International Forum Bosnia is honoured to present its programme to mark the Eighth Sarajevo UN World Interfaith Harmony Week, to run from February 3 to 7, 2020. It includes the following events:

·         A public discussion of Religious Pluralism in Bosnia: Past, Present, and Future, February 5 (Wednesday), to start at 18:00, IFB premises (ul. Sime Milutinovi?a Sarajlije 10/III)

Approaches to religious pluralism inherited from the recent past increasingly represent an obstacle to the realisation of individual and collective freedoms in Bosnian society. It should be the role of the religious communities to counter this. More open interpretations of our religious heritage would encourage and strengthen our sense of responsibility as individuals for Bosnia’s political, cultural, and economic future. They would also help protect the public sphere from attempts to impose rigid religious identities on or exclude individuals or groups. Participants will discuss this and related issues. Mile Babi?, Krsto Mijanovi? and Rusmir Mahmut?ehaji? will provide introductory comments.

·         A public discussion on the theme of Some important recent books for understanding religious pluralism in Bosnia: Hans Küng, Judaism: Between Yesterday and Tomorrow (trans. John Bowden, New York: Continuum, 1992); Lejla Nakaš, Divoševo evan?elje: Studija i kriti?ko izdanje teksta (Sarajevo, Institut za jezik, 2019) and Sachiko Murata and William Chitick, Vizija islama: Temelji muslimanske vjere i prakse (trans. Amila Karahasanovi?, Sarajevo: Connectum: 2019). Friday, February 7, 2020, at the IFB premises (ul. Sime Milutinovi?a Sarajlije 10/III), to start at 18:00.

Reducing religious pluralism to the purely private can only deepen the current crisis in Bosnian society. We believe that these three books can contribute to a better understanding of the public religious pluralism that is constitutive of Bosnian society and culture. Jakob Finci, Ema Mazrak and Samir Beglerovi? will present the books, to be followed by a discussion open to the public.

Both events are open to the media and the general public.