Gülen Movement is a Supranational Civil Society Movement
Rice University Professor Jill Carroll has described Fethullah Gülen, whose message promoting dialogue continues to reach new audiences all over the world, and the Gülen movement as a supranational civil movement, during a presentation at an interfaith dialogue dinner in Norway on Thursday.
Norway-based One World in Dialogue (EVID) and the Multiculturalism Platform (Mangfoldhuset) organized a conference called "The Art of Peaceful Coexistence: Gülen Movement as an example," where high-profile participants discussed the Gülen movement and its contribution to world peace. The Keynote speakers were Dr. Carroll and the executive director of the Church City Mission in Trondheim, Dag Aakre, while Turkish Ambassador to Norway Hayati Güven, former Norwegian Justice Minister Odd Einar Dorum and many other invitees attended the event.
Beginning her speech by explaining how she got to know the Gülen movement, Carroll said everything started when she was impressed by the Gülen movement during her visit to Turkey in 2004. Carroll said she was surprised as she was unaware of such a huge movement on five continents. Noting that she has investigated many religious movements in the world and compared them to the Gülen movement, Carroll said she found something unique in the Gülen movement, adding that Gülen has become an inspiration for thousands of people in Turkey and taught them how to serve humanity.
Stressing the rapid and successful development of dialogue advocated by Gülen, Aakre stated that there are still many people, both Christians and Muslims, who oppose the idea of dialogue, noting that you automatically close the door to dialogue if you try to impose your religion on others. (Kadir Uysaloğlu)
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