Religious and agnostic: tomorrow’s values

This roundtable focussed on the terminology behind the conflict between believers and non-believers. In Italy, France, and Germany, the debate has taken on a particular fervor of late: just think of the depth of sentiment that emerged over whether girls could or could not wear the chador in public schools in France, or the debate that raged over referenda proposed in Italy to allow stem cell research and artificial insemination. Participants agreed that a common field of research and areas of commitment must be defined. In truth, the morals and ethics of believers and non-believers often coincide. There is no sense in comparing lay society and religious society, faith and reason. What needs to be done is to imagine how the two, granted obvious distinctions, can stop the nihilistic flow of both fundamentalism and relativism, which only weaken faith AND reason. Progress must be made in improving relations, in developing a sort of alliance between believers and non-believers in the face of grand questions opened up by globalization, scientific discovery (from nuclear energy to bioethics), and environmental issues.