Frankfurt/Main/Tel Aviv (dpa/lhe) - The new joint research center of the Universities of Frankfurt and Tel Aviv is intended to help counteract religious conflicts and anti-Semitism. "We firmly believe that a contemporary exchange of knowledge and new research findings help to break down prejudices," said the President of the German-Israeli Society, Uwe Becker, in an interview with the news portal "Focus Online" (Thursday). "It is important to find similarities instead of looking for what separates you and to present them."
Frankfurt's Goethe University and Tel Aviv University are establishing a joint research center to deal with religious studies and interreligious dynamics. Theology, religious studies, Jewish studies and Islamic studies are primarily involved, but also history, philosophy and political science.
The two universities are planning so-called summer schools, joint courses and the creation of a joint English-language master's degree. Frankfurt and Tel Aviv are partner cities. In 1984 the two universities entered into a strategic partnership.
Becker, who is also the state government's anti-Semitism commissioner and European State Secretary in Hesse, said Christians, Jews and Muslims have a long history in common. "Anyone who wants to understand them has to do interdisciplinary research into how they influenced each other." The center also promotes open dialogue on questions of faith.
Jew-phobia is not the only phenomenon on the extreme fringes, anti-Jewish stereotypes are also present in the middle of society. "This is where knowledge transfer and education must start in order to enlighten, inform and show at an early stage the outstanding way in which Jewish life has contributed to the positive development of our country and Europe over the centuries and is still doing so today," said Becker.
