In occasion of the closing of the month of fasting of Ramadan, the President of the Commission of the Federation of Protestant Churches in Italy for dialog with Islam, Pastor La Torre, sent a message to the Italian Muslim Community with “joy and best wishes on be haft of Italian Protestants for the end of this period of consacration to God, to those who could share this time together with their families and to those who unfortunately passed the time in nostalgia away for their loved ones. Our prayers for God's blessing on the days and years that come, giving our society peace and brotherhood, donating a present and a future full of peace for every human being, that the days and the years ahead might see the respect for human, civil and religious rights for all”.

Pastor La Torre did not hide the problems and the challenges tied to this phase of dialogue between Christians and Muslims: “The future puts before us difficult questions for all who live in our society, within which all are called to rethink their own collective project starting from the presence of the ‘other’. In the face of ‘reservations’ for the construction of mosques or minarets, we hold it to be human, right and dutiful the need of every believer to observe and live his own faith, as well as any non believer, to see respect for his vision of life and society in an open and sincere debate. Freedom of religion is a fundamental right of humans, constitutionally guaranteed, that cannot be bartered and whose application stems from the citizenship of the person. The climate of hostility in the face of Muslims puts above all the question of weather the democracies of Western Europe still possess the necessary values to integrate all of its components in a harmonious plurality and maintain the indispensable force to prepare the steps and the institutions that must create this process of togetherness in diversity”.

Along this line Pastor La Torre confirmed the commitment of the Italian Protestant Churches to “keep open and enlarge the paths of dialogue, of sincere debate and of reciprocal confrontation with the Italian Muslim Community and the world of Islam”.

Just after the tragedy of September 11, 2001, when the violence of terror seemed to destroy any possibility of dialogue between Christians and Muslims, an ecumenical appeal came from hundreds of Italian Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants who launched a “challenge for dialogue”. Since then the Day of Christian/Muslim Dialogue was observed the last Friday of the Month of Ramadan. Due to the annual changes based on the Islamic lunar calendar, the date was fixed on October 27, recalling the first interreligious meeting held at Assisi 1986. Many cities throughout Italy organized meetings to encourage dialogue. In Rome in the Provincial Government Palace a meeting was held on the theme “Dialogue between faiths for a common citizenship”. Promoted by the magazine “Confronti” and the Interconfessional Center for Peace (CIPAX) in collaboration with other ecumenical and denominational organizations. Among the participants were the President of the Province of Rome, Nicola Zingaretti, Prof. Paolo Naso of the University of Rome “La Sapienza”, the Director of the Islamic Cultural Center Abdellah Redouane and Vice Dean of the Gregorian Pontifical University Sergio Bastianel. A gathering was also held at the Mosque Al Fath of the Magliana, Rome, on the theme “Abraham in the Bible and in the Koran”.

The President of the Italian Republic, Giorgio Napolitano sent a message to the meeting’s organizers, who stated: “I feel that it is of great importance the contribution that the religions can give, through a constructive dialogue based on reciprocal respect, to strengthen the relationships of peace among the nations. The meeting together of religions is not of lesser importance, within the individual countries, around the values and common commitments, aimed at defending the principle of freedom of religion and the struggle against the emergence of dangerous racist and xenophobic tendencies”. It's the first time that the Head of State expressed his appreciation for this initiative. “In fact, the more traditional ‘theological’ dialogue keeps moving ahead – said Paolo Naso -. There is also the dialogue that we could define along the lines of freedom of religion and human rights. Christians and Muslims understand that dialogue at the top level of their communities counts little if it does not produce changes in daily relationships, those in the schools and in places of work, in the neighborhoods or in the hospitals. And in this field there is still much to do. From some of the new initiatives of the Government there is the risk of constituting Islamic ghettos within the public schools, to give just one example of a certain islamphobia that is being manifested. This makes it all the more urgent to continue and strengthen our commitment to the defense of religious freedom”.

From press service NEV - Notizie evangeliche, 31 October 2008