Catholic Convention: Invitation to Open Air Lectures by Cluster of Excellence
Short lectures and discussions on religious policy, religions and violence
At the 101st German Catholic Convention in Münster, the University of Münster’s Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” will present short lectures and discussions in an open-air lecture theatre. The morning programme will deal with the relationship of world religions and violence in the past and present, while the afternoon programme will deal with religious policy today. On Saturday, 12 May, from 11 am to 6 pm, on the open stage in front of Fürstenberghaus (Domplatz 20-22), eleven researchers will engage in debate with representatives from politics, religious and philosophical communities and with the audience. Expected guests are, for example, Bavarian minister of the interior Joachim Herrmann from the Christian Social Union, Green politician Volker Beck, the president of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK) Thomas Sternberg and Rabbi Walter Homolka, chairman of the Union of Progressive Jews in Germany.
Aiman A. Mazyek, chairman of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany, and Michael Bauer of the Humanist Association of Bavaria will discuss the question of a need for reform in religious policy. From the Cluster of Excellence, representatives of political science, law, history and theology will speak. Their discussion will focus on how the growing diversity of religions in Germany can be shaped politically, legally and socially in future so that majorities and minorities may live together in peace. In the morning, other researchers will report on their Islamic, religious or literary studies regarding the relationship Christianity, Islam and Buddhism have to violence. Their lectures address violence in the Old Testament, Islam and war, figures of hatred in literature and other issues. (vvm)