Liberty and Tolerance in an Age of Religious Conflict

September 9, 2011
9:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. EDT
Location: Berkley Center Third Floor Conference Room Map

Religious liberty and tolerance are among the most central global issues facing us today. Too often scholars have approached them solely as philosophical questions or abstract universal imperatives, obscuring their meaning and significance within specific religious traditions. Any effort to deepen appreciation for religious liberty and tolerance while excluding religious voices is bound to fail. This conference convened scholars and practitioners from Christian, Jewish, and Muslim backgrounds to examine and compare resources supportive of religious freedom and tolerance within their own traditions. The participants were among the contributors to the book Abraham’s Children: Liberty and Tolerance in an Age of Religious Conflict (2012). The conference concluded with an interfaith service in commemoration of September 11, 2001.

Each of the panels addressed the following questions:

Historically, how has your tradition been exploited by opponents of religious liberty and tolerance? Does such exploitation persist, and why?
What are the major resources within your tradition supportive of religious liberty and tolerance? What do they add to dominant secular human rights discourse?
How can interfaith dialogue and activism advance the liberty and tolerance agenda? What dangers and pitfalls do you see along the way?

This conference was convened by the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs and Calvin College with the generous support of the John Templeton Foundation.

Schedule

September 8

Keynote Lecture: The Wounds of God | Nicholas Wolterstorff

September 9

Welcome | Tom Banchoff, Kelly Clark

Keynote: Religious Liberty in Islam | Hedieh Mirahmadi

Panel: Muslim Perspectives | Tom Banchoff, Rana Husseini, Hedieh Mirahmadi, Aziz Abu Sarah

Keynote: The Educational Stakes | Nurit Peled-Elhanan

Panel: Jewish Perspectives | Arik Ascherman, Michael Cromartie, Nurit Peled-Elhanan, Leah Shakdiel

Panel: Christian Perspectives | Zainab Al-Suwaij, Kelly James Clark, Ziya Meral, Hanna Siniora, Nicholas Wolterstorff

September 10

Interfaith Dinner and Discussion

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Liberty and Tolerance in an Age of Religious Conflict

Featured Participants

Hedieh Mirahmadi Toggle

About Hedieh Mirahmadi

Hedieh Mirahmadi is an attorney, author, and founder and president of the World Organization for Resource Development & Education (WORDE), which works to improve communication between Muslim and non-Muslim communities in order to reduce social conflict and political instability. She has advised the US Embassy in Afghanistan and Office of the Director of National Intelligence and is a member of the the LAPD Counter Terrorism Community Police Advisory Board. Mirahmadi is the editor of several books, including Islam and Civil Society (2005) and In the Shadow of Saints: Sufi Discourses of Shayk Muhammad Hisham Kabbani (2006). She is a member of the all-female Shura Council of the Women's Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality and has studied Islamic law within the tradition of the Naqshbandi Haqqani Sufi Order. Mirahmadi holds a JD from the University of Southern California.

Hedieh Mirahmadi's Profile

Nurit Peled-Elhanan Toggle

About Nurit Peled-Elhanan

Dr. Nurit Peled-Elhanan is a Lecturer in Language Education at Hebrew University in Jerusalem specializing in discourse in Israeli education with emphasis on visual and verbal presentation of Palestinian and non-western Jews. Since the death of her 13 year-old daughter in a suicide bombing in Jerusalem, Israeli peace activist Peled-Elhanan has worked to promote dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians. She and her family work with the Palestinian and Israeli Bereaved Families for Peace. Her two elder sons are active in the peace movements of the Refusenik and Combatants for Peace, a new movement of Israeli and Palestinian ex-fighters. Peled-Elhanan is the recipient of the European Parliament 2001 Sakharov Prize for Human Rights and Freedom of Speech. She is the daughter of the late Maj. Gen. Mattityahu ("Matti") Peled, a military commander and politician who later advocated a two-state solution.

Nurit Peled-Elhanan's Profile

Nicholas Wolterstorff Toggle

About Nicholas Wolterstorff

Nicholas Wolterstorff is the Noah Porter Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at Yale University and currently a senior research fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia. Active in teaching and research at Yale from 1989 to 2001, prior to that Wolterstorff taught at Calvin College from 1959 to 1989. He is the author of numerous books and published articles, including Justice: Rights and Wrongs (2010) and Until Justice and Peace Embrace (1983/1994). Former president of the American Philosophical Association (Central Division), Wolterstorff helped found the Society of Christian Philosophers in 1978; he is also a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Science. He has given the Wilde Lectures at Oxford University, the Gifford Lectures at St Andrews University, the Stone Lectures at Princeton Seminary, and the Taylor Lectures at Yale. Wolterstorff received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Harvard University and his A.B. from Calvin College.

Nicholas Wolterstorff's Profile

Other Participants

Aziz Abu Sarah Toggle

About Aziz Abu Sarah

Aziz Abu Sarah is the cofounder of MEJDI Tours, a social enterprise that offers tours in areas experiencing cultural conflict. He previously was a National Geographic Explorer, a 2014 TED Fellow, and the executive director of George Mason University’s Center for World Religions, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution.

