M.D. Nalapat
Manipal, India —
The Muslim World League, an organization funded by King Abdullah of Saudi
Arabia, held its third interreligious dialogue in Geneva from Sept. 30 to Oct.
1.
The previous two
meetings were held a year ago in Spain and Austria. Of these, the Madrid
Conference was distinguished both by its imaginative choice of locale, given
the historically troubled history between Spain and the Muslim world, as well
as the enthusiastic participation of Spain’s King Juan Carlos himself.
As for Austria,
which is the home of Gerald Mader's European Peace University, it is a
picturesque location to hold an international meeting – convened to discuss how
best to operate in practice the "Initiative of the custodian of the two
Holy Mosques (King Abdullah) on interreligious dialogue and its impact on
disseminating human values."
In the 18th and
19th centuries, and even in much of the 20th, there was a case for treating
Europe as the "Middle Kingdom," the center of the universe. Asians,
Africans and South Americans had almost no say in world matters, and exceptions
such as Thailand were under the tutelage of one or the other European powers.
Since India won
its freedom in 1947 and China began to develop economically in the 1980s, there
has been a change in this situation. Global discussions should no longer be
confined only to countries within Europe and those housing the European
Diaspora.
