13 – 15 October 2026 | London, United Kingdom
Future 500’s declared aim is to approach interreligious and worldview dialogue differently: more critically, more honestly, and with greater relevance to the conflicts shaping European societies and their religious and worldview communities. The Autumn Workshop 2026 takes this ambition as its starting point.
Interreligious dialogue often treats religion as a neutral resource, dangerous only when appropriated by political actors or extremists. The Future 500 Autumn Workshop 2026 challenges that assumption.
Violence is not simply imposed on religious traditions from outside. It is also present in foundational texts, authoritative interpretations, institutional histories, and inherited practices. Conquest narratives in the Tanakh, Qur’anic passages on armed conflict, crusading theology, and classical jihad jurisprudence all show that mainstream traditions – not only fringe actors -have had to define when violence may be justified. This remains politically consequential. The Russian Orthodox Church has given theological legitimacy to the war against Ukraine; jihadist organisations invoke scripture; evangelical, Hindu nationalist, and other political movements mobilise religious narratives to legitimise exclusion and violence.
The workshop therefore asks not only how religion is weaponised, but what within religious traditions makes that weaponisation possible. It also examines how older structures of religious enmity survive in secular forms, including antisemitism and anti-Muslim racism. Religious communities cannot limit their responsibility to condemning extremism or the misuse of faith. They must also confront the violent elements and exclusions within their own traditions, make their interpretive choices visible, and develop theological, educational, and institutional safeguards against their political activation.
The workshop explores how violence is transmitted, legitimised, and mobilised – and what responsibility follows when it is not merely external to tradition, but a recurring possibility within it.
The workshop explores the following questions:
- Where is violence embedded in religious tradition – in texts, practices, and authority?
- How does it become institutional and political action?
- How do religious communities confront violence within their own traditions?
- How do antisemitism and anti-Muslim racism carry religious enmity into secular societies?
- What theological, educational, and institutional responsibilities follow?
The goal is not to indict religion, but to add to the honesty within our field: a comparative, cross-religious analysis of how violence is legitimised, resisted, and lived with from within, and what that means for building durable solidarity across communities who have inherited very different relationships to this violence.
Format
Through a combination of expert input, interactive sessions, and guided engagement with London as a multireligious case study, participants will explore how violence is inscribed in religious tradition, how communities respond to it, and how it manifests as antisemitism and anti-Muslim racism today.
Please note: This workshop takes place alongside the EPNA autumn workshop „Plural Societies, Shared Responsibility: Strengthening Jewish Community Responses to Antisemitism“. The two groups will join for parts of the shared programme. Participants active in both networks are asked to register for the programme of their choice.
Costs & Logistics
Travel costs will be reimbursed up to €300 (2nd class only). Accommodation details and detailed information regarding travel and reimbursement will be provided after the application process.
Workshop Lead
Jo Frank (Director DialoguePerspectives e.V.)
Kira Wisniewski (Programme Lead Future 500)
