Bridging Beliefs in Vienna: Religious Communities as Partners in Democratic Life

On September 15, the Muslim Jewish Leadership Council (MJLC), together with the Bruno Kreisky Forum for International Dialogue as Vienna host, brought together over 50 participants from public institutions, religious communities, schools and universities, youth organizations, and civil society for the Vienna Local Workshop of Bridging Beliefs: Advancing Peace, Democracy, and Inclusion through Interfaith Dialogue in Europe.

The day began with two questions: How can interreligious dialogue strengthen democratic societies? And what is needed to turn individual encounters into lasting cooperation?

Those were resonant questions for the Kreisky Forum. The opening returned to ideas closely connected to Bruno Kreisky and to the Forum’s work today: bridge-building across difference, democracy, freedom and equality, and the importance of institutions working together if dialogue is to lead to action.

The workshop also started from a premise that is often missing in public discussions about religion. Religious communities are not only constituencies whose needs public authorities need to understand. They also hold knowledge, trusted relationships, leadership, and communication networks that can be resources for the wider city. The question was therefore not only how institutions can respond to religious diversity, but what public institutions and communities can achieve when they know one another well enough to work together.

This made the Kreisky Forum a natural place for the exchange. The Forum sits between political debate, diplomacy, civil society, and public life, and has long created space for people with different positions to work through difficult questions without requiring those differences to disappear.

The range of institutions were represented. Among the participants were the City of Vienna Human Rights Office, MA17 Integration and Diversity, the Vienna State Parliament and City Council, and the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs, alongside the Islamic Religious Authority in Austria (IGGÖ), Jewish communal organizations, Jewish and Muslim youth organizations, the University of Vienna, schools, Caritas Vienna, churches, religious leaders, educators, and grassroots dialogue initiatives. Public policy, education, religious life, and community practice were all woven into conversation and recommendations.

The Vienna workshop built on the earlier Bridging Beliefs capacity-building exchange in Vicenza, while beginning from Vienna’s own experience. MA17 shared examples drawn from more than two decades of cooperation with religious and migrant communities. The projects differed, but the lesson behind them was consistent: cooperation rests on relationships built over time. Trust, regular contact, and knowledge of the communities involved are what make it possible to work together when more difficult questions arise.

Most of the day was spent in breakout working groups focusing on three areas: education and religious literacy; youth participation and sustainable interreligious engagement; and freedom of religion or belief, non-discrimination, and institutional cooperation. Participants began by asking what already works in Vienna, then where the gaps remain, and finally what could realistically be strengthened. The groups were asked to move from diagnosis to proposals grounded in local responsibilities, possible partners, and practical first steps.

A clear picture emerged. Vienna does not lack good initiatives. Schools are opening spaces for encounter. Religious communities and public institutions have built working relationships over many years. Youth and civil-society organizations are bringing people together across religious and social lines. What is often missing is continuity. Successful work can depend on a small number of committed individuals, unpaid labor, short funding cycles, or relationships that have to be rebuilt when personnel change.

Participants discussed an interreligious encounter format, stronger school-based exchange developed with greater youth participation, and the possibility of a more regular citywide structure for interreligious cooperation. Religious literacy also returned throughout the day: public institutions need the knowledge and confidence to engage seriously with religious life, while religious communities need the ability to work effectively with public institutions and communicate beyond their own constituencies.

The closing discussion focused on what happens after an event like this. Participants were clear that the work should not be set aside until the next meeting and then began again from zero. The relationships and proposals developed during the workshop should be carried forward through smaller working formats, continued stakeholder exchange, and the next stages of Bridging Beliefs. Better coordination can itself make a difference: sometimes the missing piece is not another project, but knowing what already exists and bringing the right people into contact with one another.

The workshop also showed why Vienna can matter beyond Austria. The city has established religious communities, public institutions with decades of experience working with diversity, active schools and universities, and a strong network of civil-society and youth organizations. Participants raised the possibility that Vienna could show other European cities what sustained cooperation between public institutions and religious communities can look like in practice. The opportunity now is to connect these strengths more deliberately and give successful work enough continuity to become useful beyond the city itself.

About the project

Bridging Beliefs: Advancing Peace, Democracy, and Inclusion through Interfaith Dialogue in Europe (Bridging Beliefs) is a European project that brings together local authorities, religious communities, civil-society organizations, and citizens across European cities. Through capacity-building, local workshops, consultations, and dialogue events, the project works to strengthen democratic participation, inclusion, and sustainable cooperation across religious and convictional differences.

The Muslim Jewish Leadership Council (MJLC) is one of the project partners and leads the project’s work on Muslim-Jewish dialogue. ALDA – European Association for Local Democracy coordinates the project.

Project: Bridging Beliefs: Advancing Peace, Democracy, and Inclusion through Interfaith Dialogue in Europe
Project number: 101249742
Programme: Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV)
Project period: January 1, 2026–December 31, 2027
Project coordinator: ALDA – European Association for Local Democracy
Project contact: Sara Afendi, Project Manager, ALDA
Email: sara@aldaintranet.org

Project partners

ALDA – European Association for Local Democracy; European Buddhist Union; Equal Society; Local Democracy Agency Mostar; Regional Foundation for Local Development Zamah; Center for Cultural Dialogue – CKD; Muslim Jewish Leadership Council; COREIS – Italian Islamic Religious Community; Municipality of Centar Skopje; with the Interreligious Studies Academy as associated project participant. The Grant Agreement identifies ALDA as coordinator and MJLC as one of the participating organizations.

Funded by the European Union.

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or CERV. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.