Македонски центар за меѓународна соработка - МЦМС

The informative publications of the religious communities mainly focus on their own religions, hardly ever writing on the other religions. There is no exchange of information on certain theological issues, while the interreligious dialogue is down to minimum. The lack of communication and personal contacts among the members of the different religious communities are the reason why they do not know and understand each other and they misinterpret the religion of the other, providing fertile ground for spreading prejudices.

In this respect, several activities were realized through the Building Religions in Macedonia (MSM) programme aimed at developing the dialogue and communication among the religious communities. They were designed in a way to stimulate the implementation of joint activities and to support the learning of each other. The positive experience from the previous years were the reason why some of the activities continued in 2007 (Bulletin, comparative studies, etc.) For strengthening the publication activities, Publishing Council was established in 2003, comprised of representatives from the faith communities, which is still operational. It has advisory role, discussing the quality of the publications.

The overall objective is to deepen the mutual cooperation of religious communities and to improve the understanding of the public at large about the religions.

The project purpose is to intensify the flow of information among the religious communities and the public, to broaden the perspectives of the participants in the programme for future activities and to intensify the contacts and communication with their colleagues, activists and people from other religions (communities).

The target group is comprised of students/professors of the Orthodox Theology Faculty and the Faculty for Islamic Studies, members of faith communities and the general public.

The project funded the publication of three issues of the Bulletin for interreligious cooperation, including 500 copies in Macedonian and 300 copies in Albanian language.

The part referring to the research activity (comparative studies), two researches were funded this year. The first one was the Analysis of Inter-religious Cooperation in Macedonia, while the second one was Modern Macedonia and Religious Rights.

A multimedia CD was also prepared, presenting the achievements of MSM program.

The CD included information, photographs of all the events organized during the 4-year existence of the Bridging Religions program in Macedonian and English language. A bulletin board was also prepared with all the achievements and was used for presenting the program during the 6th NGO Fair.

The students from OTF and members of the faith communities took active part in creating the Bulletin. A team of five students was established at the OTF that regularly followed and covered the events of significant importance for the program. The interest of the members of faith communities to write articles for the bulletin has been increased. Briefly, it can be summarized that the Bulletin provided unrestricted flow of information among the faith communities, making it possible their cooperation to be presented to the public. The analyses of the two researches may serve as future guidelines towards inter-religious dialogue that should continue in future. The CD with the success stories was only a confirmation of the successful implementation of the program, showing the willingness for cooperation of the faith communities that participated and supported these events.