Speakers:

Muhammed Cetin,
President of the IID

Coval MacDonald,
Retired Minister,
Central Presbyterian Church

Kenny Weiss,
President, Houston Hillel Foundation

Bill Clark,
Reverend, Thoreau Unitarian Church

Jeff Clopper, Rabbi
Congr. Emanu El

Dr. David Cook, Professor of Religion,
Rice University

Rice University, Houston, TX, November 7, 2002

Dialog means the coming together of two or more people to discuss certain issues, and thus the forming of a bond between these people. Dialog is a way of encountering and understanding oneself, others, the world, and the other world, at the deepest levels, which opens up possibilities of grasping individually and corporately the fundamental meanings of life and afterlife and its various dimensions.

Interfaith dialog is a process of coming together of people committed to their respective religions and spiritual paths for the purpose of mutual understanding, appreciation, enrichment and cooperation.

The IID organized two panel discussions:
The Necessity of Interfaith Dialogue Abrahamic Religions: Christianity, Islam, and Judaism in Houston at Rice University and University of Houston in November 2002.

Dr. MacDonald: ...We acknowledge the oneness and basic unity of religion, which is a symphony of God’s blessings and mercy, and universality of belief in religion. Religion is a system of belief embracing all races and all beliefs, a road bringing everyone together in brotherhood. In fact, we are not brothers and sisters, we are all cousins from the same root, our common father Prophet Abraham.

Rev. Clark: ...I am a Jew, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Zoroastrian and Bahai. We are all one and we all come from One God. As Unitarian Universalists, we are a spiritual community of open minds and caring hearts, working for social justice, religious freedom, peace and dialog...

Rabbi Weiss shared with the audience the Jewish perspective on interfaith dialog.

Mr. Cetin: ...Among the many things we have lost in this age, perhaps the first and most important is tolerance and dialog. From this word we understand embracing people regardless of differences of opinion, world-view, ideology, ethnicity, or belief. It also means putting up with matters we do not like by finding strength in a deep conscience, faith, and a generous heart or by the strength of our emotions. From another approach, it means, in the words of the famous Turkish poet Yunus Emre, “loving the created simply because of the Creator”.

University of Houston, TX, November 5, 2002

At this dangerous moment, when anger and mutual fear seem to be the dominant feelings in the relations between nations and peoples, it is of great concern that talk of tolerance and dialog may seem ineffectual, even useless. It is, however, precisely now, in such an atmosphere of mistrust, that the practice of true tolerance and dialog is vital, the only antidote to the poison of enmity in the air. As nations and peoples square up to each other in anger and fear, it is our duty to do the most difficult thing open to us, to take one step back, to relax our aggressive postures and seek and find our common ground, our common humanity. We must work to find solutions, and not offer further provocations and conflicts.

Muhammed Cetin: A Turkish Islamic Scholar’s Understanding of Tolerance and Dilaog

“Understandably, in the wake of the execrable events of September 11, many citizens of the United States in particular may not feel inclined to heed calls for tolerance and dialog by and towards Muslims and may doubt the intentions of those Muslim scholars making such a call. In answer to this, we shall point to the personal history of the Turkish scholar, Fethullah Gülen, that is, his long record prior to September 11 of calling for tolerance and peaceful dialog between the various faith and interest groups of the world.” Cetin examines Gülen’s understanding of the meaning of tolerance and dialog and his commitment to its practice.