50th French-Language Scriptural Sharing Features the Family
- Nov 23, 2025
- 3 min read
Orsay, France – An interfaith sharing session on the theme, “Family: The First School of Love and Peace” drew 35 participants at the Espace Hirondelle in Orsay on November 23, 2025. An additional 30 people from 10 different countries – Austria, Belgium, Cameroon, Spain, France, Luxembourg, Democratic Republic of the Congo, United Kingdom, Switzerland, United States – participated via videoconference.
This was the 50th such program organized by the interfaith Dialogue & Alliance Circle. Mr. David Perry, president of the French chapter of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, served as moderator.
Ms. Tirzi Martin, graduate of a theological seminary in New York and author of “Communications with Heaven,” addressed the theme from a Jewish perspective. She said the family is central and sacred in Jewish tradition. It is where holidays, Shabbat, love and spiritual learning are experienced. It is considered a sanctuary of peace, a space where everyone learns to recognize the divine spark in others, to love unconditionally, and to forgive despite imperfections.
Drawing on biblical texts and traditional commentaries, Ms. Martin explained that values – particularly love of God – are transmitted first and foremost within the home. She also discussed the concept of shalom bayit (peace in the home), which is essential to family harmony, and emphasized that promoting peace in the family is considered, in the Midrash, to be an act of cosmic significance.
She added that community is inseparable from the family in Jewish tradition. The community supports families in good times and bad, provides a setting for study and prayer, and contributes to a sense of belonging and solidarity. In conclusion, family and community form an environment that allows the spiritual values of Judaism to be lived, transmitted and embodied.
Next Rector Khalil Merroun, from the Grand Mosque of Evry-Courcouronnes, gave a Muslim perspective, basing his remarks on several verses from the Qur'an (Quran, Surah 30 Ar-Rum, verse 21). He said that all human beings share a common origin and that the diversity of peoples is intended to promote mutual understanding, not conflict. For him, true nobility lies in the piety of the heart, the seat of love.
He emphasized the central place of the family in Islam: God has instilled affection, tenderness and mercy in it. Marriage is presented as a sacred bond intended to last “beyond death.” Divorce, although permitted, is seen as a rupture of this harmony desired by God.
The rector also referred to the figure of Mary, honored in Islam (Quran, Surah 19 Maryam, verses 16 to 23), and the miracle of the birth of Jesus. He said that the Muslim faith recognizes all prophets, without distinction, including Jacob (Israel). He thus deplored hostility toward other faiths as ignorance. In his opinion, family and social divisions are often the result of the influence of Satan, who is presented in the Quran as the enemy of man. Humans, he said, must see themselves as brothers and sisters, and cultivate trust rather than mistrust.
This was followed by a musical interlude, featuring a Christian song, “Qu'il est formidable d'aimer” (How Wonderful it is to Love), written by Mr. Jean-Claude Gianadda and performed by Ms. Lola Sterlann.
Finally, Mr. Axel Huard, father of four children and member of the Unificationist community, presented his tradition's vision of the family. Quoting the teachings of the founders of the Unification Movement, he identified four forms of love: parental love, brotherly love, conjugal love and filial love. The family is described as the school of true love, the place where human beings learn to gradually develop these different dimensions of the heart.
He said that, according to the Divine Principle, the founding text of his tradition, God created humanity to live in loving partnership with Him. The three blessings of Genesis 1.28 – personal fulfilment, founding a family, and loving stewardship of creation – guide human beings towards the realization of the divine dream, a harmonious world centered on God.
He described the family as the basic unit of peace. A person at peace can build a peaceful family, which can build peaceful communities and then peaceful nations. In this vision, all humanity is one big family with God as its Parent; nations should therefore help each other as brothers and sisters of different ages.
The meeting concluded with a question-and-answer session, moderated from Orsay by Dr. Laurent Ladouce, research fellow for the Universal Peace Federation and director of the website www.culture-et-paix.org, and remarks by Mr. Jean-François Moulinet, coordinator of the Dialogue & Alliance Circle.
The participants then shared refreshments while continuing to chat.
