Aim

Train high-level religious and lay executives for the development of intercultural and interreligious dialogue based on fraternity and mutual respect, so as to ensure a preparatory teaching of the Scriptures, religions and spiritual traditions; undertake a thorough study of school textbooks used in the participating countries in order to eliminate all forms of religious intolerance and call to violence; ensure a third-level education with a multidisciplinary and comparative approach of the three religions of the Book and the cultures linked to it, so as to provide training excluding any form of syncretism and proselytism; raise awareness on the need for an interreligious dialogue open to the religious and secular youth and to all civil society; help religions contribute more actively to a culture and an education for peace on an international scale, promote sustainable human development and foster tolerance.

History

The UNESCO Chair for Mutual Understanding of the Religions of the Book and Peace Education was established in 1999 at the Institut de connaissance des religions du Livre.