Within the context of increasing interest in the case of dialogue in general and between religions in particular, the University of Al Maaref, in cooperation with the Lebanese Association for the Advancement of Science, initiated an international conference for the first time entitled "Towards a Culture of Interfaith Dialogue". The conference aims at establishing and building a culture of dialogue, through which the human can accept the other who is different religiously, culturally and socially. Through this biennial conference, Al Maaref University aspires to explore how the religious culture of humans perceives oneself, the other-within and the other-without of different religions. This conference will not repeat the idea of the importance of dialogue and its necessities but would like to move on to the research in the culture of dialogue.

 The first International Conference on Interfaith dialogue was held in Beirut, Lebanon, on January 13 and 12, under the patronage of Lebanese President Michel Aoun, represented by His Excellency Dr Pierre Raffoul. The conference was attended by a large number of Islamic and Christian religious figures from the Arab and Islamic world, and an audience of official figures, diplomatic, security, academics and social.

 The conference was concluded on Wednesday 13 September 2017. It included five thematic axes of discussion over two days. These were the following; a- The formation of religious culture, b-the Intellectual Pluralism, c-the Obstacles to Interfaith Dialogue, d-the Role of Religious Institutions in a Culture of Dialogue, e- the Practical Experiences, Institutions and futures of Dialogue.

 The conference came out with a set of final recommendations, and a committee will be formulated to follow them up.

For further details about the two-day activities in the conference, please click the "Side Links" placed on the top right side of the webpage.