Maison de la Vie Associative et Citoyenne, 8 rue du général Renault
75011 Paris
France
- Environment/Sustainable development
Founded in France in 2005, the interreligious and civic association CIEUX (Comité Interreligieux pour une Éthique Universelle et contre la Xénophobie - Interreligious Committee for Universal Ethics and against Xenophobia), aims to facilitate "living together" links between the inhabitants of a neighbourhood.
The aim is not to draw up a catalogue of good conduct, but to invite everyone to adjust their behaviour to the rules of life in society and to Human Rights, with the help, for some religious beliefs and for others, of texts inspired by philosophy or popular wisdom.
Human Rights forms the basis of a social morality in which each individual can achieve happiness as well as the common good. The interreligious and secular dialogue on human rights, as proposed by CIEUX, thus enables members of religious and civic communities (we understand by "civic community" people, believers or not, who participate in the meetings but who approach the themes from a non-religious angle, in particular with regard to the Declaration of the Human and Citizen Rights) who seek to apply human rights with virtue, to flourish while building social peace.
In short, CIEUX invites all citizens, faithful of places of worship and non-believers to work together for the respect of fundamental freedoms and the promotion of civic behaviours, through an open and trusting pedagogical dialogue.
By organizing these encounters on the ground between inhabitants from all communities, CIEUX aims to foster a better mutual knowledge of each other, in the respect of human rights and in the service of living together.
CIEUX is a true school of secularism, fighting against communitarianism by highlighting the values carried by each person, whether agnostic, atheist, or member of a religious community.
- Structure of the organization, including number of staff employed and/or partners : our team is made up of 4 board members, 5 coordinators, 2 staff members and few volunteers. We are working together with various partners such as the French Civic Service Agency, associations, local communities and municipalities.
- Budgetary resources available in a year : approx. 120 000 €
- Sources of funding : subventions from municipalities, governments funding, donations...
- Modalities of action : Our association offers intercultural dialogues of proximity. A proximity that takes into account the territory, the local anchorage, the common space. Meetings take place between the inhabitants of a neighbourhood. CIEUX implements dialogues that give a voice to citizens. The action carried out by our association continues the movement launched in the 1960s in favour of a participatory democracy that involves citizens more. CIEUX devotes itself to the three missions of participatory democracy but only in the intercultural field: debates between local actors, the creation of fraternal friendships and the search for the common good. Citizens are thus political, economic, social and cultural actors who build the local community they want to live in.
Main partners : the French Civic Service Agency (ASC), local communities, Kremlin-Bicêtre municipality.
CIEUX develops two actions:
1) International civic service
The association CIEUX is working with the French Civic Service Agency (ASC) to recruit volunteers aged 18 to 26 for international missions.
These young people can take part in concrete actions abroad supporting all forms of local development. Hosting structures are developing projects in different fields : educational, cultural, health, social or economic.
2) Community Dialogues on Diversity
CIEUX aims to bring together members of civic, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, and Muslim communities, in order to promote living together while observing the principles of secularism.
The association organizes local dialogues on diversity between different religious and civic communities (participatory bodies) and the inhabitants of the same neighbourhood. In each locality, town, city or district, the meetings are prepared by the communities, independently of each other, on a specific theme (for example freedom, fraternity, globalization, education...) without proselytism or syncretism. Afterwards, an inter-community dialogue is established, allowing for a better knowledge and appreciation of each other, while respecting differences.
Our association encourages places of worship in their efforts to guarantee the citizenship of their faithful. Before each interreligious dialogue, the association CIEUX invites the faithful of the places of worship to work for the respect of fundamental liberties and civic behaviour, by organising preparatory civic meetings on human rights.
The CIEUX association aims to reduce negative prejudices and fears, factors of hatred and xenophobia, which arise from a mutual misunderstanding of religions and the values carried by religious and civic communities. The association CIEUX fights against racial and/or ethnic discrimination by inviting the faithful of places of worship in the same locality to dialogue with agnostic and atheist people of good will in their neighbourhood.
Two meetings are organized per year and per local antenna, the reports are put online on the association's website and a space for exchange is set up to continue the debate and prepare the next meetings. Apart from these inter-community meetings, and the preparatory meetings within each community that precede them, we are keen to maintain a strong link with the local partners through joint actions and relationships.
The association CIEUX helps religions to live together harmoniously, by offering the faithful places of worship to experience pluralism.
The purpose of the association is to develop intercultural dialogue and awareness. CIEUX can contribute to the ALF Network in France thanks to its 15 years experience in the field of citizenship education and solidarity.
We believe ALF Network encourages capacity building and networking of various solidarity organizations. We would like to be part of it to empower our action and develop partnership with other french association.