Paradoxes and limitations in enacting Jewish-Muslim dialogue in contemporary France: case studies of interreligious and intercultural dialogue initiatives

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines the extent to which Jewish-Muslim inter-religious/cultural dialogue initiatives in France are negatively affected by the dominant paradigm of republican universalism and state secularism in France. It focuses on the relations between, on the one hand, the Institut du Monde Arabe (IMA) and the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire du Judaïsme (mahJ) and, on the other hand, Beit Haverim and Homosexuels musulmans de France (HM2F) to highlight the key challenges such initiatives face. In addition, this article suggests that the ineffectiveness of some contemporary interreligious initiatives in France results from both the inherent difficulty in navigating the republican universalist framework and the failure of such initiatives to acknowledge, mediate, and challenge the historical and contemporary role of the state in shaping the relations between Jews and Muslims.