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The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI) supports the initiative of the European Academy of Religions to organize its first International Conference in Bologna from 5th to 8th March

The European Academy of Religions acts as a platform for meetings between institutions and research centers, and a tool to foster the plurality of opinions and activate every possible opportunity for interdisciplinary research and dialogue between researchers in the field of religious themes and related disciplines. It also intends to promote peaceful relations between different cultural systems and international cultural cooperation.

The Academy was inaugurated on 5 December 2016. Its “launch event” was the “Ex Nihilo Zero Conference”, held from 18th to 22nd June 2017 under the patronage of the MAECI, the European Parliament, the Parliament of Italy, and the Italian Ministry of Innovation, University and Research (MIUR). The Conference was a great success and had wide media coverage, counting, among others, 1020 registered members, 507 members of academic institutions from 43 countries, and over 600 papers presented in about 140 panels of discussion.

The annual Conferences, the first of which will be held in March, will represent the pivotal moment of the activities of the Academy and will take place regularly in the first semester of every year, in order to establish the Academy as a primary forum for scientific interaction in Europe.

The event in March will see the participation of international experts and will be marked by work sessions (panel and paper), plenary sessions (lectures and round table discussions) and will host a Moot Court Competition. The three planned round tables are dedicated respectively to Aristotle, Moses and to the theme “Religion and Social Change”.

MAECI’s support for the European Academy of Religions is in line with the current importance of religious issues in the political, social, cultural framework and also in the international relations, with increasingly marked attention that the Italian foreign policy pays to the protection of religious communities, freedom of belief and conscience, and the cooperation between institutional and religious actors. In this context, the creation of an Academy confirmed the usefulness of having a European aggregator center , in an open and inclusive space, within which important scientific actors and research centres can converge and confront on issues the many dimensions of the religious experience and of religious, and to carry on a historical-religious research that can incorporate the various epistemological perspectives of the debate (historians, jurists, philologists, philosophers, archaeologists and theologians, etc.).

The fact that the European Academy of Religions was established in Italy places our country in a potentially privileged position at European level. In fact, it is a means of strengthening our action in support of religious pluralism, dialogue and the so-called “religious engagement”. Furthermore, it gives Italy the opportunity to act as the center for a more advanced strategy in this sector, the first step towards a more organic and structured European action recognized in the Academy.

For further information on the Conference click here.