Information Minister Melhem Riachi patronized Thursday the "Arab-Danish Gathering" which opened its works at the Gefinor Hotel in Beirut under the headline, "Towards a Better Understanding among Religions ...Activating Dialogue to Prevent Violent Extremism," organized by the Forum for Development, Culture and Dialogue in partnership with the Denmark Foundation.

In his opening word, Riachi deemed that the origin of violence is the human being and not religion, and considered that rectifying the attempt to demonize Islam is a responsibility shouldered by all the Lebanese.

"There is a generalization and a false state that the sects and religions are a scourge of society and that believers are the source of evils in societies, a source of violence or violent extremism...and that extremism comes from religion and not come from human beings. The origin of violence is human, and the underlying causes of violence are in the absence of a positive extremism, such as those who have a true faith in their beliefs and convictions who are are also extremists but their extremism is positive, and this extremism is what saves societies," Riachi explained.

"I am an extremist in my faith to the limits of the courage of love, an extremist to the limits of faith in dialogue, even in moments of failure in dialogue. I was extreme in pursuit and follow-up, extreme that success will come someday because I am only a part of God's helping arms on earth. Extremism in faith teaches humility, teaches love, teaches courage, and knows how to recognize the other, no matter how different," asserted Riachi.

He went on to highlight that, "there is an attempt to demonize Islam in the world, and it is the responsibility of Lebanon to rectify this, first because this country is a model and a message, as John Paul II says. It is also the responsibility of the Lebanese Christians because they know their Muslim brothers and live with them. This is not the responsibility of the Muslims in Lebanon...because defending life together needs this extremism and this courage to resist any kind of violence."

"Violence today is a result of the things that the Mediterranean has gone through, and I think the future will be different because violence in the bloody sense has reached the top and has begun to ebb and recede," concluded Riachi.

 

On the sidelines of the Gathering, the Forum members toured with the Danish guests various political and religious leaders in the country, whereby they met with House Speaker Nabih Berri, who affirmed that "Lebanon's message to the world is dialogue, craftsmanship and peace...not violence, war and weapons."

The Forum delegation also visited Al-Allama Al-Sayed Ali Fadlallah, who called for "moving beyond dialogue to work together effectively among communities to find practical solutions to common challenges."

In turn, the delegation stressed that "dialogue is an indispensable condition for ensuring diversity in Lebanon and strengthening it."

A few hours before the launching of the "Arab-Danish Gathering" which will continue throughout Thursday and Friday, the Forum delegation visited the city of Sidon to learn about its model of unity, diversity and coexistence.

The delegation had an encounter with MP Bahia Hariri, who considered that "the whole world today faces the obsession of extremism and is looking for ways to keep it out of society," stressing that "we follow the religion of acceptance of the other and a religion of tolerance, love and mercy

Source: NNA