الاتحاد الكاثوليكي العالمي للصحافة- لبنان اوسيب – لبنان
Jal El Dib, February 3rd, 2000
The World Forum of Professionals in the Secular and Religious Media – Lebanese branch held an extraordinary meeting at the Catholic headquarters for media at Jal El Dib, under the presidency of Pr. Toni Khadra and in the presence of the officers. The Bureau discussed the conditions of the Forum, then the attenders talked about the exaggeration of the funeral at the mountain of Dibl and affirmed that the Forum is by the side of the Maronite Patriarch, supporting his positions which represent fixed national positions on the basis of coexistence and respect of others. The Forum considered that the practice of religious rituals in all confessions surpasses the political limit. The Forum felt strange that some writers attacked the Lebanese religion in the book entitled “searching for Jesus Christ” in a nation which principal characterization is the freedom of belief, and the sacredness of religions. The Forum, regretting the level the deal with the citizen reached, it coveted to affirm the respect of writers’ freedom in their belief, even if they were atheists, recalling that the freedom of the human ends where the freedom of the other begins.
The Forum draws the attention of officials to the level of danger the book includes regarding the transgression of beliefs and the harm of a huge part of Lebanese people. It asks them to take a clear position which controls the deep harm of the citizen and the nation, and be an obstacle to any trial that anyone would do in the future, in order to keep the values which setup this nation and characterize it from other States in the world.
Translated by: Joyce Tary
