A Symposium on “The Role of Religious Leaders in Promoting Cultural Diversity in Societies”

UNESCO Chair participated in the symposium on (The Role of Religious Leaders in Promoting Cultural Diversity in Societies), organized by the Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Antiquities on the occasion of World Interfaith Harmony Week on Wednesday evening, 9/2/2022.
The symposium was hosted (Dr. Abd al-Wahhab al-Samarrai), who emphasized in his lecture that social pluralism is an inherent phenomenon of human formation, and Islam is the reference point for coexistence. It laid the foundations for diversity. God had mentioned the principle of difference between human beings, pluralism, and harmony among peoples, at the same time it rejected coercion of religion and the granting of freedom of worship.
AL-Samarrai called for the preservation of cultural and religious privacy, the need for scientific and religious institutions to embrace the issue of creating a common identity, the call for a state of citizenship, the focus on the concept of multiple righteousness.
The Director of the UNESCO Chair said: the Minister of Culture, Tourism, and Antiquities(Dr. Hassan Nadhem) attended the symposium along with elected Iraqi and Arab intellectuals. The guests discussed several topics that centered on the need to unite religious discourse in Iraq in the direction of unity and solidarity in the face of terrorism and support for peaceful coexistence and acceptance of others.
Translated into English by Shaima Adnan.