Pacifica-Blogs

Breaking Bread Together and Promoting Dialogue Between the Two Faiths

Pacifica Blogs — Sat, 11 Jul 2015 14:49:00 +0000

On Thursday July 2nd, Orange County chapter of Pacifica Institute had the pleasure of co-hosting an Iftar dinner with University United Methodist Church in Irvine with the aim of breaking bread together and promoting dialogue between the two faiths. The church congregation welcomed Pacifica members with big smiles and warm hearts. Conversations started right away as if both parties were long lost friends. Everyone was so immersed in conversation, Lead Pastor Paige Eaves had to wait awhile for everyone to be seated.

Pastor Paige began the evening with welcoming Pacifica members and touched upon the importance of coming together and learning from each other.

After Pastor Paige’s wonderful remarks, a Pacifica volunteer gave a short speech on the significance of the month of Ramadan for Muslims around the world. A short video on Ramadan was also projected to elucidate some terminology associated with Ramadan and further illustrate the importance and meaning of Ramadan.

With the end of the video, the sun was about to set so everyone was invited to help themselves to the food prepared and brought by Pacifica volunteers. Being the gracious and understanding of hosts the church congregation offered those who had been fasting all day to go ahead first. The delicious meal and warm conversations were followed by delightful dessert prepared by the Church congregation.

At the end of the night, Pastor Paige was kind enough to offer her guests a tour of the Church which included all five buildings. She mentioned the history of the Church as well as highlighting the different services they have, including Japanese and Korean. Pastor Paige emphasized how they shared their space with others and graciously offered space for Pacifica members to pray there also.

This was the first of hopefully many more joint events and dinners between University United Methodist Church and Pacifica Institute. In fact, both organizations are hoping to make Iftar dinners an annual tradition to build on the newly formed friendships.

Education remains an alarming concern for scores of Syrian refugees

Pacifica Blogs — Sat, 11 Jul 2015 14:43:00 +0000

With only 10 percent of the 2 million Syrian refugees in Turkey having been placed in refugee camps, problems involving finding food and shelter persists, but none more alarming than the education of children.

The topic of providing education to the Syrian refugee children was recently addressed by a meeting hosted by Kimse Yok Mu, the Journalist and Writers Foundation and the Peace Islands Institute (PII) in a panel held at the United Nations in New York.

Since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2012, close to 3 million refugees have fled to neighboring countries; 2 million alone to Turkey.

The problem of education is prevalent in all countries hosting large numbers of Syrian refugees - including Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq as well as Turkey - underlines Washington-based think tank RAND Corporation representative Shelly Culbertson.

She adds that finding school buildings and supplies remains a key concern but, even more alarming, children are being left in a situation that they have to help their parents instead of studying.

International Strategic Research Foundation (USAK) researcher Fatma Yılmaz Elmas warns that a whole generation of Syrian refugees are being raised on the streets. “Drug rings, arms dealers, terror groups are all in an effort to confiscate the children and it will not be surprising when a child who is living on the street, hungry and discarded by society will enter a world of crime.”

Secretary General of the Kimse Yok Mu non-profit Savaş Metin highlights that his organization has opened two schools, providing education to some 120 thousand students in Turkey. Kimse Yok Mu is also engaged in healthcare, food, rent and clothing drives, working together on 140 separate projects. In Turkey’s southeastern province of Kilis alone the non-profit grants food to 4,000 Syrian refugees on a daily basis.

Published on BGNNews, 28 June 2015, Sunday

Dr. Sison: Fethullah Gülen is a pioneer of peace

Pacifica Blogs — Sat, 11 Jul 2015 14:41:00 +0000

Speaking at a conference held the Philippines' 400-year-old university, University of Santo Tomas, Dr. Lilian Sison, the Dean of International Relations Department of the University of Santo Tomas, indicated that Fethullah Gülen, a well-respected Turkish-Islamic scholar, is a pioneer of peace.

The introductory remarks of the conference, organized jointly by the Pacific Dialogue Foundation, the Journalists and Writers Foundation's (GYV) Intercultural Dialogue Platform (KADİP), and the Asian Conference of Religions for Peace (ACRP), were made by Dr. Lilian Sison, who, touching on the dialogue activities spearheaded by various religious and civil society leaders, asserted that they act as pioneers of world peace. "Fethullah Gülen is one of the pioneers who take such steps," she said.

Reminding that the United Nations General Assembly has declared the first week of February as the "World Interfaith Harmony Week," Herminio V. Dagohoy, Rector Magnificus of the University of Santo Tomas, expressed his satisfaction for his university's hosting the conference "Toward Peace and Harmony in the Reality of Religious Pluralism" to coincide with this meaningful week.

The speakers at the conference included Prof. Dr. Niyazi Öktem, a lecturer at Fatih University, and Rev. Dr. Turgay Üçal, the pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Moda, Istanbul, from Turkey, and Rabbi Reuven Firestone, the professor of Medieval Judaism and Islam, Dr. Sofia Pandya, a lecturer at California State University, Prof. Dr. Philip Clayton, a lecturer at the Claremont School of Theology, from the US, and Former Roman Catholic Church Philippines Archbishop Antonia Ledesma from the Philippines.

"Ignorance is the major obstacle to tolerance"

The first paper was presented by Professor Niyazi Öktem, who touched on concepts of tolerance, holy war (jihad) in Islam, and inter-religious dialogue. Noting that practitioners of diverse religions would come to realize a number of common points if they treat each other with tolerance, Professor Öktem indicated that 'ignorance' is the biggest obstacle to inter-religious rapprochement as people who are ignorant of the values of their own religions tend to nurture hostility against each other.

Öktem explained that holy war (jihad) is defined as a "self-defense" mechanism in the Holy Qur'an and true holy war is further depicted as the one against one carnal desires and uncontrolled ambitions.

He also relayed his observations about dialogue activities among diverse religious communities. Pointing out that the foundation of the Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV) under the leadership of Fethullah Gülen, a well-respected Turkish-Islamic scholar, has helped to institutionalize individualized dialogue-centric activities, Öktem stated that the GYV has taken the dialogue activities to the international scene in the next stage.

"I am the pastor of a church located in a neighborhood where hundreds of thousands of Muslims live"

Then, the floor went to Dr. Turgay Üçal, who remarked that they intermingle with hundreds of thousands of Muslim neighbors in Istanbul and they keep their church's door open without any security concern.

Üçal drew attention to the fact that Anatolia has been home to diverse religions, nations and cultures for centuries and this has made people of Anatolia open and tolerant to diversities.

Reminding Great Sufi poet Yunus Emre's advice, "Love creatures for the sake of their Creature" and the Torah's and the Gospel's commandment "Love your God from your heart and love your neighbor as you love yourself," Üçal asserted that if this can be done, Prophet David's good tidings in the Psalms that the wolf and the lamb will live together in peace will be fulfilled.

The next speaker was Dr. Sofia Pandya, who made a presentation about the Hizmet movement. After other speakers made their presentations, they answered the questions from the audience.

"You go if they cannot come"

Cihangir Arslan, the head of the Pacific Dialogue Foundation, delivered the concluding remarks, thanking the GYV, KADİP and other partners for their contributions.

Arslan also briefly introduced the Pacific Dialogue Foundation, established in Manila, the capital city of the Philippines, years ago to promote the ideal of peaceful coexistence. Referring to Rumi's call, "Come whoever you are as this is no door of despair," Arslan indicated that the Anatolia's openness to dialogue and tolerance had been laid down years ago.

Arslan asserted that Gülen always holds Rumi in high esteem and he has taken Rumi's call one step further. "Gülen advices us to go and help other people if they cannot come, and we act in accordance with his advice," he said.

The religious pluralism conference aroused heightened interest as about 300 people including politicians, academics, religious leaders, embassy staff and university students attended it.

Published on KADIP, 26 February 2015, Thursday

Kimse Yok Mu provides fast breaking meal to orphan students in Kenya

Pacifica Blogs — Sat, 11 Jul 2015 14:40:00 +0000

International charity organization Kimse Yok Mu's Kenya chapter (KYK) gave fast breaking meal to orphans in eastern African country of Kenya’s capital city of Nairobi.

İftar was provided by KYK to the orphan students and their teachers of Noor Madrasah located in Kibera, one of the second biggest shanty neighborhoods in Nairobi. Ranging from 5 to 13 year-old a total of 50 orphan students receives education in Madrasah.

A teacher who works in the Noor Madrasah stated that they are grateful to KYK for its iftar invitation. “We pray for them may gates of paradise to be opened to the relief workers of KYK,” added instructor.

A relief worker, who coordinates the relief activities in the Kenya said that they provide iftar those who in need in different locations across Kenya. “In every each location we provide 100 and in total we provide fast braking meal for around 1200 or 1500 people across the country. Two of the locations where we supply iftar are orphanages. Sometimes also we supply Sahur meal. If we get more donations it means that we can help much more people. We would like to thank those who donated to Kenya,” noted relief worker.

Describing the fast breaking meal as a pleasant, an orphan studying in the 5th grade, also thanked those who invite them to iftar.

“I hope Allah (God) will include the inviters to paradise,” student noted.

Published on Cihan, 10 July 2015, Friday

Reflection: Family Iftar Dinner with Eruyan Family

Pacifica Blogs — Thu, 09 Jul 2015 18:45:00 +0000

On the 21^st day of Ramadan Sunday January 5^th, Cem and Ilknur Eruyan hosted an interfaith Iftar dinner. Pacifica Institute, invited individuals from all religious groups to join them at the dinner table to break the fast. The Iftar meal is served once the sunsets. This is considered the holiest time.

Ramadan is a social time for Muslims and is celebrated with elaborate meals. ‘Meal time’ was at sunset, around 8:02 that night. The first dish was lentil soup and water, followed by multiple dishes of baklava, salad, peppers with rice, and dates. After, the main dish of beef and mashed potatoes was served.

The purpose of fasting for Muslims is to help focus one’s thoughts to God during the day. Once food is served at the end of the day, one is able to meditate upon food and appreciate it more.

When the meal was finished Mr. Eruyan left the diner table to pray. He performed a series of chants to himself while bowing and standing. Mrs. Eruyan went to prepare the desert and Turkish tea.

The Eruyan’s house was decorated with traditional Islamic art. Mr. Eruyan explained that one piece of art represented the coexistence of Muslims, Jews, and Catholics. The picture depicted all three religions praying in their own religious buildings. This gave way to conversations about religion.

The guests compared religions to search for similarities. It was noted that Muslims and Catholics held many similar values and stories. For example, the story of Johan and the Whale are similar, as well as the belief in angels and the afterlife.

Guests shared their experience with intercultural interactions. One guests shared her experience in India. She recalled her friends warning her that there was excessive poverty to enjoy the country. However, she said once she reached outside her comfort zone she was able to find the beauty within the country. Ilknur then shared her experience in her children’s elementary school. She shared that some mothers would not talk to her because she wore a headdress. She chuckled the words, “I’m harmless!” She then said, once the mothers got to know her they became friends.

Many form their perceptions of Muslims off of media coverage on extremism. The family expressed that extremist actions are not religious. They emphasized the peaceful teachings of Islam.

“I could not imagine raising my children and teaching them acts of violence from extremism,” Mrs. Eruyan said.

Pacifica Institute encourages non-Muslims to experience an Iftar dinner during Ramadan in the homes of other Muslims. The dinners are held with hopes to diminish cultural boundaries. Food, drink, and conversation symbolized intercultural tolerance and communication.

For me, the experience was refreshing. The intentions of the Eruyan family were whole-hearted as they fed strangers at their table. However, we left not as strangers, but as friends.

Emily Quiles

Fethullah Gulen Statement on Nigeria Abductions

Pacifica Blogs — Tue, 13 May 2014 10:14:00 +0000

NEW YORK, May 12, 2014

The senseless kidnappings of hundreds of schoolgirls in Nigeria are deplorable and heartbreaking. I condemn these actions unequivocally and call upon the perpetrators of these acts to immediately release the schoolgirls.

Education is a fundamental human right, which is guaranteed for women and men by Islam. Any interpretations to the contrary are fallacious and tend to serve either individual or political interests. In fact, in the years during and after Prophet Mohammed's lifetime (PBUH), women played significant roles in society, contributing as jurists, teachers, and entrepreneurs

I have always believed that education, for both boys and girls, is the most powerful tool to help them realize their potential, foster core values such as respecting every human and the rule of law, and build characters that are endowed with these values. Education also serves as an antidote against ignorance, which is the source of so many social problems. The senseless abductions in Nigeria violate the human rights of those girls and their families, and highlight the need to promote wholesome education that fosters respect for such rights and freedoms.

I am praying for the families of the victims and for the people of Nigeria.

About Fethullah Gulen

Fethullah Gulen is an Islamic scholar, preacher and social advocate, whose decades-longcommitment to interfaith tolerance and altruism has inspired millions in Turkey and around theworld. Recognized by TIME magazine in 2013 as one 100 most influential people in the worldfor "preaching a message of tolerance that has won him admirers around the world," Gulen has reinterpreted aspects of Islamic tradition to meet the needs of contemporary Muslims. He hasdedicated his life to interfaith and intercultural dialogue, community service and providingaccess to education.

About Alliance for Shared Values

Alliance for Shared Values is a non-profit organization that serves as a voice for civic organizations affiliated with the Hizmet movement in the U.S. (also known as Gulen movement). The Alliance serves as a central source of information on Fethullah Gulen and Hizmet. For more information, please visitwww.afsv.org.

