Institute of Interfaith Dialog Conference
"Denouncing Violence in the Name of God: The Case of Islam," this was the of the conference organized by the "Institute of Interfaith Dialog" in Oklahoma City University with the participation of many community partners.
The conference started with a message from prominent Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, in which he underlined the importance of understanding Islam as a religion of peace, the way that it truly deserves to be understood.
F. Gülen Message Cuts:
The conference aimed at understanding one of the highly debated issues of our time, related to the issue of terrorism and its relevance in Islam as a world religion.
One of the main questions that the speakers explored was the supposed link between terrorism and Islam as it has been a pervasive topic in the Western media.
On the issue of enmity between major religions in the world, the speakers noted that fundamental issues of conflicts are not related to religions themselves but rather related to the political and economic agenda of individuals and leaders often portrayed as part of a religious agenda to provide mass support for their causes.
The speakers urged avoiding the mistake of generalizing when it comes to understanding religions with individual events as this might lead to fundamental misunderstanding.
Instead, the conference participants suggested that each event needs to be understood within its specific context before it can be used as an example to make generalizations about individuals or other religions.
The conference was a comprehensive effort at drawing a framework within which we should try to understand each other and other religions especially within the context of Islam and terrorism.
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