Can Social Media Improve Dialogue Between Religions?

The use of social media to improve interfaith communications and relations will be the theme of this year's Doha Interfaith Conference. The 9th annual two-day conference, set up by the Doha International Centre for Interfaith Dialogue (DICID), will be held on 24th October 2011 and is expected to draw over 170 participants from the Middle East, Europe, and the US to examine the theme of  'Means of Social Communication and the Interfaith Dialogue; a Futuristic Outlook'.

This year's conference will revolve around issues like interfaith dialogue, civilisations and cultures with a focus on the role of social communication media in influencing people's opinion. Ebrahim Saleh Al Nuaimi, the director of the Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue (DICID)

Religious scholars and experts at the conference will examine the impact social communications and networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube in the Arab world. They will examine whether or not free and open channels can encourage better understanding between the faiths and perhaps even lead to constructive dialogue as a way of resolving disputes. 

The DICID is committed to promoting the acceptance of different religious and philosophical views which can be facilitated through social media. Free and open communications offers the opportunity and the means for people of different cultures to communicate and share ideas. Yet the DICID want to put equal focus on how to implement those tools effectively, in the hope that effective communication will lead to better understanding and perhaps even resolutions to disputes without leading to war.

Source; Gulf News
Image Credit; Seeds of Peace