SOURCE Alliance for Shared Values

Let Mr. Erdogan Fight His Own Battles

Pacifica Blogs — Mon, 05 May 2014 09:52:00 +0000

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD

May 2, 2014

Not long ago, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish preacher in Pennsylvania, were the best of allies. Mr. Erdogan heads an Islamist government, and Mr. Gulen promotes a moderate, pro-Western brand of Sunni Islam that appeals to many well-educated and professional Turks. The two men had a common purpose in confronting and weakening the country’s once-dominant secular military and political leadership.

But the collaboration has since devolved into a bitter power struggle, and now Mr. Erdogan is trying to drag the United States into the argument by threatening to demand Mr. Gulen’s extradition to Turkey. The American government is obliged to examine the request if Mr. Erdogan follows through and formally files one. But right now the threat seems to be nothing more than a crass and cynical attempt to exploit the law, and Turkey’s alliance with the United States, for political payback.

The power struggle, which erupted last year, has been fueled by a corruption scandal that has ensnared Mr. Erdogan, many of his cronies and his son. Recordings of telephone conversations that surfaced in recent months appear to show widespread corruption in the government. Mr. Erdogan, a once-promising leader who has grown increasingly authoritarian, has charged that Mr. Gulen’s network of followers is behind the scandal.

In an interview on Charlie Rose’s PBS talk show this week, Mr. Erdogan said that the telephone wiretaps were clearly illegal and that he expected the United States to respond positively to the request. That is not a given.

Some experts say there is no legal basis for an extradition request because there are no charges or legal cases against Mr. Gulen, who has permanent-resident status and has lived in rural Pennsylvania since 1997. He left Turkey in the 1990s after being accused of urging the overthrow of the secularist government; he denied the charges, which were dropped when Mr. Erdogan came to power. Mr. Gulen has broad influence in Turkey through followers who hold jobs in the judiciary, the police and the media. But he has denied encouraging them to pursue graft investigations against Mr. Erdogan and his allies.

For the United States to approve an extradition request, the person must be accused of a crime recognized in both jurisdictions, and there must be a reasonable belief that the person committed the crime. It seems unlikely those conditions exist. Washington has not considered Mr. Gulen a threat, or he would not have been able to remain in the country.

So far, the Obama administration has declined to comment publicly on the issue, which has the potential to cause serious and unnecessary new tensions with Turkey. It would be an abuse of extradition law to use it for political reasons. Mr. Erdogan should fight his political battles on his own.

Source: New York Times

What happened to the 'Turkish model'?

Pacifica Blogs — Mon, 24 Mar 2014 18:22:00 +0000

Ramazan Kilinc

The only guarantee of a consolidated democracy in Turkey is the emergence of a new coalition to balance the increasing power of the government vis-à-vis society.

Turkey blocked Twitter late at night on March 20. This was a culmination of a series of authoritarian moves since last summer. In summer 2013, the government harshly responded to the popular protests that grew after a group of people organised demonstrations to prevent Istanbul city government from constructing a shopping mall in a popular city park.

In the last few months, the government has limited media freedoms, amended the law on the judicial system to increase executive control over the judiciary, closed down private tutoring centres to strengthen the state monopoly over education, passed a law to control the Internet, and blocked access to Twitter. Erdoğan also hinted that the government might ban Facebook and Youtube after local elections on March 30.

All this is surprising to many. When the Arab uprisings started in 2011, a question many asked was if Turkish democracy could be a model for the Muslim world. Under the rule of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s AKP, Turkey offered the prospect of a successful model where Islam, secularism and democracy could coexist. With its remarkable economic growth and increased profile in global politics, Turkey appealed to the Arab masses in particular and the Muslim world in general.

What happened to 'the Turkish model' and why did Turkey revert from its commitment to democratic reforms?

The Turkish model

The AKP came to power in November 2002 after an authoritarian period under the military-guided governments. The repressive environment dominated by the military left no option to Islamic actors but to devise strategies through which they could enhance political space at the expense of an authoritarian bureaucracy.

The AKP denounced Islamism, broke from the Welfare Party and pursued a reformist and democratic political strategy. In an effort to pursue democratic policies, the AKP, with the support of the liberals, minorities, and other Islamic groups such as the Gülen movement, strongly supported Turkey’s membership to the EU. It is this democratic coalition that weakened the military influence and strengthened Turkish democracy in the 2000s.

The rise of an independent bourgeoisie, emerging with economic liberalisation in the 1980s and 1990s, constituted the engine of liberal change in Turkey. The conservative businesses, marginalised by the state after the 1997 military intervention, developed a democratic and market-friendly position. The EU provided external support for this transformation. The decision of the EU to declare Turkey a candidate country gave the AKP an opportunity to introduce reforms to comply with EU conditionality.

In short, 'the Turkish model' of democratisation was based on three legs: the formation of a broad democratic coalition against state control over society; the emergence of a new bourgeoisie independent from the state; and the AKP’s instrumentalisation of external pressure from the EU for further democratisation.

The shattering of the model

After Turkey weakened the authoritarian bureaucracy, hopes for a more democratic Turkey were high. However, the reverse of the same dynamics that created 'the Turkish model' contributed to its demise.

First, the authoritarian moves of the AKP since 2012 have led to the dissolution of the democratic coalition. Instead of completing a democratic consolidation, the AKP government sought to dominate the Turkish political system. Prime minister Erdoğan pushed for changing the parliamentary system to a presidential system to secure complete control over the political domain. Many liberals withdrew their support from the party after the government harshly suppressed popular protests in the summer of 2013.

After the judiciary initiated a corruption probe against Erdoğan’s four ministers and their relatives in December 2013, the Government quickly tightened control over the judiciary through reassigning police officers, prosecutors, and judges, and enacting new laws to increase the influence of the minister of justice over the judiciary. The Gülen movement took a strong position against the Government as Erdoğan accused the movement of infiltrating the state and collaborating with external powers, such as the US and Israel, to plot against the government through the corruption probe.

Second, throughout the decade that the AKP ruled the country, a new crony capitalist class emerged. The AKP created a state-supported bourgeoisie through distributing state resources to their cronies. The recent allegations against the party include cases of clientelism and corruption in which politicians, bureaucrats and state-supported businesses have been involved.

Third, AKP enthusiasm for Turkey’s EU membership has decreased because the party no longer needs external support to survive in the Turkish political sphere. Furthermore, the recent economic crisis in Europe also shifted the EU’s attention from expansion to domestic issues.

The future

What can we say about the future of democracy in Turkey?

The only guarantee of a consolidated democracy in Turkey is the emergence of a new coalition to balance the increasing power of the government vis-à-vis society. Turkey still has a dynamic business class that is independent from the state. Political patronage and increasing state dominance over the economy can stimulate a new coalition against the government. It is difficult to have strong international pressure as Turkey had in the early 2000s but there is still a lot that the west could lose if Turkey turns to authoritarianism.

Source: Open Democracy

Corruption, Islamism, and Twitter in Turkey

Pacifica Blogs — Fri, 14 Mar 2014 09:25:00 +0000

Ahmet T. Kuru

Erdoğan has consolidated the executive, legislative, and the judicial powers under his authority; yet he has been unable to control another source of power— Twitter.

When the Arab uprisings began, Turkey emerged as a role model in the Middle East in terms of combining Islam and democracy. The Arab uprisings have not produced the expected results, except in Tunisia. Meanwhile in Turkey, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s rule has recently leaned toward authoritarianism and Islamism; this has terminated Turkey’s claim to be a regional model.

Turkey’s political polarization and societal mistrust became visible in June 2013 with the Gezi protests where police brutality ignited nation-wide protests in which eleven people died and thousands were injured.

Erdoğan used an Islamist rhetoric to cover-up his provocations and strengthened his conservative constituency. He claimed that the Gezi protestors attacked a woman wearing a headscarf and consumed alcohol in a mosque. Although the evidence showed his claims were false, Erdoğan still continued to repeat them. He tried to take advantage of the Gezi events to solidify his base by presenting himself as the defender of conservative Muslims, assuming that this image would guarantee his victory in the August 2014 presidential election.

The corruption and bribery probe on December 17, 2013 was a major blow to Erdoğan’s plan of staying in power ten more years as a supra-powerful president. Four of his cabinet ministers had to resign due to allegations. Erdoğan defined the probe as a coup d’état staged by the “parallel state”—an alias he uses to imply the Gülen movement. He declared an “Independence War,” and has dubbed anyone who disagrees with him as “traitors” controlled by the Gülen movement. The list of “traitors” has become very long including the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), Doğan media group, Koç Holding, and Turkish Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association.

Similar to his reaction to Gezi events, Erdoğan has used an Islamist rhetoric to preserve his base in the face of the corruption allegations. He has called Fethullah Gülen “a false prophet” and a supporter of the headscarf ban, as well as calling the Gülen movement’s followers spies, collaborators in a US-based conspiracy, lovers of Israel, viruses, blood-seeking vampires, assassins, etc.

Erdoğan knows that he has to stall ongoing investigations of corruption. Therefore, he has reshuffled about 8,000 police officers and ordered police chiefs to disobey prosecutors and judges in new corruption cases. His new justice minister took control of the High Council of Judges and Public Prosecutors, which removed hundreds of prosecutors. The newly appointed prosecutors destroyed some wiretapped phone calls, and all arrested suspects were released. When the key suspect Reza Zerrab, who allegedly bribed three ministers and transferred billions of dollars to Iran, was released, Erdoğan said, “Justice has been served.”

Erdoğan has consolidated the executive, legislative, and the judicial powers under his authority; yet he has been unable to control another source of power— Twitter. He understood the danger during the Gezi events, calling it a “menace.” His party organized a group of “trolls” to promote Erdoğan in Twitter. Nonetheless, this could not protect him from being haunted by Twitter during the corruption scandal.

Some people, probably the policemen and prosecutors who were removed from the corruption cases, started to leak legal evidence (wiretapped phone conversations and even full indictments) to the Internet. They are now using Twitter accounts, such as @HARAMZADELER333 (children of corruption) and @BASCALAN (prime thief) to update over a quarter million followers when they upload new evidence. Since a recent law made it illegal to broadcast wiretapped conservations on TV and on web sites, and Erdoğan controls most newspapers, Twitter and YouTube remain the sole way of informing the Turkish public about corruption evidence. That is why Erdoğan has declared that he is considering banning YouTube and Facebook.

The content of leaked dialogues has shocked many in Turkey and abroad. Among various topics are Erdoğan’s villas, acquired in exchange for favours to his cronies; his way of controlling media outlets through some businessmen who were given governmental tenders; and his personal involvement in censoring the media. While these recordings were listened to hundreds of thousands times, there was only one occasion when a journalist managed to quiz Erdoğan about them. Erdoğan accused the journalist of serving the conspiracy, and was unapologetic for his phone call to a TV executive to withdraw coverage from an opposition leader during the Gezi events.

One recording had more impact than the combined effect of about two dozens previous records. This is the recording Erdoğan has defined as a “montage.” He also added that his encrypted phone was tapped, which has been interpreted as an unintentional way of accepting it. The leader of CHP, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, described the recording as, “as authentic as Mount Ararat” and has played it in his party’s group meeting in the Turkish parliament. Some experts have authenticated the recording, which includes five phone calls between Erdoğan and his son (Bilal) on the day the corruption graft began. In the recording, Erdoğan asks his son to re-locate a large sum of money kept in various family members’ houses. Toward the end of the day, Bilal called his father back to report that he had handled most of the money but still had 30 million euros to disappear. This recording has been listened to around 5 million times in five days on YouTube.

Although Erdoğan’s instrumentalization of Islam was effective against the Gezi protestors, it has not been that helpful against the Gülen movement, which has considerable credibility among Muslim conservatives. Twitter helped the Gezi protestors to organize their protests and during the corruption debates, Twitter has become much more detrimental for Erdoğan due to the regular leaking of evidence. If Erdoğan’s career ends in the March 30 municipal elections, Twitter will have played a large role in this dramatic result.

Source: Open Democracy

Turkey needs a new constitution to save its democracy

Pacifica Blogs — Mon, 10 Mar 2014 19:18:00 +0000

By Fethullah Gulen

A small group in the executive is holding the country to ransom, says Fethullah Gulen

Trust and stability are fundamental to a nation’s development and to how the world perceives it. There is inherent trust in a democratic and accountable government that respects the rule of law. Turkey painstakingly built this trust over the past decade. Until recently it was seen as an example of a country that prospered while maintaining a democratic government run by observant Muslim leaders.

No longer. A small group within the government’s executive branch is holding to ransom the entire country’s progress. The support of a broad segment of the Turkish public is now being squandered, along with the opportunity to join the EU.

Several recent actions of the Turkish government have drawn strong criticism from the EU and other western countries – among them, a law that gives the justice minister powers to appoint and discipline judges and prosecutors; a bill to curb internet freedoms; and a draft law that would give Turkey’s intelligence agency powers akin to those claimed by dictatorial regimes.

After decades of coups and political dysfunction, the ruling AK party’s attempt to end military interference in domestic politics was necessary. Democratic reforms towards that end were praised by the EU and supported by a majority of Turks, as evidenced in the 2010 constitutional referendum.

