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The war in Gaza is putting interreligious dialogue in Switzerland to a tough test. This doesn’t come out of nowhere.
“I’ve never experienced it like that before,” says Christoph Knoch. The Reformed pastor has been active in interreligious dialogue for 40 years and is married to a Jew. A situation like now, in which emotions make conversation impossible, is new. And this despite the fact that the Middle East conflict had already caused major waves.
But the brutal attack on Israel by the terrorist organization Hamas and the subsequent war in the Gaza Strip with many civilian casualties are causing emotions to run high – on both the Jewish and Muslim sides.
Iras Cotis’s ordeal
How the conflict is polarizing was demonstrated at the end of 2023 by the interreligious working group in Switzerland Iras Cotis, which organizes the Week of Religions. Two Jewish board members threatened to resign because the Muslim president was a member of a pro-Palestinian organization. A bang in an organization that wants to promote religious peace.
So far it has been clear to us: we will leave politics outside.
How could it come to this? Couldn’t you have seen the bang coming? “Yes,” admits Christoph Knoch, Vice President of Iras Cotis. “But it’s been clear to us so far: we’ll leave politics outside.”
This attitude is common in interreligious dialogue in Switzerland. They don’t want to let the dialogue be spoiled by conflicts abroad.
Just for good times?
So is interreligious dialogue a fair-weather event? Knoch wouldn’t go that far. But: “We have to stop ignoring sensitive topics and also face the difficult questions.” He is convinced that interreligious dialogue can withstand this. «We have built trust at Iras Cotis for over 30 years. Without this trust, we probably wouldn’t have survived the explosion.”
As an imam, I wanted to show that we are there.
Creating trust, getting to know other perspectives: that is the goal of interreligious working groups in Switzerland. Pastors, imams, rabbis, Hindu priests and Buddhists sit on the boards. They organize joint prayers and discussions and facilitate tours of temples, mosques and synagogues.
Trust creates solidarity
Imam Rehan Neziri from the Albanian mosque in Kreuzlingen was on such a tour of a synagogue shortly after October 7th. “As an imam, I wanted to show that we are there,” he says on the sidelines of an interreligious event in Weinfelden (TG). “The rabbi really appreciated that and was convinced that we would be able to continue to maintain our relationships.”
That was a big moment.
Rabbi Shlomo Tikochinski from the Jewish community in St. Gallen tells of a similar encounter in which he prayed the first surah of the Koran with a Muslim woman. “That was a big moment.”
When something concrete emerges from the dialogue
But how big is the impact of this interreligious dialogue, especially in view of increasing anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim racism?
Interreligious dialogue is often very spiritualized.
“Interreligious dialogue is often very spiritualized, top-heavy,” says Matthias Loretan, Roman Catholic theologian and president of the interreligious working group in the canton of Thurgau. “You meet each other in conversations, benevolently and nodding your head, and then nothing happens.”
Specific projects would help: for example, Muslim religious education, which arose from interreligious dialogue in the canton of Thurgau. Or dialogue projects like Likrat, in which Jewish young people visit schools and explain their religion.