Interfaith Meet to Discuss Role of Social Media

18 Oct Interfaith Meet to Discuss Role of Social Media

The ninth Doha Conference on Interfaith Dialogue to be held here next week will discuss how to make use of social media to promote inter-religious dialogue and the need for a global code of conduct on the use of social networking sites from a religious perspective. The conference will take place at the Doha Sheraton from October 24 to October 26.

The topic of this year’s conference, Social media and inter-religious dialogue, is inspired by the Arab Spring and the active role played by social media in the revolutions taking place in the region, the organizers said yesterday.

Addressing a press conference, Professor Ibrahim Saleh Al Nuaimi, Chairman of the Doha International Centre for Interfaith Dialogue (DICID) said the conference would bring together prominent leaders and scholars representing three major world religions — Islam, Christianity and Judaism- from across the world.

“The topic of the conference is timely in the light of the developments taking place in the Arab world. Social media are being misused by several groups worldwide to create hatred among religious communities. In this context, the conference will explore ways to use this powerful medium to create better relations and understanding between different religions- among the leaders as well as the followers,” said Al Nuaimi.

He noted that there was a surge in the number of websites advocating hatred against some religious communities after 9/11.

The conference will also involve IT experts who will give tips to the participants on the technical aspects of using social media. Youth activists from Egypt and Tunisia will talk about their successful experience with social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in the recent revolutions in their countries.

Al Nuaimi said the DICID had plans to involve representatives from other prominent religions such as Hinduism in the annual conference.

“The Doha conference, now in its eighth year has generated tremendous interest among religious leaders all over the world. The conference has given us an opportunity to know the prominent religious personalities all over the world and bring them together in a common platform. This is not a small achievement,” said Al Nuaimi.

The topics to be discussed in the conference include: How has the social communication contributed to the weakening of traditions and customs and reducing social relations?; the misuse of social networking sites among the religious communities; the ethics of the use of the new technology; the effects of the use of modern communication technology and its links to developments in liberalization in Arab countries.

The conference will have a special session titled “science and religion” that will involve participants of a Islamic science conference that begins here on October 22.

Dr Aysha Al Mannai, Dr Dean Mohammed Saheb, both members of DICID’s International Advisory Board, Prof Yousef Mahmoud Siddiqui and Dr Hassan Abdelraheem Al Sayed, members of DICID’s board of directors also attended the press conference.

(The Peninsula)