But the dominance in politics that was once enjoyed by the military now appears to have been replaced by a hegemony of the executive. A dark shadow has been cast over achievements of the past decade – the result of insidious profiling of certain groups of Turkish citizens for their views, constant shuffling of civil servants for political convenience, and an unprecedented subjugation of the media, the judiciary and civil society.

The only way for the Turkish government to restore trust at home and regain respect abroad is by renewing its commitment to universal human rights, the rule of law and accountable governance.

This commitment must include a new, democratic constitution, drafted by civilians. Democracy does not conflict with Islamic principles of governance. Indeed, the ethical goals of Islam, such as protection of life and religious freedom, are best served in a democracy where citizens participate in government.

We also need to embrace certain values that form the fabric of a thriving nation. One such value is respect for diversity of all kinds – religious, cultural, social and political. This does not mean compromising on our beliefs. On the contrary, accepting every person – regardless of colour or creed – as a dignified creature of God demonstrates respect for the free will God has given all human beings.

The reductionist view of seeking political power in the name of a religion contradicts the spirit of Islam

Freedom of thought and expression are indispensable ingredients of democracy. Turkey’s poor showing in rankings of transparency and media freedom is disappointing. Mature people welcome criticism – which, if true, helps us improve. But we should criticise misguided ideas and actions, rather than individuals, to avoid creating unnecessary tensions.

The reductionist view of seeking political power in the name of a religion contradicts the spirit of Islam. When religion and politics are mixed, both suffer – religion most of all. Every segment of Turkish society has a right to be represented in government. But the Turkish state has long discriminated against citizens and public servants on the basis of their views. Democratic inclusion will encourage people to disclose personal beliefs without fear of persecution.

Since the 1970s, participants in the Hizmet movement, who come from all walks of life, have worked to provide equal opportunity for all, through educational institutions, relief organisations and other civil society projects. Their primary motivations are intrinsic, as they seek to find happiness in the happiness of others.

Hizmet participants – and I consider myself one of them – are not political players and have no interest in the privileges of power. This is evident from their personal and financial commitment to humanitarian aid, education and dialogue, as well as their purposeful absence from political office.

Apart from encouraging citizens to vote, I have never endorsed or opposed a political party or candidate, and will refrain from doing so in future. I trust the wisdom of Turkish people and believe they will preserve democracy and hold the interests of the nation above partisan political concerns.

I have spent the past 15 years in spiritual retreat and, irrespective of what happens in Turkey, I intend to continue to do so. I pray that Turkey sees its current troubles as an opportunity to advance democracy, freedom and the rule of law. And I believe that by renewing our commitment to fundamental democratic principles, we can re-establish trust and stability and revive the Turkish example that had become an inspiration for the region and the world.

The writer is a Muslim scholar and honorary chairman of the Journalists and Writers Foundation in Istanbul

Source: Financial Times

The rise and fall of Turkey’s Prime Minister Erdogan in three acts

Pacifica Blogs — Mon, 10 Mar 2014 10:31:00 +0000

By Turan Kayaoglu

Like a figure in a Greek tragedy, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has fallen from a Jefferson-could-be into a Putin-wannabe, all within the swift span of a year.

Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2014/03/09/3087255/the-rise-and-fall-of-turkeys-prime.html#storylink=cpy

History tells us that when the rule of law is weak, transparency and accountability nonexistent, electoral success feeds into a sense of invincibility and infallibility. Turkey now is a case study proving the accuracy of the cliche “power corrupts.”

ACT I

Erdogan came to power after Turkey’s lost decade of the 1990s, a period during which a series of weak, dysfunctional coalition governments ruled the country. The military committed extensive abuses against the nation’s disgruntled Kurdish population, religious freedoms were suppressed, and the economy hit rock bottom.

The 2002 elections gave a powerful mandate to a fresh party, the Justice and Development Party. While rooted in political Islam, the party campaigned on a platform of human rights,democracy and development. Erdogan led the party.

As the new prime minister, he made a promising start: He expanded Kurdish rights, lifted the headscarf ban in universities and sent the military to the barracks for good. The economy also greatly improved. Turkish soap operas captured Arab audiences, and the “Turkish model” for political reform won adherents throughout the region.

In this heady air, it seemed Erdogan and his party had found the magic formula for a “Muslim democracy” destined to change the lot not just of Turks, but also of all Muslims.

ACT II

But it was not to be. After 12 years of increasing popularity and weakening opposition, Erdogan has become more authoritarian.

This switch toward authoritarianism was visible last summer when the government crushed the largely peaceful protestors in Istanbul’s Gezi Park. In ensuing nationwide protests, the police killed about a dozen unarmed protestors and injured scores more.

Erdogan not only defended the police but shamelessly used Islamic rhetoric to demonize protestors and mobilize his base. He accused protestors of sexually assaulting a pious Muslim woman and desecrating a mosque. Neither turned out to be true, but Erdogan repeated such falsehoods to present himself as the defender of Islam and Muslims to his conservative base.

ACT III

For Turkish democracy, things went from bad to worse. Acting under the directives of public prosecutors, on Dec. 17 police raided several offices and homes. They arrested three government ministers’ sons and the CEO of a state-owned bank for corruption and money laundering through a gold-for-gas scheme that allowed Iran to evade sanctions. In subsequent weeks, four government ministers resigned.

The Erdogan government has stifled the graft investigation. The government called the investigation a coup attempt designed by a foreign cabal and implemented by sympathizers of the Glen movement—a moderate Islamic movement inspired by Fethullah Glen, a cleric who has lived in Pennsylvania for the past 15 years.

To choke the graft investigation, Erdogan must cripple the Turkish democracy. And he is willing to do that. Government has co-opted or coerced the media and engineered the transfer of media ownership to its allies. The government now can block access to any website without a court order. The justice minister received a controlling power over the judiciary, and the already unaccountable Turkish National Intelligence Agency is about to gain more power.

Meanwhile Erdogan turned his rhetorical weapon on Glen. Erdogan accused Glen-sympathizers of being a “parallel state,” akin to Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s allegations of communist infiltration. A low even for Erdogan, he called Glen a false prophet (a serious charge in Islam) and a hashishin (a 12th-century terrorist sect).

This witch-hunt of Glen-sympathizers removed from their posts 8,000 police and more than 400 public prosecutors, including those who started the graft investigations.

Twelve years ago, Erdogan embodied a Jeffersonian spirit by promising religious freedom, protection of rights and liberties, and the decentralization of power. While he started off well, today he is the threat to Turkish democracy, looking not like a historical figure but rather a power-hungry despot.

In a talk at Harvard in 2003, Erdogan used a Benjamin Franklin quote (he misattributed it to Thomas Jefferson): “Doubt a little of (your) own infallibility.”

Someone needs to remind him of that before it is too late.

Turan Kayaoglu is an associate professor of international relations at University of Washington Tacoma.

Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2014/03/09/3087255/the-rise-and-fall-of-turkeys-prime.html#storylink=cpy

Source: The News Tribune

The Muslim Martin Luther?

Pacifica Blogs — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 15:16:00 +0000

Fethullah Gulen Attempts an Islamic Reformation

By Victor Gaetan

In a video posted on his Web site last December, the Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gulen called on God to curse Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Gulen, who has lived in exile in the United States since 1999, declared in a sermon broadcast on Turkish television, “Those who don’t see the thief but go after those trying to catch the thief: may God bring fire to their houses, ruin their homes, break their unities.” This went far beyond the normally secular bounds of political debate in Turkey.

But to fixate on Gulen's lack of political polish is to miss the point. Gulen and Erdogan have been described in the West as political rivals, but there has always been more at stake in their clash than earthly affairs. Whereas Erdogan may frequently indulge in Islamist political rhetoric, it is Gulen that has tried to make actual contributions as an Islamic intellectual and develop a genuinely modern school of Islam that reconciles the religion with liberal democracy, scientific rationalism, ecumenism, and free enterprise. Regardless of who wins the battle for Turkey's political future, it is vital that Gulen's religious legacy be preserved.

EGALITARIAN ENLIGHTENMENT

Erdogan has repeatedly portrayed Gulen, and his religious movement, known as Hizmet (which translates to Service), as part of a political conspiracy, calling it a “parallel state” responsible for initiating a series of corruption investigations against his administration. These accusations are impossible to substantiate. Hizmet has no formal membership, no headquarters, and no hierarchy, which makes it impossible to know whether Gulenists are overrepresented in law enforcement and the judiciary, let alone orchestrating a putsch. There are many civic organizations in Turkey that are explicitly linked to Gulen, but, in keeping with Gulen’s teachings, they neither endorse nor reject any political party.

Gulen's theology went hand-in-hand with Turkey's capitalist revolution. The country's new entrepreneurs were pious Muslims who drew on Gulen's teaching to justify their embrace of free enterprise, strong democratic institutions, and dialogue and commerce with other faiths.

Although Gulen has always assumed that pious Muslims would be drawn to politics, he has long warned against allowing religion to be used as a tool to pursue political power. In this sense, Gulen has followed in the footsteps of Said Nursi, a great Turkish scholar of Sufism, who inspired an Islamic revival in the late Ottoman period and under Ataturk’s republic. Nursi's 6,000-page commentary on the Koran, Risale-i Nur (Epistles of Light), argued that true spiritual knowledge was accessible to all Muslims without the guidance of a “master.” Nursi considered materialism an enemy of Islam, but he also advocated modern science instruction in Muslim schools.

Gulen has endorsed this same basic approach. Born in eastern Turkey in 1941, he grew up studying the Koran. He began to manage a mosque as well as a study center in the city of Izmir in the 1960s. Pushing beyond Nursi's concept of strengthening religious conscience, or inner discipline, Gulen emphasized the importance of public service as a way for believers to glorify God while repressing selfish impulses.
These teachings were in sharp contrast to the political pronouncements of Islamist groups, like the Muslim Brotherhood, that gained ground in the Middle East in the mid-twentieth century. Where the Brotherhood considered it a religious obligation to control the state and to make Islamic law the basis of jurisprudence, Gulen argued that religion suffered from politicization. Where the Brotherhood implies that jihad is necessarily an armed struggle, Gulen emphasized that jihad is a moral and spiritual struggle.

In 1970, Gulen was arrested by a newly installed military government, and his license to preach was revoked. But his private talks to small groups -- in mosques, theatres, coffee shops, and schools -- were taped and distributed. Gulen leveraged his growing fame to establish a series of student hostels, or “lighthouses,” that offered private prep courses for university entrance exams. In 1979, personal friends of Gulen set up a publishing business so that he could provide his growing number of students with study materials. Yamanlar College in Izmir, the first Gulen-inspired private high school, followed in 1982. By 1983, he had a wide national following.

Today, Gulen sympathizers run more than 1,500 schools and universities in 120 countries, including Afghanistan, Austria, Bosnia, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Sudan, and the United States. (In Texas alone, Gulen affiliates manage 26 public charter schools.) The Gulen movement provides countless scholarships for the poor to attend their schools, which mostly emphasize science and math. By contributing as volunteers, or financiers, to the movement's education network, supporters also engage in a form of sanctified charity.
His commitment to education as the main solution to problems plaguing most Muslim societies is the most concrete expression of Gulen's religious teachings. Drawing on Islam's sacred texts -- the Koran, hadith (words of the Prophet), and Sira (biography of the Prophet) -- as well as Turkish and Ottoman cultural tradition, Gulen has developed a distinct form of Islamic theology that puts social engagement, not political engagement, at its center.

The Utah-based political scientist Hakan Yavuz, author of Toward an Islamic Enlightenment: The Gulen Movement, sees four defining characteristics in Gulen’s project. First, Gulen emphasizes that a believer's piety can be measured by his practical actions, specifically, the degree to which the person improves the human condition. Second, Gulen argues that Islam must be an ecumenical religion. Muslims, he believes, are obliged to seek consensus in their communities and should value social participation and dialogue with other groups. (Gulen's movement has placed a particular emphasis on interfaith dialogue, especially with Christians and Jews.)

Third, Gulen teaches the inviolability of individual rights. Religious engagement, he maintains, must be voluntary, which is one reason that Gulen's followers are usually referred to as “volunteers” and their total numbers are never officially counted. Finally, the Gulen movement endorses critical thinking as a foundation for knowledge that glorifies God, rather than as something that contradicts revelation. Science, Gulen teaches, is a vehicle for Muslims to honor their religious duty to improve the economic condition of their societies.

To the extent that Gulen has had anything to say about politics, it has almost always been in the service of promoting democracy and cultural tolerance. Asked by The New York Times about his attitude toward the Turkish government, Gulen responded, “I always believe in being on the side of the rule of law, and I also believe in the importance of sharing good ideas with the officials of the state that are going to promise a future for the country. Accordingly, irrespective of whoever is in charge, I try to be respectful of those state officials, keep a reasonable level of closeness and keep a positive attitude toward them.” He has also emphasized the importance of maintaining a healthy civil society outside the control of the state. Private schools, private enterprise, volunteerism -- these were the institutions that Turkey required if it hoped to maintain its traditionally inclusive culture.

Gulen's theology went hand-in-hand with Turkey's capitalist revolution, which was sparked by economic deregulation in the 1980s. The country's new entrepreneurs were pious Muslims who drew on Gulen's teaching to justify their embrace of free enterprise, strong democratic institutions, and dialogue and commerce with other faiths and ethnic groups. Gulen, in turn, urged this new capitalist class to work hard and succeed -- not for personal gain but to enhance the spiritual well-being of society. The prophet Muhammad was also a merchant, he reminded them.

