 am
Only the spoken words are valid!
Speech of Mayor Job Cohen on the occasion of the opening of the 4th ASEM Interfaith Dialogue Conference on Wednesday 4th of June 2008 at the Okura Hotel in Amsterdam.
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is an honour and a pleasure to be here today at the Okura Hotel for the opening ceremony of the 4th ASEM Interfaith Dialogue
Conference.
On behalf of the city and the people of Amsterdam I want to extent a warm welcome to you all, the ASEM partners consisting of delegations from Asian countries and the countries of the European Union.
Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands. It is home to 745.000 people, and 174 different foreign nationalities. That makes us one of the
most divers and multi-cultural cities in the world today.
In 20 years, in 2028, so called ethnic minorities will make up more than half of Amsterdam’s population, although by then most of the people of foreign origin will have the Dutch nationality. Even now, in Amsterdam 72% of the population has the Dutch nationality.
Due to migration the city of Amsterdam is home to most major religions of the world. Under the Constitution and the laws of the Netherlands all existing religions in our city have the freedom to express their religion openly and free from government involvement. Yesterday you had a taste of Amsterdam’s religious diversity when you had the opportunity to visit different religious sites in the city.
Sometimes in modern European societies, the presence of foreigners and their differing faiths and religions are seen as a problem. It is my conviction that there is another way to look at the phenomenon. In Amsterdam we see the migration to our city as one of the consequences of being a dynamic, wealthy and attractive modern city.
Clearly, the city is a magnet: it has something to offer to thousands of people from all over the world. Amsterdam is widely perceived as a dynamic, wealthy, well functioning society, presenting opportunities for many, many people. Such a city attracts migrants and this may be true also the other way around: migration leads to a dynamic, culturally and economically diverse society. So, in the not so far future we might come to see migration as a yardstick for the success of our cities and societies, although of course all those different cultures together on a small peace of land also cause problems.
But in the end, the challenge for our societies is not the question how to find ways to stop migration to our parts of the world, but the question is how to have a society in which all these different peoples, and the religions professed by them, live peaceful together. In order to do that modern, secular, societies among other things must find a way to deal with religion – and vice versa.
That statement may come as a surprise for those of you who know that I am a pragmatic social-democratic politician, without religious affiliation or beliefs. Nevertheless, as mayor of the biggest city in the Netherlands for the past 7 years, I have come to the conclusion that religion is a significant factor in the politics of our times.
In order to play a credible role in politics in the 21st century every politician and every political movement has to ask how to relate themselves to religion as a political factor. This means
more than looking beyond current horizons to different religions and their believers: it is also a process of reflection about the moral foundations and objectives of society itself.
What are the goals a society wants to achieve? How and with whom does it want to achieve it? What is good, and what is morally less or even wrong in a pluralistic society and why? In other words, it’s a moral assessment
In order to make that assessment, we must always remember that the secular and the religious have many things in common and a lot to gain from each other.
What they have in common for example is the quest for a just society. A just society in which terms like “solidarity’, “equality”, “justice”, “compassion” and “responsibility” are central. That may be the point of intersection where they can extend a hand to each other.
Extending a hand implies that political parties and the government recognise that religions (and philosophies like humanism) are partners in working on a just society. It also means that a renewed debate will arise, indeed must arise, about the significance to be attributed to these concepts in our post-modern era – a debate that has yet to gather momentum.
Necessary conditions for conducting such a debate are:
First of all: A secular state – for only a secular state creates the space required for the plurality of the various philosophical, religious and political movements that is the hallmark of modern society.
Secondly: Space:
- space for the positive elaboration of the constitutional freedom of religion (and non-religious conviction), in the sense that this constitutional freedom is not defined only as the right not to be harassed by the government or by others, be they well-meaning or malicious, but also as the right for a religion or a non-religious conviction to evolve in the public domain and to be active therein.
- space to be different from one another – that is a
necessity in a pluralistic society. This freedom has to be linked to an upbringing and education in which respect for this plurality is imparted and in which children are taught that in our society we have to do things together
- space to live your life the way you want to live it which is one of the great achievements and freedoms of our society. This leeway implies the freedom to go through life as an unbeliever as well as the freedom to be religious. The government must respect both choices and provide the public with protection in regard to one another if necessary
And last but not least: a continuous dialogue between the different faiths and religions, and between them and the secular society. Dialogue is and will remain an important condition for a peaceful society.
I therefore applaud the ASEM initiative to hold a yearly Interfaith Dialogue Conference. The city of Amsterdam is proud to be the host of this event that is being held for the fourth time today.
I wish you a very happy dialogue!.
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ChrisCrossNieuws - Christopher Davies, Amsterdam, NL. Writer and Editor = T.+31.20.7720838/9 & +31.6.42192256; F. +31.20.4004662 = http://profiles.yahoo.com/chriscrossnieuws has more info. & Links, inc. to archive groups ChrisCrossNieuws, ChrisCrossNews/Holland/Culture/Arts/Edit and more - in
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