15.02.2024

JCM Africa: Home is both physical and spiritual

Participants get into conversation at the conference.

Hulda Vaghen gave her lecture on "Home in african perspective" on behalf of her church CBCA* and its President, Dr. Jonathan Kavusa Kivatsi.

Prof. Issa Ziddy's lecture was broadcasted also to Germany and the Philippines.

A Muslim Friday Prayer was part of the conference, just as...

...a Christian Service, lead by Rev. Dr. Marceline Niwenshuti.

The Participants in the Conference Centre of the EPR* Church in Kigali.

What does Home mean in our religions?

The 51st International Conference on Dialogue between Jews, Christians and Muslims (JCM) brings together people from different religions in Rwanda, Germany and the Philippines. The theme of the conference is the question: What is home? Each of the three local conferences will take place independently on site, but certain lectures and films are broadcast internationally. The heart of the conference are the "discussion groups". Here, the conference participants talk about what they have always wanted to ask each other but perhaps never dared to ask. Everything that is said in these groups is confidential.

For Matan Rubenstein, a humanist, zionist Jew from Israel, Home means domestic harmony on the inside and hospitality on the outside. That is why he is committed to justice and reconciliation between Israel and Palestine, especially in these times of conflict.

Prof Issa Ziddy teaches Islamic religious education at the State University of Zanzibar. He answers the conference question as follows: "In Islam, home is both a physical place and a spiritual and emotional space to find peace, security and happiness." Coming from an Islamic perspective, characteristics of a home include safety, righteousness and love, as well as good relationships within the neighborhood: “By Allah, he is not a (true) believer […] the one whose neighbor does not feel safe from his evil.”

Norita Sembiring, Head of the Education Department at the United Evangelical Mission, describes home after natural disasters and relocating to new areas: home is more in processes than in places. Tuhoni Telaumbanua, Lecturer at BNKP*s Theological Seminary, thus describes “returning home” theologically: “It encompasses bringing about justice, peace for all creatures, and the establishment of human rights equally for all.”

With a total of 100 participants from all three continents, this year's conference is somewhat smaller than in previous years. UEM supports the conference for many years already: financially, with Human Ressources and by providing its international networks in Asia, Africa and Europe. Interreligious Dialogue is partof the mission and identity of UEM.

The next conference is planned for 16 to 22 June 2025.

*BNKP = Banua Niha Keriso Protestan (Christian-Protestant Church on Nias Island, Indonesia)

*CBCA = Communauté Baptiste au Centre de l'Afrique (Baptist Community in the Center of Africa)

*EPR = Église Presbyterienne du Rwanda (Presbyterian Church in Rwanda)