Aziz Abu Sarah's Profile

Zainab Al-Suwaij Toggle

About Zainab Al-Suwaij

Zainab Al-Suwaij is the executive director of the American Islamic Congress (AIC), having left her teaching position at Yale University to co-found AIC following the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. She is an outspoken advocate for women’s equality, civil rights, and interfaith understanding.

Zainab Al-Suwaij's Profile

Kelly James Clark Toggle

About Kelly James Clark

Kelly James Clark is Professor of Philosophy at Calvin College and former Executive Director of the Society of Christian Philosophers. He has held postdoctoral fellowships at Oxford University, the University of St. Andrews, and the University of Notre Dame. Currently focused on the philosophy of religion, epistemology, and Chinese philosophy, he is the author, editor, or co-author of more than twenty books and author of over fifty articles; his books include Return to Reason (1990), The Story of Ethics: Human Nature & Human Fulfillment (2003, with Anne Portenga), and 101 Key Philosophical Terms of Their Importance for Theology (2004). His book Abraham's Children: Liberty and Tolerance in an Age of Religious Conflict is forthcoming from Yale University Press. He is the co-chair of the September 2011 conference on "Liberty and Tolerance in an Age of Religious Conflict" hosted by the Berkley Center.

Kelly James Clark's Profile

Michael Cromartie Toggle

About Michael Cromartie

Michael Cromartie was vice president at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where he directed the Faith Angle Forum and the Evangelicals in Civic Life program until his death in September 2017.

Michael Cromartie's Profile

Rana Husseini Toggle

About Rana Husseini

Rana Husseini is an award-winning journalist for the Jordan Times and human rights defender. She has focused on the brutal crimes that are committed against Jordanian women in the name of family honor, culminating in the book Murder in the Name of Honor: The True Story of One Women's Heroic Fight Against An Unbelievable Crime (2009). Husseini has earned nine local and international awards, including a medal from Jordan’s King Abdullah II in 2007, for reporting on such crimes. Her work resulted in the formation of the National Jordanian Committee to Eliminate so-called Crimes of Honor in 1998. Husseini has also worked as a regional coordinator on a UNIFEM campaign to fight violence against women. She is a board member for several organizations, including the Man Up Campaign (USA), Jordan Football Association, and Jordanian National Committee for Demining and Rehabilitation.

Rana Husseini's Profile

Ziya Meral Toggle

About Ziya Meral

Ziya Meral is a Turkish Christian writer, researcher, and a PhD candidate in Politics at the University of Cambridge; he is also a research associate with the Foreign Policy Centre. Meral is a 2010-2011 Joseph Crapa Fellow at the US Commission on International Religious Freedom and conducting a year-long research project on identifying patterns of ethno-religious violence. Meral has an extensive research and human rights advocacy record across the Middle East on religion and minority issues, and he regularly publishes academic essays and op-eds on Middle East and Turkish politics in British and international media. He has delivered lectures and briefings at the US Congress, US Department of State, and British Parliament and regularly briefed UK, US, EU, and UN officials. Meral holds a BA from Brunel University, MDiv from the International School of Theology (Philippines), and MSc in sociology from the London School of Economics.

Ziya Meral's Profile

Leah Shakdiel Toggle

About Leah Shakdiel

Leah Shakdiel is an Israeli peace activist and feminist scholar. Through teaching and continued activist work with Israeli human rights NGOs like Machsom Watch, Mirkam Azori, Darom4Peace, and Rabbis for Human Rights, Shakdiel works to bring the values of peace, equality, human rights, and social justice to the next generation of Israelis. In 1988 Shakdiel became Israel's first female member of a local Religious Council, following a successful struggle that ended with a landmark Supreme Court decision. Since 1978 Shakdiel has lived with her family in Yeruham, a small development town in the Negev Desert committed to halacha (Jewish law), social responsibility, peace, and ecology. She holds a BA from Bar Ilan University in English and French Literature.

Leah Shakdiel's Profile

Hanna Siniora Toggle

About Hanna Siniora

Hanna Siniora is co-CEO of the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information (IPCRI), publisher of the Jerusalem Times, and general manager of Biladi Advertising Agency. Siniora has been a member of the Palestinian National Council since 1990; he has officially represented the Palestine Liberation Organization in several negotiations. A Palestinian Christian living in East Jerusalem, he served as editor-in-chief of Al Fajr, an East Jerusalem Arabic language daily, from 1973-93, and was the founding editor of the English language Al Fajr Weekly. Since 1989 he has been Chairman of the European Palestinian Chamber of Commerce and from 1998-2003 was chairman of the Palestinian American Chamber of Commerce. In 2007 Siniora was awarded the Peace Prize of Honor from the Order of the Knights of Malta in recognition of his commitment to Palestinian-Israeli peace. He was also awarded the Papal Silver Olive Branch for Peace.

Hanna Siniora's Profile

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