Munich – September 12, 2011. In a church centre in the Munich neighbourhood Haidhausen, about 120 representatives of various religions came together at an inter-religious youth meeting and collective prayer for peace. In his introduction talk, Daniel Lerch, the diocesan youth minister, emphasised to the participants in Korbinianhaus the responsibility youth have in peace with: ‘Pope John Paul II, the founder of the international peace meeting, asked the youth from all religions to be courageous guardians of peace. In my eyes, this is a wonderful responsibility, not just for this evening.’ The inter-religious youth meeting took place during the International Peace Meeting, to which the archdiocese of Munich and Freising and the congregation Sant’Egidio where invited for September 11th through the 13th.

First, the youth came together in the youth church Vom Guten Hirten, praying together for peace among men. Before the communal peace prayer, the individual religions prayed in accordance to their respective traditions, lit a peace candle together and placed individual flowers in a vase to create a colorful bouquet. Afterwards, the participants met for a dialogue where representatives of the different religions shared their own views and perspectives on ways of being in the world in respect to peace.

The unique challenge for Maria Köstler, youth minister in Ottobrunn and co-organiser of the inter-religious youth meeting, was in the planning. ‘The ideas and wishes of how to organise the individual groups for inter-religious discussions was very exciting. From the beginning, there were several important conversations which brought about mutual understanding and also friendships.’

Dimitri Dobrovinsky from the Jewish Student Organisation in Bavaria described the multicultural gathering with: ‘When someone only moves in his own circles and microcosm, then it’s impossible for him to have a picture of fellow human being. This ignorance can easily be taken advantage of by fanatic groups, regardless of whether the person in Christian, Jewish, or Muslim. Therefore, it is very important to overcome this ignorance and for that, dialogue and communal get-togethers are a good start.’

Nath Hirsch, from the Ayudh group, an inter-religious youth movement inspired from the Indian spiritual leader and humanitarian Mata Amritanandamayi (Amma), commented on the event: ‘In everyday religion, normally we don’t meet like this, rather everyone prays in their own way. This meeting offered the opportunity to get a taste of the different traditions, to discover what they have in common, and to remove prejudices. The building blocks of religion should be used to build bridges rather than walls.’

The exchange was also in the forefront for Nurgül Güner from the Islamic Intercultural Dialogue Centre IDIZEM, regardless of which religion one belonged to: ‘Through the media often times a distorted and incorrect view of various religions in communicated. Direct contact and conversations with each other are, on the other hand, real and good sources of mutual understanding.’

Through the International Peace Meeting, the hosts, the congregation Sant´Egidio and the archdiocese of Munich and Freising, wanted to support the dialogue and common effort between the Christian confessions and the major world religions. With almost 50 events, the guests discuss topics about living together with different religions and cultures. The inter-religious youth meeting was prepared by a team from five different religions – Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Bahá’í, and Christianity, as well as the inter-religious youth group Ayudh.