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GUJ 7-09: Is religion part of modern society?
News: Dec 15, 2009
What role can religion and non-materialist values play in modern society?
That was the question for a public workshop at the Museum of World Culture in mid-November.
A video film with dancers swirling around a doll and creeping into different cubes was the somewhat enigmatic introduction to the workshop Responsibility for non-materialist values in the public spaces. It was the choreographer Eva Ingemarsson that showed a part of her investigation of man’s inner room and struggle with forces inside and outside the body.
Then Ann-Sofie Roald, Historian of Religion, discussed the role of Islam in modern society followed by Thomas Barrie, professor of Architecture, who showed pictures of sacred buildings.
“Religion practised well is transforming, religion practised badly is deforming”, said Shanthikumar Hettiarachchi, Dr. in Religion and Conflict, and continued discussing the necessity of taking responsibility for the “climate crime”.
Thomas Michel, Jesuit priest concerned with interreligious dialogue, discussed the mutual suspicion non-religious people and religious people feel – and the distrust between religions.
“When I work for Amnesty they think I, as a Catholic priest, must have a secret agenda. But I want to achieve something; a religion that is reduced to merely singing songs is bankrupted.”
The workshop was organized by Eva Ingemarsson, choreographer, Klas Grinell, curator of contemporary global issues at the Museum of World Culture and Urban Strandberg, associate professor in Political Science at the University of Gothenburg.
