The issue debated during the round table by SCAI , the Christian School of Apologetics is of fundamental importance: religious freedom in Western society and the relationship with European Islam. (CASE BOX with film’s conference +pics)
LA VERITÀ Italian national newspaper 30/9/229 In one of th
e most prestigious historical symbols of Milan, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, on Saturday 24 September 2022, the first meeting promoted by SCAIi (Christian School of Apologetics and Islamic Studies) was held. In the setting of the historical Rizzoli bookshop, what could be considered a conference on inter interreligious themes like many others, a fundamental theme emerged in the light of thecurrent global geopolitical situation, which can be summarised in the effort promoted for decades by the Evangelical Churches to draw the attention of (Italian and European) institutions to all those shortcomings and technical restrictions that stand in the way of religious understanding and tolerance. The voices intervening to renew the appeal and amplify the message promoted by the SCAI school were diverse and prestigious. Starting with the speech by Paul Diamond, a British lawyer from Cambridge with a long experience between Brussels, Luxembourg and the House of Lords. The British professor’s testimony pointed out, with the support of recent news reports, the need for intervention in the very short term given the particularly difficult situation in the United Kingdom. Concerns also shared by another guest, the Senator Lucio Malan (Fdi), who has been committed to freedom of expression and religious conscience in Palazzo Madama for years.The part of historical and legal analysis on religious freedom in Italy was instead addressed by the president of the Italian Evangelical Alliance Giacomo Ciccone and lawyer Damaris Marletta. Professor Francesco Maggio, founder of SCAI and a great international expert on Islam, recalled the contents of a guiding text in the field of legal-social relations on the subject of religious tolerance, the ‘Declaration of Universal Human Rights in Islam‘ of 1981. From this treatise that the rules and principles it contains apply exclusively to the Islamic world, an aspect which poses an important problem of communication and interaction with another historical treaty, the ‘Universal Declaration of Human Rights’ of 1949, which, unlike the Islamic text, disregards the religious belief. The short-circuit of intercommunication between the two declarations on universal and religion, Prof. Maggio explained, can be overcome first of all in terms of openness. “One should not fear,“declared the founder of the Christian School of Apologetics and Islamic Studies – Muslims, but our task is to work to guarantee everyone the right to religious freedom, despite the fact that non-Muslims European are labelled by Islamic society as kufr, i.e. infidels’.
This is why, in an extremely delicate context such as the current one, a long-term project supported by European and Italian institutions is also of fundamental importance for those Muslims in constant search of Truth.
The appointment with SCAIis for October, with the inauguration of the first academic year dedicated to the anthropological communication of the Christian message. Aimed, in particular, at European Muslims.
Redazione La Verità 30/9/22