Millennials, Gender and Interfaith Dialogue in Italy

Aim of this paper is to discuss some aspects of the relationship between Millennials, gender, religion and interfaith dialogue, with a particular focus on Italy. The Millennial generation, driven by a need for change, can shape social, economic, political and cultural life, especially with regard to intercultural understanding. Even if, both in the Northern and Southern Mediterranean, young men and women are often the primary victims of fundamentalism, social instability and extremism, they are also key protagonists in terms of promoting intercultural and interreligious dialogue. Alterna­tive spaces in which women and men can be agents of peacemaking and peacebuilding are growing. Media technology has had a great impact on how to promote interfaith diaogue and Millennials, due to their peculiar characteristics, are key participants in this process.

Italy is a country where Catholicism, compared to other European countries, is still strong. However, we have witnessed a weakening of religious affiliation over the past 20 years and a growing trend toward personal spiritual inquiry. This trend is particularly strong among women. Italy is also a country deeply challenged by migration flows that needs intercultural and interfaith institutions and actors to confront growing challenges. In order to understand to what extent Millennials women and men support interfaith dialogue, a survey among university students on religiosity and interreligious dialogue is being carried out in a number of Italian Universities (more than 5,000 questionnaires have been collected). This survey is part of an ongoing interdisciplinary research project carried out within the “Framework Convention (FC) Gender and Religions”. The FC, launched in 2016 by the University of Milano-Bicocca, is a confederation of 30 Italian Universities and nearly 25 Research Centers across Italy which banded together to study, using an interdisciplinary perspective, how contemporary processes of change are affecting religious identities for women and men.