Young people from Zavidovici visited religious buildings in this town within the “Open Door Day”, including the Town Mosque, the Temple of St. Sava and the Church of St. Joseph. Religious officials introduced young people with religious objects through the mutual conversation, and they gave them a personal insight into the importance of work on lasting peace and strengthening of confidence from a religious perspective.
“I dream of a day when the people in this beautiful country will not be surprised with normal things like this gathering. It is not normal for the love towards ours to be expressed with hatred towards others. Every dialogue is useful, especially in our country,” said Izet ef. Camdzic, the head Imam of the Majlis Islamic Community of Zavidovici. He talked to young people about the topics of religion, including religious rituals in Islam, as well as differences and similarities among religions.
After the Town Mosque, these young people also visited the Temple of St Sava, where they met with the local paroch Zoran Zivkovic, who introduced them with some basic information about the church and the life of Orthodox believers, with a special focus on the respect of diversities. “It is important to refer each other to a life together, and to leave behind those who want to separate us. God gave us everything, including the difference and we need to respect that,” stated Zivkovic.
Participants of the “Open Door Day” visited the Jewish Cemetery in Zavidovici as well, and the professor of history Damir Memic gave them a lecture about the cemetery and the life of the Jewish people in the area of Zavidovici.
Nerminka Pasic, a pedagogue in the Secondary School in Zavidovici, stated that this way of getting introduced with the differences is very useful for the young people: “I liked the way everything was organized, and the fact that young people could hear a lot of useful informations about peace, respect, tolerance, and life together, to love their own and respect others, and that is something that young people need to hear.”
The “Open Door Day” was held in the organization of the Inter-religious Council in BiH within the project PRO-Future of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which is realized by the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in cooperation with the Institute for Development of Youth KULT, Caritas BiH, Forum of Citizens of Tuzla, Helsinki Parliament of Citizens Banja Luka, Nansen Dialogue Center Mostar and the Inter-religious Council in BiH.
(Source: fokus.ba)
