He told the event dubbed Our Common Future - Our Common Responsibility held at the Tihany abbey’s visitor centre that those who refuse to communicate with each other are sooner or later bound to turn away from each other and become enemies.

Most Hungarians are “starving” for sincere and straight talk, and young people need to be taught to turn towards each other with more understanding, Balog said. The Second Vatican Council’s Nostra Aetate declaration promulgated in 1965 on the church’s relations with non-Christian religions stated that “dialogue with Jewish communities should not be restricted to the Holocaust,” Balog said.

“We do not want to circumvent this large and inescapable rock, either, but face up to it” and through studying the Bible and pursuing theological and brotherly dialogue, it is possible “to approach the tragedy and also the sins that are indeed difficult to forgive,” he added.

For the past two years, the ministry has been involved in dialogue with the Jewish educational roundtable about the National Curriculum and terminology and texts have been approved by both sides, the minister said.

Source www.hungarymatters.hu

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