Young people from Visegrad and its surroundings had an opportunity to visit the Emperor’s Mosque and the Temple of St. Tsar Lazarus, as well as the building where the synagogue was placed in the period from 1905 to 1945, within the “Open Doors Day” that was held as part of the project PRO-Buducnost (PRO-Future).
Young people were very satisfied with the visit and the joint gathering from which they learned a lot.
“The ignorance raises prejudice and that is way it is important to get to know others and different. Most of my friends and I never had a chance to visit the mosque, and today I saw what it looks like, I also heard some great messages that the Islamic leader and our priest sent to us, and I have no more prejudices,” said Marija from Visegrad.
Muhamed from the village of Medjedja said that he had a chance to visit the church during his earlier school excursion, and that he never saw a problem in socializing and getting to know his peers, regardless of their nation or religion.
“Getting to know the other and different is very important and therefore, it is also important for you as young people to get to know those who belong to other religions. All religions are committed to peace and if anyone asked honest believers, there would be no wars. Our task is to learn that we are all humans, to preach love, and not hate,” said the priest Aleksandar Topalovic.
“This kind of gatherings are very important. Young people have the opportunity to get to know those who are different, they also get to know the cultural heritage of these areas that we are unfortunately often neglecting, and I am very happy that the young people expressed a great desire to participate in this. I believe that this should be our regular practice,” said Professor Divna Vasic.
The “Open Doors Day” was held in the organization of the Inter-Religious Council in BiH, within the project PRO-Buducnost of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which is implemented by Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in cooperation with the Institute for Youth Development KULT, Caritas BiH, the Forum of Citizens of Tuzla, the Helsinki Parliament of Citizens of Banja Luka, Nansen Dialogue Center Mostar and the Inter-Religious Council in BiH.
(Source: klix.ba)