Gulen has shown that he will refuse to be intimidated, but it is still an open question whether his movement can withstand the AKP’s relentless campaign against it.

MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE

It should come as no surprise that the Gulen movement saw a potential ally in Erdogan's AKP party. In 2002, under the AKP flag, Erdogan spoke out in favor of greater religious and economic freedoms. Like the AKP, the Gulenist movement had identified the military and the old secular economic elite as impediments to those freedoms. Although the Gulenists never offered an explicit endorsement, it seemed keen to work with the AKP. After Erdogan won, the AKP (as well as Justice Department officials said to be affiliated with the Gulenists) supported a series of court cases that landed hundreds of military officers and businessmen in jail. (Although there were many flaws in the trials’ methods, blame falls mainly on the shoulders of the AKP, which had sole authority to direct the proceedings.)

But the alliance did not last. The AKP and the Gulenists have fundamentally different understandings of Turkish identity and how it relates to Islam. The AKP has its roots in Turkey's National View ideology, which was originally advanced by former Turkish Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan in his manifesto Millî Görüş (National View), published in 1969. Erbakan argued that Turkey should turn away from the West and forge a political, economic, and military union with Muslim countries. According to this view, national strength, especially as expressed in conflict with the West, is a bigger priority than healthy democratic institutions. Erbakan is still a clear source of inspiration for the AKP in general, and for Erdogan in particular. When Erbakan died, in 2011, Erdogan cut short a trip to Europe in order to rush back for his funeral, attended by hundreds of thousands in Istanbul. Germany’s most influential Turkish Islamist organization is a Millî Görüş community that Erdogan has encouraged to resist Western assimilation, in accordance with Erbakan’s teachings.

Predictably, Hizmet and the AKP have clashed over Erdogan's bellicose foreign policy and undemocratic domestic maneuvers. When a Turkish NGO attempted to break Israel's blockade of Gaza and was confronted by the Israeli navy (resulting in nine deaths), Erdogan responded by accusing Israel of terrorism and genocide. Gulen responded to Erdogan's belligerence, by calling it not “fruitful,” and adding that he sought Israeli permission anytime his charities wanted to help the people of Gaza.

Another point of contention has been Turkey's relationship with the European Union. As a strong proponent of closer ties with Europe, the Gulenist movement has been frustrated by Erdogan's refusal to pursue more serious accession talks with the EU. Occasionally, Erdogan has pursued policies -- such as legislation restricting Internet access and reducing the independence of prosecutors -- that seem designed to antagonize EU officials. Gulenists have also been concerned by Erdogan's support for Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood.
Free speech has always been a critical issue for the Gulenist movement, so it has also spoken out against Erdogan's persecution of journalists and his broader disdain for democratic dialogue. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Turkey has incarcerated more journalists over the past two years than any other country in the world. (Close on Turkey's heels: Iran and China.) Gulen sympathizer Alp Aslandogan, president of the New York–based Alliance for Shared Values, a nonprofit umbrella group for Hizmet-affiliated groups, recounted the “intimidation, inspections, and fines” that now confront publishers. “Media group owners face threats to their businesses. Never in Turkish history has a single person or party achieved this level of media subservience.”

Erdogan's response to last summer's Gezi Park protests must have been particularly troubing for the Gulenists. In some sense, the diverse group of protesters, who originally gathered to demonstrate against the demolition of an Istanbul park, were the model of the sort of engaged pluralistic civil society that the Gulenists champion. Erdogan decided to order police to disperse the protests with force, which resulted in days of violent confrontation. Gulen placed the blame on Erdogan for not listening to the protesters' demands in the first place. That seems to have convinced Erdogan to declare war directly on the Gulenist movement. In September, Erdogan announced that the government planned to close all private schools helping students to prepare for university exams: the Gulenist movement runs about 20 percent of such schools in Turkey and they represent a vital source of income, as well as one of the main ways in which Gulen's ideas are introduced to the public.

Erdogan and the AKP have taken to describing Gulen’s movement as a power-hungry conspiracy. But there is little evidence of a concerted Gulenist push for power. The movement has stayed true to its teachings by devoting massive resources and attention to running schools, charity organizations, and media entities, in Turkey and abroad. Gulenists have not made a concerted push to infiltrate the AKP, or to seat their own members in parliament. Gulenists have regularly denounced the AKP’s corruption as a violation of Islamic ethics and Hizmet principles. There is no reason not to take those criticisms at face value.
Gulen has shown that he will refuse to be intimidated, but it is still an open question whether his movement can withstand the AKP’s relentless campaign against it. Erdogan is clearly intent on marginalizing the Gulenist movement, even at the expense of the rule of law in Turkey. This week, President Abdullah Gul signed a law allowing government agencies, without a court order, to block access to any Web site. Last week, parliament passed a bill giving the executive branch complete control over the judiciary, allowing the government to nominate and fire prosecutors at will.

Turkey would clearly be harmed if Gulenist teachings on tolerance and individual rights were successfully quieted. But the loss for Islamic culture would be an even greater tragedy.

Source: Foreign Affairs

World Day of Social Justice - 20 February

Pacifica Blogs — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 09:24:00 +0000

"The gap between the poorest and the wealthiest around the world is wide and growing. ... We must do more to empower individuals through decent work, support people through social protection, and ensure the voices of the poor and marginalized are heard."

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
Message for the 2014 World Day of Social Justice

Social justice is an underlying principle for peaceful and prosperous coexistence within and among nations. We uphold the principles of social justice when we promote gender equality or the rights of indigenous peoples and migrants. We advance social justice when we remove barriers that people face because of gender, age, race, ethnicity, religion, culture or disability.

For the United Nations, the pursuit of social justice for all is at the core of our global mission to promote development and human dignity. The adoption by the International Labour Organization of the Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization is just one recent example of the UN system’s commitment to social justice. The Declaration focuses on guaranteeing fair outcomes for all through employment, social protection, social dialogue, and fundamental principles and rights at work.

The General Assembly proclaimed 20 February as World Day of Social Justice in 2007, inviting Member States to devote the day to promoting national activities in accordance with the objectives and goals of the World Summit for Social Development and the twenty-fourth session of the General Assembly. Observance of World Day of Social Justice should support efforts of the international community in poverty eradication, the promotion of full employment and decent work, gender equity and access to social well-being and justice for all.

Source: United Nations

What happened to the Turkish model of passive secularism?

Pacifica Blogs — Sun, 16 Feb 2014 07:48:00 +0000

Ahmet Kuru

In 2006 I wrote an essay to refute the depiction of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) as anti-secular. The argument was based on the two types of secularism.

Passive secularism means state neutrality toward religions in the public sphere; it is dominant in such countries as the United States, the Netherlands and India. The opposite is assertive secularism, which requires the state to play an assertive role to exclude religions from the public sphere. It is dominant in France, Mexico and until recently, Tunisia, among some other cases. I argued that the AK Party defended passive secularism and that was why the assertive secularist judiciary in Turkey defined it as “anti-secular.” Several colleagues criticized me for missing the AK Party's hidden Islamic agenda and giving too much credit to it. Nevertheless, I kept defining the AK Party as passive secularist in my book "Secularism and State Policies toward Religion: The United States, France, and Turkey" and several other publications.

While the euphoria of the “Arab Spring” still existed, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made historic remarks during his visit to Egypt, Tunisia and Libya by calling on new regimes to embrace secularism. This revived the idea of the Turkish model for the Middle East. I tried to contribute to the discussion with a paper entitled "Muslim Politics Without an "Islamic" State: Can Turkey's Justice and Development Party be a Model for Arab Islamists?" published by the Brookings Doha Center both in English and Arabic. The paper offered the AK Party and passive secularism as a model to Arab Islamists from the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt to an-Nahda in Tunisia. I also presented these ideas at various academic meetings in Qatar, Egypt, Tunisia, Kazakhstan, Turkey, the United States, Canada and Australia.

Recently, however, Erdoğan has moved away from passive secularism and embraced an Islamist discourse. Given the reactions of Islamists at home and abroad, he never repeated his call of secularism for Arab countries. Instead, he declared that the AK Party government would educate a “pious generation” and put the imam-hatip schools into the center of this education project; increasingly used the Directorate of Religious Affairs as an instrument for political purposes; made a sectarian statement by stressing that the leader of the main opposition party is “an Alevi”; insisted that Alevis' cemevleri (houses of worship) cannot be recognized as places of worship; asked those who drink alcohol to drink it at home and defined them as alcoholics; planned to pass a law to prevent male and female students from renting apartments and staying together; and did not take the necessary steps to reopen the Halki Seminary of the Greek Orthodox Church. These attitudes have meant a deviation from passive secularism and would disturb even some moderate Islamists. A main ideational source of justification for Erdoğan's initiatives as such came from Hayrettin Karaman, a professor of theology, an Islamist ideologue and a columnist for the Yeni Şafak daily. Karaman has issued fatwas to support Erdoğan on crucial issues. Recently, his fatwas related to the issue of government tenders and donations to pious foundations have become an important part of debates on corruption and bribery. This newly strengthening Islamist discourse has become problematic not only for Turkey's process of democratization but also for the idea of a Turkish model of passive secularism in the Middle East.

Erdoğan and his source of inspiration, Karaman, are wrong in assuming that the majority of Turkish society agrees with their Islamist discourse. According to the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV) and some surveys, only 10 percent of people support the idea of an Islamic state in Turkey. In other words, only a tenth of Turkish society would approve of the following statement, made by Karaman in a 2011 article he wrote for Yeni Şafak: “In an Islamic democracy ... Muslims cannot engage in immoral and sinful behavior in the public sphere; in the private sphere their acts would not be investigated -- as long as they are not harmful to society.” Another approximately 20 percent of society supported assertive secularism in Turkey. They backed the headscarf ban at universities for a long time. The rest, about 70 percent, are neither Islamist nor assertive secularist. They can be regarded as passive secularists, who reject both an imposition of religious principles through state power and an exclusion of religion from the public sphere. A founding father of this passive secularist perspective in Turkey is Ali Fuat Başgil, who was a professor of law and later a senator half a century ago. His book "Din ve Laiklik" (Religion and Secularism) notes that Muslims in Turkey should ask only one favor from the state (like Diogenes the Cynic asked from Alexander), “Stand from between me and the sun.”

Following this societal inclination toward passive secularism, the Constitutional Court recently made a crucial decision, which was passed by a 15 to 2 vote and announced on April 18, 2013. The court declared that instead of strict, old (read: assertive) secularism, it now embraces a new liberal (read: passive) secularism as the reference point. The fact that the overwhelming majority of society prefers a moderate stance shows that both Islamism and assertive secularism are wrong choices for a mainstream party in Turkey. The AK Party, the Republican People's Party (CHP) or any other party that seeks to represent the majority should refer to passive secularism.
The prediction that Turkey would provide a passive secularist model to Arab countries has not yet materialized. Nevertheless, such a regional role may become possible in the future. Despite the zigzags of politicians, an overwhelming majority of society still prefers passive secularism. This preference will design Turkish politics and its regional role in the long run.

Source: Today's Zaman

Athiests and nonbelievers 'still have a place' in Utah's interfaith community

Pacifica Blogs — Thu, 13 Feb 2014 09:28:00 +0000

By Whitney Evans, Deseret News

SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake's interfaith community makes room for everyone, even those who do not believe in a higher power.

Lacee Harris, from the Northern Ute and Piute tribes, prayed Wednesday near the Capitol rotunda for unity among all people, including those who consider themselves atheists or nonbelievers.

"They still have a place with us," Harris said before performing a pipe ceremony and blessing.
He waved a part of an eagle wing held in a leather sheath and turned toward the Creator, the Earth, and north, south, east and west during his prayer. The First Nation people believe the eagle is the bird that flies the highest and carries their prayers.

"We are united as a spiritual people. We cross the philosophy of lifelines," Harris said before the blessing.
Before the ceremony, he put together a pipe and stem, representing the unity of the spiritual and temporal.
Attendees at the ceremony stood in a circle around Harris and passed the pipe filled with herbal tobacco, holding it close to their mouths. They pointed it up to the Creator, down to the Earth, and north, south, east and west. The action symbolized their unity with each other, the world and their Creator.

"Today we have sealed each other's beliefs. We have sealed each other's spirits," Harris said at the end of the blessing. The blessing was one of the events for Salt Lake's Interfaith Month. The Salt Lake Interfaith Roundtable coordinates events for faiths throughout the state to unify people of different backgrounds.
"If we learn about each other's religion and culture, then we appreciate each other," Interfaith Roundtable recording secretary Leslie Dorius-Jones said.

Video and still cameras were not allowed during the blessing as a sign of respect for the sacred ritual.
A little more than 20 people gathered for the blessing. Harris charged each of those in attendance to be examples to those who did not come.

"(The ceremony) was very moving and inspiring. Something that is going to carry me through for a long time," said the Rev. Father Elias Koucos of the Prophet Elias Greek Orthodox Church.
Harris' themes of unity, harmony and "one Creator under many names," resonated with Father Koucos, who is the 2013-14 Interfaith Roundtable chairman.

It also struck a chord with community outreach chairman Alan Scott Bachman, who took a break from his duties as Utah assistant attorney general to attend the ceremony. Bachman said it is important to reach out to those who are not like us in order to make a meaningful impact.

"It's easy to be insular, and it's easy to stick with what you know and what your comfort zone is," he said.
After the blessing, members of the Pacifica Institute Utah presented two Turkish rugs, one woven with a picture of Gov. Gary Herbert and one with Herbert and his wife, Jeanette. They did this to thank the governor for his inclusion of religions in the state.

