Hendrik Hoet 0101
Question: What is the story behind "Trialogue"?
Hoet: It came about in response to the murder of Mohammed Achrak, a local Muslim teacher who was killed by a neighbour who went crazy. The murder led to riots here in Antwerp. Luckily the religious leaders - imams in this case - were able to calm down the masses. We at Sant’Egidio then had the idea that if we wanted a peaceful society, the religious leaders of the different faiths should be able to consult each other and to know where each other live, in case of problems of a religious nature, or situations arising that are given a religious twist. That is why the three of us sat down together at the invitation of Sant’Egidio.
In the aftermath of these events, the three of us gave a press conference and called for a peace march on 1 January, since it was close to New Year. We told the people: Look, we are in contact with one another, we are here as friends, a Jew, a Muslim, and a Christian.
In other words, we have done a few things together to express the idea that the existence of different religions does not make friendship impossible, but rather that friendship is a divine good, and a religious goal that suits God.
The word Trialogue is just a play on words, of course. Dialogue has nothing to do with two people, but means talking with each other. But to give the book a title and to name the phenomenon, we have called it Trialogue. I think as a word it is evocative: it reminds us of dialogue, and at the same time it refers to the three monotheistic religions.
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