The "Declaration of the Kingdom of Bahrain" takes place in Rome

When the extremist clergy preaches hate, violence and seeks to sow seeds of discord,
they are inciting the profanation of God's name"

The conference entitled "Ignorance is the enemy of Peace: Understanding Religions and new challenges of education”, sponsored by the King Hamad Global Center for Peaceful Coexistance, in collaboration with La Sapienza University, took place on the 26th January 2023 at Marriot Hotel in Rome.

The conference started in the morning with a debate that was moderated by prof. Alessandro Saggioro, a full professor of History and Anthropology of Religions at La Sapienza University. Many International guests participated, among them; Ambassador Marco Suazo, current director of UNITAR (the United Nations Institute for Training and Research), Andrea Benzo, the foreign ministry's special envoy for dialogue and religious freedom, Krish Raval, founder and director of “Faith in Leadership”, Ambrogio Bongiovanni, director of the Center for Interreligious Studies of the Pontifical Gregorian University of Rome, Debora Tonelli, representing Georgetown University and Viviana Premazzi, professor of Cultural Intelligence at the University of Malta. The speakers recalled the recent visit of Pope Francis to the Kingdom of Bahrain, highlighting the centrality of dialogue and the need for a new intercultural pedagogical approach. Among the audience there were numerous students and PhD graduates from different places and cultural realities, including some young people from the Confederazione Islamica Italiana and the GMI association (young Italian Muslims).

In the evening, in the presence of His Excellency Nasser al-Balushi, ambassador of the Kingdom of Bahrain in Italy, the representatives of the numerous Italian religious communities and some illustrious personalities, gathered at the gala dinner, during which the "“Declaration of the Kingdom of Bahrain", a document which formally ratifies the commitment of the Gulf monarchy in the promotion of dialogue and tolerance between the different religious realities was presented in Europe.

“We celebrate religion as among the greatest forces for good in our world, which primarily inspired people to share the same good with their fellow human beings. The world community recognizes that faith and religious expression are fundamental and inalienable rights. However, now, as in other times in the past, religion is so often used as a divine sanction to spread hatred and dissent. Rather than supporting people through a crisis, religion has been used to contribute to the crisis, and sometimes it has created further crises.”, a quote from the Declaration of the Kingdom of Bahrain that contained "the indications, objectives and noble messages of King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the country's monarch, which include the promotion of tolerance and peaceful coexistence and religious rapprochement".

The Declaration acknowledges, which contains the indications, objectives and noble messages of King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the fact that “religions may disagree in interpreting the will of God, but all enlightened religions refuse to invoke His name to legitimize violence against innocent people. This is a clear profanation of his name, rather than a fulfillment of his will”. Therefore, "practices such as the sowing of terror, the encouragement of extremism and radicalization, suicide bombings, the promotion of sexual slavery and the abuse of women and children" are denied.

 Previously, the Charter was inaugurated for North America in Los Angeles, in 2017, under the patronage of Prince Nasser bin Hamad al-Khalifa, and for South America in São Paulo, in 2020, in the presence of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. During the ceremony, students were conferred awards for their participation in the event.

Luca Mercuri (Translated by Editorial)