Research Center for Religious Diversity

The Research Center for Religious Diversity (Forschungsstelle für religiöse Vielfalt) was established in 2023 at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, in Germany.  

Mission: to establish and explore paths to achieve fruitful conviviality of persons and groups of different religious affiliations. We also seek to examine mechanisms of construction of religious identities in a globalized world and to work against tendencies of segmentation and seclusion.

Vision: We envision a European society marked by peaceful religious coexistence, enriched by its diversity and strengthened by social cohesion and respectful interaction between the faiths, on institutional and individual levels.

Notable Past Activities and Achievements: We are a newly born center, and in one year of activity, we have gathered in Germany, in closed workshops, representatives of the various religious groups involved in the conflict that broke out in the Middle East on October 7th. some of whom hold diametrically opposed political views. We offered them all a safe space for dialogue and debate at a time when the society was silent on the conflict.

Key Objectives

• The Research Center of Religious Diversity connects the academic knowledge-production with practitioners of interreligious dialogue on the one hand and with politicians on the other.
• Our project “Stay in dialogue, despite conflict” focuses on the consequences of October 7th on German society. In workshops addressed to different target groups, we develop strategies to deal with challenges facing our society as a result of the religious dimension of the conflict. 

Future Objectives 

• To continue to deepen our knowledge of the social, political and economic dimensions of religious heritage and improve our expertise in transferring useful knowledge to the decision maker and to society at large.
• To build bridges of useful cooperation between Europe and the Middle East that are not affected by religious tensions, but rather build on the common historical and cultural heritage of our peoples.

Main Activities and Programs

• Our main project “Stay in dialogue, despite conflict” is funded by the Bavarian State Ministry of the Interior, for Sport, and Integration and undertakes activities dealing with the impact of the Palestine/Israel conflict on German society.
• Our academic staff is specialized in the field of Islamic and Jewish studies, Islamic and Christian theology, interfaith studies and philosophy of religion. 
• We host young academic talents. Supported by the Hanns-Seidel-Foundation (a think-tank in Germany), we regularly support a number of doctoral students writing theses in the field of “religion and politics” or “religion in German society”.

Workshops: The Research Center of Religious Diversity organizes workshops for stakeholder in interfaith dialogue, teachers and others that are involved in integration work in Germany, where we focus on the various impacts of the Middle East conflict on the community in Germany.