An ambitious european project. Cult-Coop 5 Religious diversity in Europe: past, present and future

IPRA is gathering a consortium of international partners to propose a new reading of European religious heritage.

The project, launched with seed money from the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR), will be submitted to the European Commission and seeks to constitute a consortium of researchers and educators from France, Italy, Germany, Britain, Hungary, Belgium, Iran, , Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia and Spain… Entitled Foundations for a multi-religious Europe, the project is also associated with teacher training institutes, textbook publishers, student associations, media representatives, interfaith dialogue groups and policy makers. The goal is to create tools that will help fundamentally change the ways in which European religious diversity is taught (particularly at the secondary school level) and create forums for recognizing and discussing the nature of religious diversity in European society.

We will create operational digital tools and applications, pedagogical material and sequences, expositions and public debates on the topics of law, authority and institutionalization of religious diversity, on the experiences and narratives of religious diversity (past and present) and on the interpretation and appropriation of locations marked by “inter-religiosity”.

The team held its first meeting in June in Konstanz in order to define a work plan and a series of objectives as well as potential new partners to contact. A second meeting was held in Brussels in September to delve into the different research and innovation directions that were proposed. The next meeting will be held in mid-October in Le Mans.