Annelie Löhr-Campion shows a picture
of St. Catherine Monastery
Switzerland commemorates
the mountain of Moses
"A cool autumn evening the phone rang in my hotel Cademario, the tourist region of southern Switzerland. It was a woman's voice on the line. I first spoke to her in French, then in English and then in German after I had asked what was her mother tongue and she had told me she was of German origin.
Her name is Annelie Löhr Campion, born in Germany in 1942, married to a Belgian businessman named Michel Campion. Since 1996, she has been devoting, together with her husband, her work to the inter-religious dialogue in the hope to achieve peace and understanding between Arabs and Jews.
She collaborates with UNESCO, the European Union, Al Azhar and several international peace organizations. She said she was holding a photo exhibition in the theological faculties of the University of Lugano whose theme was: "On the footsteps of Moses." I went down to the hall to meet her. She was an active lady radiating the signs of goodness of heart and longing for the good for humanity. We sat down and we started our exchange of views:
Dr.: Are you Jewish?
AC: No. I am Protestant and my husband is Catholic.
Dr.: Are you on the side of Israel?
AC: I'm on the side of justice and peace. My Jewish friends accuse me of being for the Arabs, while some Arab suspects me to side for Israel, but I say that I am on the side of peace and justice and against injustice and violence.
Dr.: What do you think of the occupation, the massacres and the repression ?
AC: I am against the Israeli occupation and for me the solution lies in the formula : two countries for two peoples.
Dr.: What prompted you to do an exhibition, and specifically on the prophet Moses?
AC: I got the idea when I visited Sinai and I saw the St. Catherine Monastery and Mountain of Moses . got convinced that the personality of Moses, being himself an Egyptian , can lead to reunite the children of the three religions. I searched all the commonalities between Jews and Muslims inboth the Koran and the Bible. I want to emphasize the convergence points and ignore the divergence ones.
Dr.: What effect has given you the Monastery of St. Catherine in the Sinai Peninsula ?
AC: The Monastery of St. Catherine of Sinai is a bridge between the Jewish religion and Islam. It was founded in 230 and is the oldest Christian monastery in the world ; moreover, it contains a recommendation of the Prophet Muhammad ( upon him the salvation and peace ) to protect the monastery .
Dr.: What are the reactions of Muslims and Jews towards your efforts to achieve peace ?
AC: Muslims and Jews support me with strength and enthusiasm while Christians ignore me completely. On the Muslim side more than of a scholar among Al Azhar is willing to help me. In Paris, Rabbi René Samuel Sirat supports me. In addition, the Alexandria meeting in Egypt gathered Sheikh of Al Azhar with Jewish and Christian scholars in January 2002. Such meetings can strengthen the inter-religious dialogue.
Dr.: What is your goal in making this exhibition?
AC: I dream of opening the borders between Egypt , Israel and Jordan for the youth of the world : may they be allowed to travel between the three countries , to enjoy the charm of this sacred region of the world and learn to live in peace and acceptance of the other .
She gave me a dossier containing documents of this third edition of the exhibition that is being held in Lugano . This exhibition is hosted by the Theology faculty of Lugano . It is a new faculty, created thanks to the willingness of the Italian-speaking Swiss, in order to realize their dream of building their own university. German Swiss have their own old universities in Zurich, Berne , Basel and Lausanne . Francophone Swiss have their oldest universities in Geneva , Lausanne and Fribourg. "Italian" Swiss are still without an independent university .
The Faculty of Theological studies of Lugano hosts the photo exhibition " In the Footsteps of Moses ... " . In the context of this exhibition , Professor " Garounieh " of the theological faculty of Rome gave a lecture on "Moses in Christianity " and Professor Jolio Hassan, Italian Muslim, of the University of Bologna, Italy , gave a conference on " Moses in Islam."
The same exhibition was held in 2000 in Bethlehem, Palestine. It was met with great success and received large support from religious leaders of the three religions. In 2001 , the city of Braunschweig also hosted this exhibition. Great luck was that this city is also the birthplace of Ms. Annelie Löhr Campion and of the well know German thinker Lessing (1729-1781). Lessing is the author , among other works, of the theatrical-philosophical piece " Nathan the Wise ." It takes place in a bourgeois milieu, in which Nathan deals with the issue of competition between the heavenly religions. Lessing’s style is distinctive for tolerance, understanding, dialogue and rejection of violence. It would have been wonderful if this play of Lessing could have been staged during this exhibition in Braunschweig.
The exhibition includes sixty color photographs (50x80 cm), printed with great care and excellent quality. The first part shows the region of the Mountain of Moses in the Sinai, St. Catherine Monastery and the Bedouin life in this sacred region. This is the best propaganda of religious and cultural history of Egypt.
Finally, we will add our voice to that of the 'Arabs outside the borders’. We invite the Arabs of Europe to work rather than void talking, to mutual support rather than disagreement, to unity rather than dispersion, to collective work rather than illusory power and cheap, fictitious chairs.
We extend our deepest thanks and acknowledgments to Mrs Annelie Löhr Campion for her efforts to promote mutual understanding and dialogue between the peoples of the three celestial religions.
Dr. Thabet AID - Switzerland
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Ouvertures a.s.b.l., Annelie Löhr-Campion, Belgique ouverturesforpeace.eu |