Lectures to Train Teachers in Interfaith Education

09 Mar Lectures to Train Teachers in Interfaith Education

The Doha International Centre for Interfaith Dialogue (DICID) and the Faculty of Islamic Studies at Qatar Foundation have organised a series of lectures for teachers and the Supreme Council of Education officials in order to equip students with the skills and understanding to interact and communicate effectively and respectfully with other cultures.

The purpose of the lectures, which began yesterday, is to provide a “package” for high school teachers help them prepare special programmes to qualify their students to be better “dialoguers”, according to Hamdi Blekich, head of PR – DICID.

Blekich explained that interfaith and intercultural dialogue is crucial as each part of the globe has their own culture and values, but the new global “village” makes learning from and understanding each other crucial.

The first series of lectures will focus on the history of the three major monotheistic religions: Islam, Christianity and Judaism.

The lectures will include comparisons between them and will identify commonalities.

The first series will also focus on challenges facing interfaith dialogue, and will try to address some of the most significant obstacles, not only in Qatar but abroad.
As a lot of Qatari students are studying abroad, “we would like to be their helping hand in building the bridge covering these sometimes small problems that can become huge,” said Blekich.

The DICID spokesman said that this first series of lectures is meant to “break the ice”, and if other schools are interested in participating in this programme, including private and foreign schools, then they are welcome.

The lectures will run for three more weeks in different schools across Qatar.
Blekich concluded that the key objective in promoting to interfaith and intercultural dialogue is to respect each other better and “raise our children to be better than us”. He said that it is important to put political issues to the side in bridging the divide between cultures.

DICID will soon be issuing the fourth edition of their academic journal Religions and a group of representatives from the Centre will soon be visiting Houston, Texas to present and promote their activities.