“It was perfect. He was very happy,“ said Coskun Kariparduc, director of Pacifica Institute Utah, part of the Salt Lake Interfaith Roundtable. Herbert made a brief appearance to the group before the blessing and remarked that the ceremony "sets the tone" for what should happen in government.

The Capitol has been around for 100 years, the governor said, and was built with an eye toward the future. The interfaith community is similar in providing a foundation for the future.
"We're building for tomorrow and what we can become," Herbert said.

The roundtable came began in 2002 as a way to provide religious support for the participants of the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. Since then, the group has met monthly to find ways to unify the religious communities.

For information about Interfaith Month events, including the Musical Tribute on Feb. 23, visit interfaithroundtable.org.

Source: Deseret News

Fethullah Gulen’s interview with The Wall Street Journal in English

Pacifica Blogs — Tue, 21 Jan 2014 09:39:00 +0000

Joe Parkinson and Jay Solomon

1. The Prime Minister has repeatedly attacked you and Hizmet in recent weeks. Do you believe that your alliance with his faction of the AKP is now definitively at an end?

If we can talk about an alliance, it was around shared values of democracy, universal human rights and freedoms — never for political parties or candidates. In 2010 constitutional referendum I said that if these democratic reforms, which are in line with European Union’s requirements for membership, were done by CHP before, I would have supported them.

A broad spectrum of Turkish people, including Hizmet participants, supported AKP for democratizing reforms, for ending the military tutelage over politics and for moving Turkey forward in the EU accession process. We have always supported what we believed to be right and in line with democratic principles. But we have also criticized what we saw as wrong and contrary to those principles.

Our values or stance have not changed. We will continue to advocate for democracy. Whether the stance or actions of the political actors are consistent with their earlier record should be decided by the Turkish people and unbiased observers.

2. You have enjoyed a decade-long alliance with Mr. Erdogan – what is the moment that has most upset you about his leadership?

Just to clarify again, if we can talk about an alliance, it was values and principles based. Throughout the AKP period, we supported democratizing reforms and criticized and opposed anti-democratic actions. For instance, in 2005 we criticized the draft anti-terror law that defined terror crimes too broadly and risked harming freedoms.

During the period between 2003 and 2010, the overall trend was toward democratic reforms and a broad spectrum of Turkish population supported them. This was evident in the constitutional referendum of 2010 which received 58% approval. Indeed Turkey has made economic and democratic progress over the last 15 years.

But we would like these democratizing reforms to continue. Turkish people who supported the constitutional amendments of 2010 with the phrase “good but not sufficient” are upset that in the last two years the democratic progress is now being reversed. A new, civilian-drafted, democratic constitution would consolidate the democratic gains and would anchor Turkey at democratic values of EU. Unfortunately, that effort has now been abandoned.

3. What is your reaction to the PM’s moves to purge the leadership of the police force?

If the members of the police force or any other government agency have breached the laws of the country or the rules of their institutions, nobody can defend such actions and they should be subjected to legal or institutional investigation. If, however, they have not done anything illegal and they have not violated their institutional rules, and they are simply being profiled based on their worldviews or affinities, and subjected to discriminatory treatment, then such treatment cannot be reconciled with democracy, rule of law and universal human rights.

Shuffles and purges based on ideology, sympathy or worldviews was a practice of the past that the present ruling party promised to stop while campaigning before elections. It is ironic that members of the police force and judiciary who were applauded as heroes a few months ago are now being shuffled in the middle of winter without any investigation.

4. What is the reason that Hizmet actively encouraged their students to choose a career path in the police and the judiciary?

First of all let’s correct the premise in the question. I can only speak about my personal advocacy, which was addressed to Turkish public in general. I have always believed that education is the best way to nurture individuals and build a solid foundation for a society. Every social problem starts with the individual and can be solved for the long term at the level of the individual. Systemic, institutional or policy level solutions are destined for failure when the individual is neglected. Therefore my first and foremost advocacy was for education.

It is also why many people who agreed with my ideas have established various types of educational institutions from dormitories, exam prep centers, to private schools and free tutoring centers. These institutions provided a wider segment of the society access to quality education, which were hitherto available only to a privileged few.

I have encouraged Turkish people to be represented in all facets of the Turkish society and in every institution of their country, because it is important that these institutions reflect the society’s diversity. But the choices that are made by students and their parents are shaped by many factors such as employment opportunities and expected likelihood of upward mobility. I am not sure how influential my advocacy has been as a factor that these families have considered.

As far as the institutions established by Hizmet participants, I don’t have an accurate assessment of the career choices of their graduates. But contrary to what you may think, for students thinking of a career in the fields you mentioned (police or judiciary), historically it has been a potential cause for discrimination to have graduated from such institutions.

5. The government has signaled that it will review judgments against military officers accused of plotting coups – do you fear they are creating a new alliance against your followers? What is your strategy to counter this?

Retrial in the light of new evidence or demonstration of improprieties in the legal proceedings is a universal human right. If new evidence has emerged, or it is determined that the legal procedure was flawed, then retrial becomes a legal right. Nobody wants an innocent person to face punishment unjustly.

However, if the intention is to completely abolish the verdicts of thousands of trials, then such a move would both undermine the credibility of the justice system and reverse the democratic gains of the past decade. It would be very difficult to explain such a move to the 58% of Turkish population who supported the constitutional amendments of 2010 which made it possible to try former coup perpetrators in civilian courts for the first time in Turkish history. It would also present an irony as the leaders of the present government for years championed these trials as a triumph of democracy and applauded the brave prosecutors and judges, in their language, who took part in them. There have also been reports of political leaders bragging about subjugating the military leadership to the civilian authority.

The present rhetoric in which these trials are discredited and attributed to a certain group within the judiciary presents a complete contrast to the rhetoric of the political leaders during their ten years of governance. There is also an element of insincerity here. When the director of the Turkish Intelligence Service (MIT) was contacted by a prosecutor for questioning the alleged participation of intelligence officers in the terrorist acts of KCK/PKK units, the government immediately passed a law requiring prime minister’s approval for investigating the intelligence director. While the ruling party certainly had the power to do so, they did not pass a similar law to bring the same protection to the accused chief of general staff or army commanders. This inconsistency demonstrates that the recent rhetoric of retrials is politically motivated rather than a desire for justice for military officers.

If implemented, such a move would be a blow to the democratic reforms of the recent decades. It would be a dramatic reversal of the effort to remove the military’s tutelage over democratic institutions. In Turkish history, four elected governments have been toppled by military coups over half a century.

6. The government has targeted a range of businesses from Koc to Dogan, slapping them with tax fines when their political stance contrasted with Mr. Erdogan. Do you see a threat to businesses led by Hizmet followers in light of recent events?

From the news reports I am learning that what you referred to is no longer a threat, it is reality. The Koza group, Istikbal group and Bank Asya were targeted with various forms of extraordinary inspections, fines, permit cancellations, and massive unscheduled fund withdrawals, which followed negative campaign against the bank in certain news outlets known to be close to the ruling party.

7. President Gul is seen as a moderate leader who can bring together various factions ranging from conservatives to liberals and Hizmet. Would you be supportive of an AKP Mr. Gul leads as Prime Minister or do you think he is more helpful to the country as president? Do you find a more sympathetic audience in Mr. Gul compared to Mr. Erdogan.

We have always tried to maintain the same proximity to all political parties. As a civil society movement, we have never advocated supporting a party or candidate. But individual Hizmet participants have found certain parties and candidates closer to their beliefs and values supported them out of their free will.

Mr. Gul is currently our president. It would be inappropriate for us to speculate about future scenarios involving his name.

8. Many of your supporters in the media have been very positive about the CHP leadership in recent weeks – do you believe an alliance between Hizmet and CHP is likely through the next election cycle?

To repeat, we have never formed an alliance or partnership with a political party or candidate. Our support or criticism has always been around values. Such an alliance will not be made in the future either. As civil society actor, it is imperative for us to be open to everybody in the society. But our values are clear. Democracy, universal human rights and freedoms, transparent and accountable governance are among these values.

When the opportunities come, Hizmet participants, just like any other citizen will make their choices based on their values. It is possible that people who share core values will make choices along the same lines.

Source: Wall Street Journal

The Challenges of Interfaith Dialogue

Pacifica Blogs — Thu, 16 Jan 2014 11:56:00 +0000

Aamir Hussain

The interfaith movement in the United States is growing. Led by organizations like the Interfaith Youth Core in Chicago, the Pluralism Project at Harvard, and the groundswell movement founded by Ms. Valarie Kaur (to name just a few), more and more Americans are engaging with people of different religious and spiritual identities than themselves. The mainstream media has finally started to pick up on this trend. Major news outlets like the New York Times, Washington Post, Public Broadcasting Service, and The Huffington Post frequently report on interreligious engagement.

As an American Muslim, I am very excited by these trends and hope to continue promoting interfaith work in 2014. However, as the interfaith movement grows, it is becoming increasingly important to discuss potential challenges of interfaith dialogue and how they can be addressed.

The first challenge is a lack of focus. For any interfaith dialogue to succeed, all parties must be clear on the conversation's goals. This can help people decide which conversations they should join. For example, if the goal is to discuss complex theological issues, it is necessary to include scripture experts, historians, linguists, and other academics. Lay people and usually younger people may not feel comfortable in these discussions. On the other hand, conversations focused around personal values and experiences would be more appealing to people who do not fit into a defined faith or spiritual category (e.g. agnostics or atheists) or people who are less interested in theology. Academics who want to debate religious minutiae would probably shy away from these discussions. Thus, it is necessary to hold multiple different types of conversations, each geared to a different audience.

The second challenge is when people feel that they need to "water down" or compromise their religious identity in order to fit in. This often occurs when dialogue participants come across an unresolvable difference: for example, whether Jesus was a prophet (the Muslim belief) or whether he was the son of God (the Christian belief). Ideally, interfaith dialogue is supposed to help each participant better understand their own religion and discover the areas in which their religion is unique. In the situation described, both parties should agree to disagree. They should accept that differences exist and seek to understand them without compromising their own beliefs. The prophet Muhammad (PBUH) experienced a similar situation when he was negotiating a treaty with non-Muslims. They offered to worship his god for one year if he promised to worship their many gods during the next year. His answer is described in Chapter 109, verse 6 of the Quran: "For you is your religion, and for me is my religion."

The third challenge is proselytizing, or attempting to convert others. This is also antithetical to the idea of respecting each other's differences. It is perfectly acceptable for dialogue participants to claim that they have the absolute truth. After all, many religions make similar claims that often conflict with beliefs of other religions. However, in interfaith dialogue, participants should enter the conversation in order to learn about other religions' beliefs, not to promote their own. Although some Muslims consider dawah (Islamic missionary work) to be an important part of their tradition, Muslims must also respect the rule in Chapter 2, Verse 256 of the Quran: "There is no compulsion in religion." Thus, although there may be a time and place for proselytizing (as in other traditions like Christianity), interfaith dialogue should not be done with conversion in mind.

Interfaith dialogue can be an excellent way to heal divisions in society. Social science research indicates that having a positive, meaningful relationship with someone of a different background and learning about their identity correlates to viewing that person's entire group more favorably. The same logic applies with interfaith conversations. If we as Americans pursue interfaith dialogue while attempting to address the challenges described above, we can break down stereotypes and find more areas of common ground. In the process, we can reinforce our national motto of E pluribus unum, the idea that our similarities as Americans are greater than our differences.

Source: Huffington Post

As it happens:Turkey’s graft investigation and PM Erdoğan’s response

Pacifica Blogs — Thu, 09 Jan 2014 12:56:00 +0000

Kerim Balci

Last updated Jan. 08, 2014 Turkey is passing through interesting times. Very recently the country has been shaken by two corruption investigations involving ministers from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party). The related investigations heralded the final parting of the ways between two strong players in Turkey: the AK Party and the Hizmet movement (a faith-inspired community affiliated with the now US-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen). Once allies against military tutelage and staunch secularist elite control of power centers in the country, recent events and the Turkish prime minister’s response demonstrate the differing views and positions of both sides.

Despite the apparent centrality of the recent corruption investigations to the split, the two players are in fact quite different in their understanding of politics, Islam and societal reform. While the AK Party seeks to impact through top-down politics and governance, the Hizmet movement seeks to serve and influence through grassroots projects and ideas. The rift between the two players has been growing since the last general elections in 2011. Since then, the Hizmet movement has become increasingly critical of the AK Party government on a number of fronts, including the lack of progress on the drafting of the new civil constitution and the alienating style and substance of AK Party politics. Differences became more apparent in late 2013, when the government made public its plans to close down all forms of private preparatory schools (known as dershane) for the university entrance exam. About 20 percent of the prep schools in Turkey are run by Hizmet-related companies, and many in the movement perceive this attempt as a step toward government control of civil society institutions, if not an outright attack on their community.

With the launch of the recent corruption cases, the rift became undeniable -- and its portrayal in the Turkish and international media correspondingly dramatic. The current situation has left observers inside and outside the country with many questions. Kerim Balcı, editor-in-chief of Turkish Review, tries to clarify the positions of both sides and the tense dynamics currently in play in Turkey’s political atmosphere.

