In
the western world religious symbols have increasingly become
a reason for discussion as consequence of massive immigration and
multicultural societies.
Anyway it is necessary
to divide the West in two parts: in many western countries where the
immigration is not recent the discussion about that subject has been
part of public opinion for many decades; in other western countries
where the problem of immigration has been faced in recent years, the
question of religious symbols is more delicate and potentially
explosive.
The study of disputes
over religious symbols proposes two schools of thought: negative and
repulsive school, and inclusive and welcoming school
These two different
approaches are based on different cultural paradigms: the first model
concerns the mentality of the religious divisions of Europe, the
other one is about the culture of human rights, pluralism and
dialogue between religions.
The two orientations
use terms and vocabulary that are opposite to one another, one
reflects suffering, opposition while the other proposes acceptance of
dialogue between differences and mutual respect.
Some scholars make a
distinction: religious symbols are always aggressive while civil
symbols are instead positive and peaceful civilians: in a pluralist
democracy, the official symbols, like the national flag, do not
represent an absolute truth, but demonstrate a sense of belonging to
a shared value.
In this situation we
can affirm that the coexistence of different cultures in society
pushes the western public opinion to face complex situations.
Almost every day there
are case of violence, intolerance and discrimination about religious
symbols all over the world. Unfortunately the chronicle is full of
examples of that.
According to Italian
press on August 2014 in Milan a Jewish person sitting on a bus was
offended and spat by an Arab because of his kippah.
This event created
large argument on social network, demonstrating how religious symbols
and their meanings are felt in our society, usually in a not correct
way.
What happened in Milan
probably confirms that some people have a deformed approach to the
religious symbols depending on their education, prejudicial approach,
or distorting point of view about religion.
The way to reach
harmony and mutual respect is a very difficult path, but there are
also good and very good example to tell.
In
Sweden, trying to deal with this situation of tensions between
different cultures and religions, Professor Rubin Dranger, art
teacher at Kronstadt Academy of Stockholm aims to create new
emoticons (small faces used to communicate emotions) for many other
ethnic faces including Religious caps as
the Muslim hijab and Jewish kippah.
Professor Dranger said
digitizing means communicating with the images that are very
important in this historical moment we are living.
In my personal opinion
this case shows how religious symbols are not only big political and
social issues but also something that is part of our daily lives.
SOURCES:
Stato,
Chiese e pluralismo confessionale Rivista telematica
(www.statoechiese.it), Carlo Cardia Il simbolo religioso e culturale
(pdf)
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