Regina Polak

Interreligious dialogue has recently experienced increased interest - both on the part of religious communities and on the part of politics. But the associated goals, interests, and forms of practice of interreligious dialogue are extremely heterogeneous. In addition, there is a socio-religious field that is undergoing massive change: while on the one hand traditional individual religiousness is declining, religion is receiving increased attention in public and political discourses. This constellation leads to new challenges and conflicts with which the actors in interreligious dialogue are confronted. After reflecting the contested concept of interreligious dialogue and outlining the context in which interreligious dialogue takes place in Europe today, the lecture will present some challenges and lines of conflict exemplarily: interreligious dialogue as a way of life, interreligious dialogue in the context of secular societies, interreligious dialogue as a political tool for both political and religious actors.