Developments on and after Dec. 17, 2013

On Dec. 17, 2013, on the orders of Chief Public Prosecutor of İstanbul Turan Çolakkadı, Turkish police rounded up over 50 suspects over three investigations reported to have begun as early as 14 months ago concerning corruption, bribery and money laundering charges. Of those questioned, at the time of writing, 24 have been formerly charged and remanded in custody by the courts.
Those charged include the three sons of the interior minister, the economy minister, and the minister for urban planning and development; Reza Zarrab, an Iranian-Azerbaijani businessman; Mustafa Demir, the AK Party-affiliated mayor of İstanbul's Fatih district; Ali Ağaoğlu, businessman and construction mogul; Süleyman Aslan, general manager of Turkey's Halkbank; and a number of other people.
According to an official statement from the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, the operation consists of three separate investigations. The first involves Ağaoğlu and other businessmen; the second, the three sons of the cabinet ministers; and the third involves Halkbank.
During the raids following the detentions, police found $4.5 million in cash stuffed into shoeboxes and about TL 10 million (about $5 million) also in cash in a bookshelf in Halkbank General Manager Aslan's house. Similarly, police found a substantive amount of cash and seven steel vaults in the house of one of the ministers’ sons.
Barış Güler, son of Interior Minister Muammer Güler, Salih Kaan Çağlayan, son of Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan, Reza Sarraf, Mustafa Demir and Süleyman Aslan were arrested by the court. Ali Ağaoğlu and the son of Environment and Urban Planning Minister Erdoğan Bayraktar were released by the court.
On Dec. 25, three cabinet ministers whose sons were linked to the investigation resigned from their offices. Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan and Interior Minister Muammer Güler announced their resignations first. Environment and Urban Planning Minister Erdoğan Bayraktar was apparently also under pressure to resign and ultimately also relinquished his post in Parliament.
Late the same day Prime Minister Erdoğan announced a Cabinet reshuffle effectively ousting the fourth minister linked to the first investigations from his post. Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bağış was replaced by Antalya deputy Mevlut Çavuşoğlu. Apart from the four ministers linked to the corruption case, the prime minister also changed six names in the Cabinet. A surprise name was Efkan Ala, undersecretary for the Prime Ministry, who was given the top spot of the Interior Ministry.
On Jan. 5 pro-government Sabah daily ran a story claiming that Prosecutor Zekeriya Öz, the name behind the Dec. 17 Investigation, had gone on an expensive vacation in Dubai with friends and family in 2012, and that the trip had been financed by a Turkish construction mogul. The same day, Ali Ağaoğlu claimed that his company covered the expenses of the trip. Zekeriya Öz rejected the claims, but this didn’t prevent the 1st Chamber of the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) from removing Öz from the Dec. 17 Investigation case and reassigning him to another inferior position at the Bakırköy Courthouse in İstanbul.
On Jan. 8 Zaman daily ran an online story claiming that the Dubai hotel where Öz had been accused of spending Ağaoğlu’s money, rejected the claims and denied authenticity of the invoices published by the Sabah daily.

Dec. 25 investigation of corruption

On Dec. 25, 2013, the public became aware of another investigation led by Prosecutor Muammer Akkaş when the head of the İstanbul Metropolitan Police Force refused to carry out the orders of the prosecutor (following the arrests on Dec. 17 the government had changed the head of the İstanbul Metropolitan Police Force).
Despite a court order on Dec. 25, at the time of writing, 41 new suspects have yet to be detained for questioning, and search orders are yet to be executed at seven premises. Instead, on Dec. 26, Prosecutor Akkaş was reassigned.
Since then, Akkaş has issued a short statement to the effect that his orders were not followed; that he was prevented from carrying out an investigation; that the independence of the judiciary had been violated; and that the Constitution had been breached.
On Jan. 6 the 1st Chamber of the HSYK decided to start an investigation into Prosecutor Akkaş, together with Chief Public Prosecutor of İstanbul Çolakkadı, who reassigned Prosecutor Akkaş and Selami Altınok, head of the İstanbul Metropolitan Police Force, for preventing police officers from cooperating with Prosecutor Akkaş.
On Jan. 8 Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ said he would not grant the permission needed to launch an inquiry into Chief Prosecutor Çolakkadı and police chief Altınok.

How have Erdoğan and the AK Party responded?

As was the case during the protests of İstanbul’s Gezi Park this summer, Prime Minister Erdoğan and the AK Party government argue that these investigations are an international plot to overthrow the government orchestrated by “external” and “internal” enemies that are deeply uncomfortable with a strong and independent Turkey. By this, Erdoğan and the AK Party directly and indirectly refer to the US (Erdoğan has even implicated the US ambassador to Turkey as being the mastermind behind the investigation, adding that he did not have to keep the ambassador on Turkish soil), Israel (“the interest rate lobby”), foreign powers not wanting Turkey to resolve its Kurdish issue (“the blood lobby”), the Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen’s Association (TÜSİAD -- “the big industries”), the opposition political parties, Gezi Park protestors and the Hizmet movement -- with the latter being the domestic pawn carrying out these plots on behalf of the above domestic and overseas parties.
AK Party deputies (Şamil Tayyar, Metin Metiner, etc.) and pro-government papers have suggested that those sympathetic to Hizmet have infiltrated the top levels of Turkey’s state structure and are orchestrating this plot on behalf of the country’s national and international enemies. Erdoğan and members of his government have publicly declared their intent to “crush” and “break” the movement by entering “its dens.”
Here are some of the terms used by Erdoğan in recent weeks in relation to the ongoing graft investigations: “a coalition between outsider and insider enemies,” “dirty coalition,” “international masterminds,” “parallel state,” “pawn of international networks,” “traitors,” “global assassination attempt,” “breaking of hands,” “entering their dens,” “crushing them,” “second war of independence,” “dirty international media,” “blood lobby,” “no surrender.”

The government has taken a number of steps, too many to list here. The following are the most pertinent to the ongoing investigation.

Within 24 hours of the investigation going public, 24 police chiefs were reassigned, including all the police chiefs leading the investigations on behalf of the public prosecution service. These actions were taken by the interior minister whose son has been charged and is currently on remand pending trial.
Following this, an additional 1,000 police officers of varying ranks around the country were reassigned. Those re-assigned are largely those of the “organized crime division,” which is responsible for investigating, among other things, corruption, bribery and money laundering activities. These actions were also taken by then Interior Minister Güler.
Hüseyin Çapkın, Head of the İstanbul Metropolitan Police Force, was removed from his post and replaced by the mayor of Aksaray, who has no policing experience whatsoever. Appointing someone from outside the police force to head the largest police force in the country is an unprecedented step. This action was also taken by then Interior Minister Güler.
An important bylaw was passed stating that the police are obliged to inform their superior officers of ongoing investigations carried out on behalf of the public prosecution services. (Meaning, for example that the interior minister would be informed by the police services that his/her son was being investigated by the police on behalf of the prosecution services.)
Then-Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin and Istanbul Chief Prosecutor Çolakkadı met twice following the detentions and while the investigations were ongoing.
Two additional prosecutors were appointed to these cases -- despite no request from the existing prosecutors -- and a directive issued stating that decisions could be arrived at by a two-vote majority. (That said, the prosecutors unanimously agreed to formally charge suspects.)
Other steps have also been taken to reassign officials involved in state auditing and in the state media.

Have Erdoğan or the AK Party offered any proof of their conspiracy allegations?

Erdoğan and the AK Party have not produced any form of evidence to justify their conspiracy allegations. Instead they have put forth a number of arguments:

Argument 1: The investigating police did not inform their superiors of their investigation

The government argued very strongly that the fact that the investigating police units did not inform their superiors within the police force for the past 14/15 months of the ongoing investigations was proof that these investigations were not genuine but part of an international plot to topple the government.
However, according to Section 164(2) of the 2004 code on Criminal Procedure (CMK) and the relevant bylaw of 2005, police officers and police units are only answerable to the public prosecution service when investigating on their behalf. A police officer or unit cannot inform its superior within the police force of an ongoing investigation it is undertaking on behalf of the public prosecution service. The police cannot divulge any information whatsoever -- even of the very existence of the investigation. Only the investigating prosecutor (not even the chief prosecutor) can decide who should be informed, when and how. Contravening this would be unlawful and could lead to prosecution.
This law was passed by the AK Party government to bring it into line with EU laws and to prevent sensitive investigations from being compromised through leaks.
Despite its rhetoric to the contrary, the government has tacitly acknowledged that there was no wrongdoing on the part of the police as it reassigned (not dismissed) officers and speedily amended the relevant bylaw of 2005. By doing so, it indirectly acknowledged that police officers could not lawfully inform their superiors within the force while the law remained as it did at the time.
The amendment meant that any investigation will now be shared by the investigating police unit with its superiors, which in turn will eventually be shared with the Interior Ministry.
However, the Supreme Court of Appeal (Danıştay) has since revoked this amendment on the grounds that it is unlawful and contravenes the secrecy and independence of judicial enquiry and due process.

Argument 2: Three separate investigations were launched at the same time to undermine the government

On Dec. 17 the police took in several people for questioning and carried out searches at a number of premises. As far as can be seen, these actions were related to three separate investigations. The government claims that the fact that the detentions and search warrants were carried out on the same day is proof that the investigations are not genuine but were executed in this manner to maximize impact.
It is impossible to know the exact reasoning of the prosecutors for deciding to carry out these detentions and exercise these search warrants on the same day, as they are barred from commenting to the press while carrying out an investigation. However, many commentators have suggested that the prosecutors acted in this way fearing that if they launched one investigation first, the government might react and try to suppress the other investigations before vital evidence could be collected and the relevant suspects questioned.
Steps taken by the government since Dec. 17 would appear to support this reasoning. Note that on Dec. 25 a second phase in the graft investigation run by Prosecutor Muammer Akkaş was blocked. Despite a court order, 41 new suspects are yet to be detained for questioning and search orders are yet to be carried out at seven premises. The police are yet to execute these orders. Instead, on Dec. 26, Akkaş was removed from the investigation.

Argument 3: The timing of the detentions and search warrants (three months prior to local elections) proves that these investigations are not genuine but seek to damage the AK Party at the polls

On March 30 Turkey will go to local elections. If no change is made to their dates the presidential election will take place on the last day of August 2014, and general elections on June 14, 2015.

Based on leaked evidence, it is alleged that the prosecutors decided to launch the detentions and search warrants at the time that they did because they had heard the suspects had got wind of the investigations and had started to destroy vital evidence.

What are Gülen’s views on the ongoing graft investigation in Turkey?

Gülen has stated that such investigations can take place in any country and that the government should cooperate with the judiciary to assist the judicial process.
Gülen and the Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV), of which he is the honorary chairperson, denied any involvement with the ongoing investigations. Furthermore, they invited state authorities to prove those allegations, and take legal action if any evidence is found substantiating them through due process -- not by undermining the institutions and processes charged with investigating such claims and allegations as they claim the government is doing. Gülen's lawyer condemned and rejected the allegations as an attempt to divert public attention away from a massive bribery scandal and defame his client.
A number of commentators close to the movement have pointed out that the investigations date back at least 14/15 months and therefore cannot have any bearing on the government’s recent decision to close down university prep schools (a decision the movement strongly opposes).
Gülen states that the premier’s attempts at pinning the investigation on an international conspiracy, of which the movement is allegedly the domestic partner, and the reassigning of hundreds of innocent people to different posts, is an attempt to misdirect the public’s attention away from the real issue and constitutes interference with an ongoing investigation.
While denying that he has anything to do with these investigations, Gülen has also pointed out that these police officers and police chiefs have been changed and reassigned many times over already. Gülen also invoked “God’s curse” on himself and those rightly or wrongly associated with him if they have acted in contravention of Islam, modern law and democracy. In addition, if some people are trying to cover up their corruption by blaming innocent people, then God’s curse be upon them. This form of prayer is called mulaane ormubahale in Islam. It is based on the Qur’an and Sunnah and is undertaken when two parties make diametrically opposing claims and reach a deadlock in resolving an issue. It is a two-way conditional prayer.

Gülen and the Hizmet movement were supportive of Erdoğan and his government. What happened?

Gülen is on record as expressing his support for democracy, the non-instrumentalization of religion in politics, the rule of law, human rights, freedom of religion and belief, the rule of law, equality and celebration of diversity, consultative and inclusive decision- making, meritocracy and accountability, a strong vibrant resilient and compassionate civil society.
The GYV has issued various press releases reiterating the movement’s position on democracy, the rule of law, press freedom, politics and supporting a particular party or political candidate.
Gülen and the Hizmet movement gave full support to the demilitarization of Turkish politics. In particular the Ergenekon and Sledgehammer (Balyoz) cases received support from Hizmet-related media. Both cases ended in the punishment of ex-army personnel and civilians linked to coup plots against the AK Party government. The decisions of the Turkish courts were applauded by the EU as positive steps toward democratization and prevention of military intervention into politics.
Prosecutor Zekeriya Öz, the prosecutor who launched the first corruption case on Dec. 17^,was presiding over the Ergenekon case and was also lauded by AK Party supporters at the time of the coup case.
Gülen and the Hizmet movement supported those policies of Erdoğan and the government that furthered democracy, the rule of law, human rights, equality, EU accession, respect and freedom for diversity and pluralism. Polices that strengthened civil society, removed non-democratic tutelage, provided greater freedom to religious minorities and sought to resolve Turkey’s long-lasting internal and external problems. The reason Gülen and the movement no longer support Erdoğan and his policies is because they no longer seek to achieve the above.
Erdoğan has adopted an increasingly authoritarian style of governance in recent years. Rather than reforming constitutional bodies and structures that are deeply undemocratic and possess far too much power over any elected government, he has sought to maintain and govern through them. He has strengthened state power at the expense of civil society and is more inclined towards the Shanghai Cooperation than the EU. What is more, he is increasingly showing signs of readopting the “political Islam” he had rejected when founding the AK Party.
The following are some examples between 2010 and today demonstrating this change of direction: slowing down of EU negotiations, the Uludere incident (a military airstrike in which dozens of civilians were killed), the rhetoric developed during the Gezi Park protests and the attempt to ban prep schools.
The final rift came when Prime Minister Erdoğan started claiming that Hizmet has infiltrated the state apparatus and formed a “parallel state” plotting the recent corruption cases against his party, and that Hizmet was working as a domestic arm of foreign powers who did not want Turkey to become a global player.

