- About us, Goals
- Welcome
About us
CENTER FOR OPEN DIALOG - SERBIA
Our country is going trough harsh period of transition, stands on crossroad between past and future, ruins of communist regime and efforts to establish democratic, pluralistic and liberal society. Period of transition inevitably brings turbulent social changes, overlaps of old and new ideologies, strivings of various democratic fractions to constitute foundation of contemporary European society.
Therefore our vision is to gather a team of young, ambitious, educated people who have potential to answer to this solemn task. Our primary task is to improve our society, both culturally and spiritually, to obtain moral standards which are required if we want to have strong and healthy society. Every member of our current team is well educated, ready to give his best in order to refine his social environment.
Center for Open Dialog is non-governmental organization which main goal is to promote democratic and ethical values, improve ethnical relations and interdenominational dialog.
Organization has threefold character:
- Political
- Social
- Religious
Related to political character, organization is not part of any political fraction or organization, although its political appropriation can be compared with some political fractions which belong to democratic block in Serbia. We want to nourish and emphasize basic democratic values such as:
- pluralistic democratic system, freedom of speech, equality, nonviolent resistance to all kinds of hegemony
- Improving human rights standards (resistance to all kind of discrimination: religious, racial or ethnical.
Democracy must represent a scope of ethical, human and Christian values which cannot be applied apart. Democratic values represent freedom of choice of individual, its possibility to create, form and actively take part in his social environment.
Democratic social system must be organized, decentralized, without any form of hegemony and totalitarism. It represents reign of human rights and interests which ensure equality of individuals.
Regarding to social character we want to promote ethical values, tolerance, respecting human rights as inevitable factor and imperative of every modern social system. Ethical principals in democratic society should be established on Christian values.
Some of those aspects are: improving dialog of tolerance between various ethnical and religious groups, unity in diversity, overcoming cultural differences and mutual understanding. Communication should be elevated on level which is above religious and national aspirations of one people or group by exchanging its cultural and religious symbols which identify ethos of that ethnical group on one side, and by maintaining national pride on the other.
Regarding the religious character, organization is not part of any religious organization, although some religious aspects are imparted in its ideology. All Christian values that we promote are founded on Holy Scripture, testified in Nicene and Chalcedonian creed.
In religious aspect we don’t have any ambition to relate others to certain dogmas or to proselyte in the name of some religious organization or church, but to assemble people of various religious (Christian) groups and promote their mutual (ecumenical) dialog. In order to take part in religious aspect, we want to emphasize these several issues:
- Improving interdenominational dialog between three Christian confessions: Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant, therefore to improve their ecumenical dialog.
- Improving standards of religious freedom, in order to improve position of minor, multiethnic (protestant) churches.
- Opposing to any form of ethnophiletism and ethnocentrism
Our managing board is consisted of five members.
Srđan Sremac, MA, director and president of board.
Nikola Knežević, MA, vice president.
Rada Pejić Sremac, MA, member of managing board.
Dimitrije Popadić, PhD, member of managing board.
Sergej Beuk, MA, member of managing board.