President Janez Drnovsek called for an open, fair, honest and constructive dialogue between the state and religious communities, as he closed the tenth forum on Slovenia's future on Wednesday.
Even though conflicts are possible, only such a dialogue could bear fruit, Drnovsek summed up the conviction of a majority of participants of the meeting.
The retired Belgrade Archbishop Franc Perko also called for such a dialogue, adding that the principle of equality of all religious communities should be upheld to a greater degree. He also called for a continuation of talks between Slovenia and the Vatican.
Apart from agreeing with Perko, Ivan Stuhec of the Ljubljana Faculty of Theology, moreover, called for tolerance of and respect for opinions by others.
Archbishop of Ljubljana and Slovenian Metropolitan Alojz Uran meanwhile claimed that Slovenians are faced with a sever crisis, stemming from the fear of the future, terrorism and robberies.
Moreover, Slovenians want to escape from reality and therefore seek refuge in noise, drugs and sometimes suicide, he believes.
Another professor of theology, Janez Juhant, said that the attitude of Slovenians towards the church is still based on the thinking which emerged during the 45 years of the communist rule.
He therefore called for a revision of Slovenian history, most notably the role of the country's two major churches, the Catholic and the Lutheran. He moreover proposed that religious classes be introduced into Slovenian schools.
He was seconded by Justice Minister Lovro Sturm, who called the Constitutional Court decision which prohibited such classes "too severe".
Borut Kosir of the Faculty of Theology stressed that, contrary to prevailing beliefs, the state was the one meddling with the church, and not the other way round.
He explained that religious communities have the right to publicly speak their mind and that Slovenians will have to get used to that.
Head of the Jewish community in the country Andrej Kozar Beck sees the reason for conflicts between the state and religious communities in different interests. He called for mutual respect and an attempt at finding common goals between the institutions.
Academician Joze Krasovec believes that a modern democratic society is based on what is dubbed a rationalistic approach, however, he claimed that human development is not dependent on ratio but more on emotions and morals.
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