Has the Hizmet movement infiltrated Turkey’s police and judiciary? Is the Hizmet movement a ‘parallel state’?

These allegations have been made about Gülen and Hizmet before. Gülen was tried and acquitted by Turkey’s staunchly secular courts in the 1980s and 1990s -- that is prior to the birth of the AK Party. Most recently, in 2006, Gülen was acquitted of such allegations after a six-year trial. The prosecutors appealed this decision but the Court of Appeal upheld Gülen’s acquittal in 2008.
Furthermore, from the 1990s onward the movement has been active outside of Turkey. Today the movement is active in over 150 different in a range of fields, primarily education and interfaith dialogue.
Gülen encourages Muslims to take part in every part of society and not to be confined to conventional roles and jobs. He encourages practicing Muslims to work in all sectors and industries, including the civil service, police, judiciary, media, military and academia -- in the past these were sectors knowingly avoided by and closed to observant Muslims in Turkey. A learned estimate suggests that 8 percent of the Turkish population regard themselves as Hizmet affiliated. With such a huge support base, it is inevitable that more and more observant Muslims should be taking up such positions.
Gülen’s teachings have helped remove the cultural and religious dogma that previously prevented pious Muslims from being proactively engaged in society and working in the public sector. As a consequence many practicing Turkish Muslims now work in the police force and other public services. The question is not be whether there are practicing Muslims inspired by Gülen working in the police force, but why such people were discouraged from such jobs and positions -- be it in the police force or other public sectors -- in the past.
If the assertion is that members of the police force who are inspired by Gülen are somehow engaged in improper activities (i.e. that they act in the best interest of Gülen and/or Hizmet as opposed to the rule of law and proper procedure) then this is not only illegal it is also contrary to Gülen’s teachings. If there is any wrongdoing of this or any other type such people should be tried according to due process. This cannot be achieved by undermining the judicial institutions and processes required to investigate such claims.
Gülen is on record stating that anyone acting contrary to the law should be investigated and tried; he has stated many times before that if there are any groups within the police force or any other public body acting contrary to the law and even the code of conduct, that these people should be investigated and if found guilty, punished according to the letter of the law.

Source: Turkish Review

A Conversation with Rev. Alexei R. Smith on Interfaith Dialogue

Pacifica Blogs — Sat, 04 Jan 2014 08:49:00 +0000

Alp Ataizi

As Pacifica Institute we have started a new interview series with prominent leaders of today's society. To launch the series, we sat down to enjoy an enlightening conversation with Rev. Alexei R. Smith, Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs Officer for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, to speak about interfaith dialogue. Rev. Smith is one of the very first interfaith activists on interfaith dialogue in the Los Angeles area and has paved the way in this meaningful cause.

Father Alexei served as an elected member of the Council of Priests of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles for six years, serving as Vice President of the Council and Chair of the Priestly Life and Ministry Committee for the last two years of his service on the Council.

In November of 2000, Cardinal Roger Mahony appointed Father Alexei to a five year term as Ecumenical and Interreligious Officer of the Archdiocese, and reappointed him to a second five year term in July 2006.

Father Alexei served as president of the Interreligious Council of Southern California for five years and is the recipient of numerous commendations and awards: in 2007 he was awarded the prestigious Religious Leadership Award of the Valley Interfaith Council.

Q. As we all know you are very active in the interfaith scene and our very first question to you is, what does interfaith dialog mean to you?

Interfaith dialog means at it differs from what we term as Ecumenical dialog. Ecumenical dialog means our interaction with our fellow Christians. Interfaith would mean our interaction with people who are non-Christian and the goals are different. In the sense they are the same, but different. In ecumenical dialog with our fellow Christians, the goal is to reunite all Christians into one entity as we were originally. Interfaith dialog does not have the same goal, the goal is to be enriched by each other, to embrace each other with open your arms. What are you doing you are making room in yourself for the other individual. Interfaith dialog for me is the embrace of one another, making room in myself for the other and to be enriched by the other. In order to be enriched by one another we will acknowledge that we don’t share total beliefs but we don’t allow those areas to impede our working together for the betterment of society.

Q. How did you first get involved in interfaith dialog?

Oh (laugh), I was assigned this job in the year 2000. The Catholic Arch bishop here took me aside one day and said, ‘I have a new job I want you to do’. And I knew nothing about this. He said, ‘we are looking for new ecumenical interreligious officer for the archdiocese. Everybody tells me it should be you. So if you want the job I’m telling you it’s yours.’ I was totally shocked, I had no idea this was coming and I immediately asked the Archbishop, ‘your eminence, who is telling you this?’, ‘Oh don’t worry about it’ and I said, ‘You know I have no academic background in this, I didn’t study any of these world religions and I have no degree in this stuff’, ‘Don’t worry about that stuff’. Every excuse I made he said ‘Don’t worry’ and finally I said, ‘I would like to think about this, pray about this and can I get back to you?’. He said, ‘Yes you may.’ I’ll never forget that was in a Wednesday and on Friday his secretary called and said the cardinal has a message for you. I said, ‘And what’s that?’, ‘he wants to know if you have finished praying and whether you can start on Monday. And I took that as a sign that I should engage in this work and I am still thankful that I did. I have been now at this position since the year 2000, so next month is my 14^th year and it’s made a total difference in the way it’s really enriched my life.

Perfect. Let me ask you about the interfaith community. How has the interfaith community changed over the years? Has it progressed?

Yes. That is not to say that we have not had setbacks, but it is to say that we have progressed. I believe we are for the most part understanding one another better, excepting one another better more and growing together.

Q.Why do you think interfaith dialog is so important particularly today?

Well look at where we live here in Los Angeles. We have absolutely every religion here, from A to Z. From the Armenian Orthodox to Zoroastrians. And I think Los Angeles is known for it being a city that many other cities of the world like to model. I mean look at the entertainment industry, all of these things. But I think and I told our mayors this, we should be exporting to these people is the fact that we can live together, people of different ethnicities, colors, races and religions but we can live together harmoniously. And this is what we have to show the world with.

And Los Angeles is the perfect platform, the perfect place for this.

Q.What are some of the, if there are any, unexpected challenges that you have come across in your work?

I think the main one for me, speaking as a catholic now, that not all of our people are 100% behind this. Even though this is the official teaching of the Catholic Church, it has been since the 2^ndVatican council in 1960’s. For we acknowledge there is truth in non-Christian religions, where we are told by the church that we should interact with other religions, all of these things. Not all of our people are there yet. So we have to work on them and try to bring them along.

Q.This actually connects to my second question which is, Why do you think some people do not believe in interfaith? Is it because they don’t really see it succeeding or do you think they might be some restrictions in their religion that would not permit them engaging?

I think it is the opposite of what you said initially. I think they do see it as succeeding and it challenged them because that would mean they would have to change. They don’t want to change. They want to possess the idea that we are the sole possessor of the truth, nobody else has anything to offer society, no possible feedback that they learn from you, that type of mentality that is certainly faulty reasoning. I mean look at the world, those areas that live in isolation out there and you can see that it is not working. Well Francis now is a light for us, for the whole world, as almost everything he says in his official statements says he always mentions that we have to take inter-religious dialog deeper, not superficially or ‘hello, nice to see you again’ type of thing, but really delve into this whole realm of what makes you a Muslim, what make me a Catholic, what we can share together. How we can work together to build a society.

Q. What do you think is the biggest challenge that we have, that we haven’t passed yet? The biggest challenge that we have to build these bridges?

Well I think for many people it would be fear. Fear of the unknown. They don’t know and we do a lot of education programs. Pacifica has all kinds of educational programs, some of which I have been able to attend and they are wonderful. Just like we do, the Catholic Church does a number of programs that our parish and such that we try to educate people about things that. And we have to continue doing that, we have to continue throwing these seeds. Some of these seeds will germinate and they will grow to great trees and produce a lot of fruit, other will wither and die. But it is the fear factor that of what people just don’t know. Let me give you an example of what I mean. I occasionally put together what I call Father Alexi’s bus tour, where we gather at one of our catholic facilities through our parish here. We gather at one of these parishes, we begin with morning prayer and a Christian tradition other than Catholic, so that they are exposed to some other type of Christianity than Catholicism and then we go and visit four, maybe sometimes five houses of worship of different faith and I never tell these people where we are going. Just go. And I remember once distinctly we pulled into the parking lot then of Omar Ibn Al’Kattab mosque down there by the University (USC) and as we got off a lady grabbed my arm and said, ‘Oh I am so thankful you brought us here’ and I said ‘Why is that?’, and she said ‘because I live down the street, I have always wanted to go in here, but I haven’t’. And I said ‘Well why didn’t you go in?’, she said ‘Well I am afraid, I am afraid of the unknown, I am afraid that they won’t accept me or I will do something that will offend them or I won’t accept them or I won’t know how to behave or whatever’, so I said ‘Well, my dear, you just stick with me and we will walk you through this’. And we did and I watched her while she was there and as we walked out she grabbed my arm again and said ‘Well that was wonderful, I should have been in here a long time ago. These people are just like us.’ So once you get people to take a leap over there initial fear of something unknown you have a chance.

That was a great story. I can relate to that one in different ways as well. Sometimes you need that hand…

Q. Let me tie this all together with my last question about Pacifica. What is your experience with Pacifica Institute and Hizmet in general?

I’ll never forget that Ensar called and you weren’t Pacifica then, you were Global Cultural Connections, and he called and wanted to know whether he can come and talk with me. It wasn’t just Ensar it was Ibrahim and a couple of other gentlemen and I said ‘Okay, I have a half hour’. They came and we had such wonderful conversation that I cancelled some other appointments and we must have talked for two and a half hours our first day. And they were very interested in becoming active in the interfaith scene here. I gave him some contacts and took him around to a couple of places. We had a long association with now Pacifica and I think it is wonderful and what you are doing in marvelous. It is not only exposing people to Turkish culture and such, but also to a positive face of not only Islam but also a positive face to interfaith relations. So I commend you and have commended you. You have been gracious enough to invite me to come and speak at some of your Friendship Dinners not only here in Los Angeles, but in Hawaii once and where else, Reno I think and maybe someplace else. And I am more than willing to do that because I admire the work that you are doing and I certainly support that. With the Hizmet organization per see or movement, I am admirer of Mr. Gulen. I have read several of the books he has written, articles about him. I think he represents a positive future which should be emulated, his activities should be emulated in many different parts of the world, especially the Islamic world. This openness to the other, never denying who he is or what he is. I never deny that I am a Catholic or Catholic Priest, no one has asked me to do that in order to participate in interfaith dialog. Interfaith Dialog is certainly not about going out and trying to convert one to another religion. It’s growing in understanding and such, you maintain your identity while working together in making it a better world and that is the true sense for it.

Father Alexi thank you very much for your time.

Turkey’s Struggle for Checks and Balances

Pacifica Blogs — Fri, 03 Jan 2014 22:31:00 +0000

Husain Haqqani

Prime Minister Erdogan is blaming a corruption case on his political nemesis, but the reality is that the government has been overstepping its democratic bounds.

After a decade of economic progress under an elected government, Turkey is facing a major political crisis. Turkey’s economic success under Prime Minister Recep Teyyip Erdogan, whose Justice and Development Party (AKP) has Islamist roots, was cited by many as an example of the potential for moderating Islamism through democracy. Erdogan was said to have provided good governance and opportunities to ordinary citizens that previously had been available to a privileged few.

But power corrupts, and the current government in Turkey has had absolute power in the absence of strong opposition and after winning a third term in 2011. Erdogan is currently facing corruption charges, which he attributes to either foreign powers (which includes the U.S. and Israel) or to the followers of Fethulleh Gulen, an Islamic scholar and social advocate. Gulen is a former ally of the government who has now distanced himself from the prime minister. Erdogan blames Gulen’s followers entrenched in Turkey’s judiciary and the police system of fabricating the corruption allegations.

The prime minister’s theories are clouded by discovery by investigators of shoe boxes filled with millions of dollars—a clear sign that something is amiss. Two of Erdogan’s Cabinet ministers have resigned after the arrest of their sons in connection with the investigation. One of the resigning ministers demanded Erdogan’s own resignation, hinting that the prime minister bore responsibility for the alleged corruption.

At the center of the main corruption investigation is the state bank, Halkbank, which has been a matter of concern for the U.S. as it helped Iran evade sanctions. It was also the subject of a letter by 46 members of the U.S. Congress. The business partner of one of the suspects was the subject of a New York Timesarticle in the context of Iran evading sanctions in October.

