Jean Arnold De Clermont of the Reformed Church of France began his speech to a round table discussion held today at the International Peace Conference organized in Antwerp by the Community of Sant’Egidio  with a poem by Aragon, “la rose et le réséda”, which talks about the blood shed during the Resistance by those who believe in God together with those who don’t. “But today –he said – it’s not enough to have an united front against evil. We must work for reconciliation”.
According to De Clermont, believers must elevate the political debate to the level of reconciliation, a value that is both secular and religious and is at the basis of European construction. In the context of dialogue between humanists and religious believers, the latter can contribute “a better knowledge of their own fragility and a little less self-assuredness. This awareness does not exclude enthusiasm, but extends itself to cooperation, openness to others and solidarity, concluded De Clermont, citing the speech made by Polish writer Zygmunt Bauman to the inaugural assemblty of the Antwerp Conference.