INTER-FAITH CONFERENCE: "STATE, RELIGION AND CIVIL SOCIETY: FORGING A CRITICAL PARTNERSHIP TO MEET THE CHALLENGES OF THE 21ST CENTURY. CHALLENGES IN SOUTH AFRICA AND NORWAY"

The South African Embassy and the Church of Norway Council on Ecumenical and International Relations will be hosting a joint Inter-Faith Conference on the 15th May 2006.

The Conference will examine perspectives under the theme: State, Religion and Civil Society: Forging a Critical Partnership to Meet the Challenges of the 21st Century. Challenges in South Africa and Norway.

This high-profiled Conference aims to generate reflections on the complex and multifaceted interrelationship between the state, religious communities and civil society. The context for this discourse is the pressing need to counter uncongenial relationships within and between these actors and find ways to work together in a common effort to address the manifold urgent challenges of our times.

At the centre of this enquiry is an earnest desire to explore and gain perspectives from the South African and Norwegian experience. What can be learned from the way religious communities, civil society, and the State have interacted historically in these two countries? How should the relationship be shaped and developed in order to be beneficial to all parties and for the common good of all in a pluralistic society?

Best regards,

Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit
General Secretary
Church of Norway Council on Ecumenical and International Relations

More information:
Erlend Rogne
erlend.rogne @ kirken.no