Paul Dirac, a British theoretical physicist of the early twentieth century, who understood equations better than most people understand themselves, once suggested something strange and beautiful: when two systems interact for a certain period of time, they can no longer be described independently. They become linked. From that moment onward, they must be understood as one system.

 

Physicists call it interaction. The rest of us might call it love. Or perhaps simply: Visoko.

For four days, twenty-one grantees from the grant scheme of the European Policy Dialogue Forum gathered at the Franciscan convent of the Peace Home in Visoko, in the hills above Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina), for the training Change from the Inside Out. The Balkans are an honest place to discuss dialogue. The earth there remembers things, names, flags, prayers, and graves. Religion and ethnicity have not always been used to heal. Often they were sharpened into tools; and too often into weapons.

 

And yet there we were: A young Jewish Ambassador of the Muslim Jewish Leadership Council speaking with a Muslim educator, a young activist from one city laughing with a priest from another, and people comparing grant reporting procedures with the seriousness usually reserved for peace treaties. Someone trying to understand Bosnian road signs; someone else pretending they already did.

 

Of course there was work: Frameworks, matrices, impact indicators, theories of change. The modern world likes dialogue to arrive in Excel format. But beyond this, something older was happening: People were crossing invisible borders. Not in dramatic ways, but calmly, in the way snow melts and trust begins.

 

And this is perhaps the real mystery of dialogue work. That stubborn possibility that after sitting together long enough, listening carefully enough, eating the same food and arguing over the same agenda, people begin to carry traces of one another. A little more patience here, different question there, a softened certainty.

 

The Balkans know what happens when human beings decide they belong to separate systems. Visoko offered another hypothesis, that perhaps no encounter is neutral, every honest conversation leaves a mark and that communities, like particles, change through contact. Once we have truly encountered one another, we cannot entirely return to who we were before.

 

Dirac wrote it as physics. At the Peace Home in Visoko, it felt more like hope.

 

 

When KAICIID brought together the second cohort of 'Creating Change from the Inside Out' grantees in Bosnia and Herzegovina this May, the setting was no accident. The Franciscan Peace Home in Visoko and the streets of Sarajevo; a city that has lived through some of the worst interreligious and interethnic violence in modern European history and come back, offered something no classroom could: proof that dialogue is essential, yet it is rarely used in a structured way to prevent societal divisions and foster reconciliation. Nowhere in Europe is this more evident than in the Western Balkans, which illustrate this ‘unfinished peace’ and the resurgence of tensions, standing on the brink of a new crisis.
 

 

This is the time to ring alarm bells. Whether we have been actively engaged in interfaith work or not, our society has been a multifaith, multi-cultural one for generations, and now that interfaith fabric of harmony and mutual-respect is under attack.
 

Click below to read a reflection on the recent hate incidents in the UK by the Faith & Belief Forum's director Carrie Alderton. 

 

 

KAICIID welcomed representatives of the European Union Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Portuguese Republic for an Ambassadorial Roundtable on “Transformative Dialogue Approaches for Peace and Social Cohesion” at its headquarters in Lisbon. The meeting provided space for an open exchange on how dialogue, including interreligious and intercultural dialogue, can help prevent tensions, strengthen trust, and support more cohesive societies. Read more here.

 

The KAICIID supported platform EuLeMa organised an interreligious conversation at the European Parliament with members of the European Commission and of the European Parliament on the universal values of Europe, focusing on human fraternity and the dignity and freedom of religious pluralism, followed by a reception for the breaking of the fast (Iftar).

Antonella Sberna, Vice President of the European Parliament opened the event: At a time of polarisation, geopolitical tension and growing mistrust, spaces for sincere encounter between communities of faith and conviction are more necessary than ever. Europe’s strength has always been its ability to turn diversity into enrichment rather than division.

 

Today, interreligious dialogue (IRD) specialists, fellows and people must understand not only their own cultural complexity but also the need to function effectively in culturally diverse contexts ranging from their personal and private lives to their workplaces and other societies, contexts and geographical regions. Furthermore, face-to-face interactions throughout our world, including all the various forms of digital communications, require in many situations a profound intercultural awareness and excellent communication skills.

 

Through this self-paced course, participants will explore theories and practical examples related to intercultural communication divided into the following chapters:

 

• Introduction to Culture, Cultural Identity and Intercultural Communication
• The Cultural Dimensions and Intercultural Communication
• Cultural Analyses and Intercultural Competency
• The Role of Intercultural Communication in Interreligious Dialogue and Peacebuilding.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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