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Message of Prime Minister Călin Popescu Tăriceanu on the occasion of the international Congress The Dialogue Between Science and Religion in the Orthodox World
Your Holiness Patriarch, Mister President of the Romanian Academy, Dear guests from the country and from abroad, Distinguished audience,
I am happy to greet the stage of the international Congress The Dialogue between Science and Religion in the Orthodox World by the Association for Dialogue between Theology and Science in Romania (ADSTR) in cooperation with the Romanian Patriarchate and the Romanian Academy. This prestigious event is a chance for cultivating and strengthening a consciousness of the dialogue between individuals engaged in the theological research and in the scientific one. In Romania, during the communist regime, under the influence of the militant atheist ideology, the idea of an artificial antagonism was accredited between reasoning and faith, between science and theology. Under these conditions, the effort to outline a possible honest dialogue between theology and science, by avoiding the ideological trends which may distort the relation between two fields is to be greeted. The meeting between theology and science, assuming the exigency of the dialogue based on scientific honesty and judgment can favour a unitary and coherent vision upon the important matters, which confronts the contemporary society. The convergence of the separate steps of research may coagulate the specific vocations of the theology and science in a united perspective. Romania holds a significant potential as concerns favouring the dialogue between different religious, cultural and scientific traditions. In this direction, the Romanian spirituality and culture may catalize in a broader international context in a comprehensive dialogue between different traditions. Considering this academic event will help to consolidate a dialogue based on mutual respect, I wish success to the debates of the Congress.
Călin Popescu Tăriceanu Prime Minister |