2nd Amerang Dispute 2006:
Religion – Humanity’s Blessing or Curse?

Interreligious Dialogue is Indispensable – Today More than Ever In general, people say that religion as such is good thing, a “blessing”. Yet, regarding the practice of religion, the latter is often held to suffer political abuse by being subjected to specific economic, psychological and social concerns, thus turning into a “curse”. In view of all that we know about the history of the world religions, can such a simplistic partition be seriously maintained? Do religions harbour destructive potentials that encourage a propensity towards violence? Then again, religions are a prime example for illustrating mankind’s emancipation from self-inflicted immaturity. Religious rituals help dealing with fears of natural and psychological phenomena.

The discovery of God’s unconditional love grounds the freedom of each human being, the creatureliness of each individual constitutes the dignity of every living organism. Given the conditions that shape humankind’s confluence, how can we understand and handle these ambivalent potentials in such a way as to integrate and possibly tame destructive powers?

These are some of the questions that leading experts of religious studies as well as representatives of a variety of religions have dealt with at the Ernst Freiberger Foundation’s 2nd Amerang Dispute in 2006. It was held under the patronage of Roman Herzog, former President of the Federal Republic of Germany. The dispute’s papers and contributions have been published in the eponymous book “Religion – Humanity’s Blessing or Curse”. The essays comprise reflections on fundamental religious and theological questions as well as current issues and discuss differences and similarities between divergent civilizations and cultures. As such, the book presents a model of an interreligious exchange in itself, a dialogue we need today more than ever. The book has been edited by the renowned religious scholar Prof. Dr. Michael von Brück who teaches at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich.

+ more
+ back

Impressions