Rather than doing what any democratic government should, Erdogan took steps to remove accountability: The police chiefs investigating corruption charges were removed and the prosecutor who started the case pacified. Erdogan accused the higher council of prosecutors and judges, as well as the court of appeals, of being part of the conspiracy against him. The court of appeals had annulled his attempted requirement for police investigators to inform politically-appointed superiors of any current or future investigations.

Turkey already ranks poorly in the media freedom index, and now, the media’s access to police has also been severely restricted. The prosecutor investigating a new corruption case that involved the prime minister’s son has just made a statement citing political pressure and obstruction of justice. Anyone in government bureaucracy or other institutions mustering the courage to speak against the government is being targeted and transferred or pacified.

Dissent against Erdogan has been simmering for a while because of his increased authoritarianism. From recent discourse on regulating student homes and the government’s heavy-handed reaction to Gezi Park protests, Erdogan increasingly runs Turkey like a dictator. Restrictions on freedom of press have been imposed through owner censorship and the prime minister’s tolerance for democratic opposition has visibly decreased. Many observers, including the former interior minister who resigned from AKP, have pointed to small oligarchic elite within the party leadership who control every decision.

The current unrest in Turkey is not about Gulen as much as it is about the judiciary, citizens and civil -society actors performing the role of checks and balances against government transgressions. Gulen supporters seem only to be a part of the larger section of the society that believes in the values of government transparency. The Gulen movement is a civil society initiative that advocates for democracy and social justice while maintaining personal religiosity. It is not a political party and Gulen or his key disciples have shown little interest in political office.

The Turkish history of imposed Jacobin Secularism ended up creating virtual segregation against observant Muslims. Gulen encouraged education as a platform for ending that discrimination and advocated social justice, arguing that separation of religion and state should not lead to the state excluding religious observance from the lives of its people.

Erdogan may be right about the Turkish judiciary and police having Gulen supporters. But that differs little from the police or judiciary in the U.S. having Catholics, Jews or evangelical Christians in their ranks. Gulen’s message of inclusive democracy has influenced a significant population in Turkey and those who share his beliefs, as well as those who are indifferent to or against them, are bound to be in a subset of any institution in Turkey.

Erdogan’s authoritarian style and the fact that he has been in power too long were bound to create a backlash at some point. That is now happening. The idea of seeing the emerging crisis in Turkey as a power struggle between two titans is glamorous. But the issue in Turkey seems to be checks and balances against government transgressions, not just a personal tiff between Erdogan and Gulen.

Source: The Daily Beast

Can Social Literature Compete with Social Media?

Pacifica Blogs — Fri, 03 Jan 2014 08:15:00 +0000

Commentary by Christopher John Farley

This morning, author Kate DiCamillo announced on her Facebook page that she will serve as the new national ambassador for young people’s literature. Her induction into the post, which is supported by the Library of Congress and other organizations, is scheduled for Jan. 10 in Washington, D.C.

The post, which is filled every two years, is meant to promote literature for children during an age in which it is under assault from all sorts of digital entertainment, including social media and video games.

But can an ambassador really help get your child to read?

“The whole thing is pretty intimidating; but it is also deeply, deeply gratifying, because for the next two years, I will get to go around the country talking about what matters to me, and what matters to me is this: people connecting through stories,” DiCamillo said on her Facebook page.

According to DiCamillo’s publicist, her platform in the post–yes, she has a platform–is the theme “stories connect us.” DiCamillo, the author of the bestseller “Because of Winn-Dixie” and the new “Flora & Ulysses,” plans to travel the country promoting shared reading experiences, like community reading projects where kids in cities and towns all read the same book.

Video games used to be more like books–essentially solitary experiences which involved people separating themselves from groups. But social media is, by definition of course, social, and video games have become much more so: kids chat online or via headsets with friends as they play, and if you’re not on Xbox Live playing Call of Duty and NBA 2K14, you’re not part of the community or the conversation.

According to Scholastic’s latest Kids & Family Reading Report, about half of parents (49%) feel their children do not spend enough time reading books for fun, while the overwhelming majority of parents think that their children spend too much time playing video games or visiting social networking sites.

Parents have probably felt that their kids aren’t reading enough even before the first video game was invented. But today they’re feeling that feeling more. The percentage of parents who say their child does not spend enough time reading for fun has risen since 2010 across all age groups of children (36% in 2010 to 49% in 2012).

I recently wrote a fantasy novel called “Game World,” and part of my motivation was to create a book that would engage younger readers by tackling themes and subjects that they care about, including video games and social media. I wanted it to be the kind of book that kids and parents could read together and have something meaningful and fun to discuss.

Reading can be more of a social experience, if friends and family are brought into the process. When my 11-year-old son started a two-person summer book club with a friend not long ago, he was much more engaged in the reading process than when he was reading alone. And according to the Scholastic report, having reading role-model parents or a large book collection at home has a greater impact on kids’ reading frequency than household income does.

DiCamillo is likely to be a terrific ambassador for young people’s literature. The problem is, once children’s literature needs an ambassador, there’s already a problem.

Parents need to make sure that children’s literature doesn’t seem like a far-away place that requires an ambassador to relate to. Children’s literature should take kids to other countries and other worlds, but the reading experience shouldn’t feel like something distant. If kids don’t feel like they’re already living in the land of literature, if they don’t feel as if books are an intimate part of their lives, things have gone horribly wrong.

Social literature can be more powerful than social media and social gaming. If parents read books with kids, encourage them to start book clubs, select books that tackle issues kids care about, and maybe turn off the screens around the house now and again, reading can be made into a more social and more relevant experience in kids’ lives.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Religious Holidays 2014: An Interfaith Calendar (Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim And More)

Pacifica Blogs — Wed, 01 Jan 2014 18:52:00 +0000

We live in a beautiful, diverse world, and almost each day of the year is a sacred time for someone, somewhere. We are proud to present an interfaith, inclusive religious calendar for nine major world religions: Baha'i, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Jainism, Judaism, Islam, Paganism, Shinto and Sikhism. We hope you will come to this page regularly to learn about the festivals of your religious tradition as well as your neighbors'.

Baha'i Holidays 2014:

Jan 20 - World Religion Day
Mar 2-20: The Nineteen Day Fast
Mar 21 - Nowruz / Naw-Ruz (Baha'i, Zoroastrian, Iranian New Year)
Apr 21- May 2 - Ridván
May 29 - Ascension of Baha'u'llah
July 9 - The Martyrdom of the Bab
Oct 20 - Birth of the Bab
Nov 12 - Birth of Baha'u'llah

Buddhist Holidays 2014:

Jan 16-19 - Mahayana New Year
Feb 8 - Parinirvana - Nirvana Day
Feb 15 - Nirvana Day
Apr 15 - Theravada New Year
May 14 - Wesak or Buddha Day
Jul 12 - Asala - Dharma Day
Dec 8 - Bodhi Day

Christian Holidays 2014 (all denominations):

Jan 1 - Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God (Catholic)
Jan 1 - Feast of St. Basil (Orthodox Christian)
Jan 6 - Epiphany
Jan 6 - Feast of Theophany (Orthodox Christian)
Jan 6 - Nativity of Jesus (Armenian Orthodox)
Jan 7 - Christmas Day (Orthodox Christian)
Jan 19 - Timkat (Ethiopian Orthodox Christian)
Jan 25 - Conversion of St. Paul
Feb 2 - Candlemas
Feb 11 - Feast Day of Our Lady of Lourdes (Catholic)
Mar 3 - Clean Monday (Orthodox Christian)
Mar 4 - Shrove Tuesday
Mar 5 - Ash Wednesday
Mar 17 - St. Patrick's Day (Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran)
Mar 25 - Annunciation
Apr 13 - Palm Sunday
Apr 17 - Maundy Thursday
Apr 18 - Good Friday
Apr 19 - Holy Saturday
Apr 20 - Easter Sunday
May 29 - Ascension Day
Jun 8 - Pentecost
Jun 15 - Trinity Sunday
Jun 15 - All Saints' Day (Orthodox)
Jun 19 - Corpus Christi
Jun 29 - St. Peter and St. Paul's Day
July 22 - Feast of Mary Magdalene
Aug 6 - Transfiguration of Jesus
Aug 15 - Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Catholic)
Aug 15 - Dormition of the Theotokos (Orthodox Christian)
Sep 8 - Nativity of the Theotokos / Birth of Virgin Mary
Sep 29 - Michaelmas
Oct 31 - All Hallows' Eve
Nov 1 - All Saints Day / All Hallows' Day
Nov 2 - All Souls' Day
Nov 30 - Advent Sunday
Dec 8 - Feast of Immaculate Conception (Catholic)
Dec 12 - Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Dec 24 - Christmas Eve (Western Churches)
Dec 25 - Christmas Day (Western Churches)

Hindu Holidays 2014:

Jan 14 - Makar Sankranti / Pongal
Feb 4 - Saraswati Puja
Feb 28 - Shivratri
Mar 17 - Holi
Apr 8 - Ram Navami
Apr 15 - Hanuman Jayanti
Aug 10 - Raksha Bandhan
Aug 17 - Janmasthami
Sept 7 - Onam
Sept 23 - Radhasthami
Sept 25 - Navratri
Sept 30-Oct 4 - Durga Puja
Oct 4 - Dussehra
Oct 23 - Diwali

Jain Holidays 2014:

Apr 13 - Mahavir Jayanti
May 2 - Akshaya Tritiya
Aug 29 - Anant Chaturdashi
Aug 30 - Paryushan Parva
Sept 8 - Kshamavani
Oct 23- Diwali

Jewish Holidays 2014:

Jan 16 - Tu B'Shevat
Mar 16 - Purim
Apr 15-23 - Passover
Jun 4-5 - Shavuot
Aug 5 - Tisha B'Av
Sept 25-26 - Rosh Hashanah
Oct 4 - Yom Kippur
Oct 9-15 - Sukkot
Oct 17 - Simchat Torah
Dec 17-24 - Hanukkah

Muslim Holidays 2014:

Jun 28 - Ramadan Starts
Jul 24 - Lailat al Qadr
Jul 28 - Eid-ul-Fitr
Oct 4 - Eid-ul-Adha
Oct 15 - Al-Hijira (Islamic New Year)
Nov 3 - Ashura

Pagan Holidays 2014:

Feb 2 - Imbolc
Mar 20 - Spring Equinox
May 1 - Beltane
June 21 - Summer Solstice
Aug 1 - Lughnasadh (Lamamas)
Sept 23 - Autumn Equinox
Oct 31 - Samhain
Dec 21 - Winter Solstice (Yule)

Shinto Holidays 2014:

Jan 1 - Gantan-sai
Feb 3 - Setsubun
Nov 15 - Shichigosan
Nov 23 - Niinamesei

Sikh Holidays 2014:

Jan 5 - Guru Gobind Singh Jayanti
Jan 13 - Lohri
Feb 4 - Vasant Panchami
Mar 17 - Hola Mohalla
Apr 13 - Vaisakhi
Oct 23 - Diwali
Oct 23 - Bandi Chhor Divas
Nov 6 - Birthday of Guru Nanak
Nov 24 - Martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur

Source: Huffington Post

New Laws Coming to California in 2014

Pacifica Blogs — Wed, 01 Jan 2014 11:48:00 +0000

As the New Year approaches, there are several new laws about to be enacted in California -- from transgender students' rights and a minimum wage boost, to sharing the road with bicyclists and changes to tips at restaurants.

Here is a round up of some of the new edicts:

TRANSGENDER RIGHTS: Students in grades K-12 who identify as transgender will be allowed to use school bathrooms and play on sport teams “consistent with their gender identity,” starting Jan. 1, 2014.

MINIMUM WAGE HIKE: Workers earning minimum wage will net $9 an hour starting July 1, 2014. The increase is part of a three-year plan that will raise the hourly minimum wage in California to $10 – one of the highest in the nation – by 2016. Under another bill, domestic workers will have to be paid time and a half if they work more than nine hours in a day or more than 45 hours in a week; baby sitters are exempt.

PAPARAZZI CRACKDOWN: Backed by actresses including Halley Berry and Jennifer Garner, a new measure will impose tougher penalties on paparazzi that harass the children of public figures, including celebrities, police officers and judges. Starting in January, violators could face up to a year in county jail and a fine of up to $10,000. Fines would increase for subsequent convictions.

MORE ROOM FOR BICYCLISTS: Drivers must give cyclists a 3-foot clearing when passing or, when that clearance isn’t possible, slow down and only pass when there’s enough room. Starting Sept. 16, 2014, passing too close to a bicyclist could result in a fine for the driver, whether there was a crash or not.

AMBER ALERT EXPANSION: Abductions by custodial parents or guardians, who may cause serious bodily injury or death to the child, now will require law enforcement to request the activation of an AMBER Alert.

TEXTING AND DRIVING: Drivers under the age of 18 are not allowed to use voice recognition software, like Apple’s “Siri,” to write, send or read a text while behind the wheel.

ON-CAMPUS SMOKING: All 10 University of California campuses will be smoke-free starting Jan. 1, 2014. The ban includes all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes.

HYBRIDS RIDING HOV: Low-emission or zero-emission vehicles can continue using high-occupancy vehicle, or carpool, lanes without meeting occupancy requirements until Jan. 1, 2019.

FINDING HIT-AND-RUN DRIVERS: A new bill extends the current three-year statute of limitations for hit-and-run offenses to six years from the date of a crash that causes death or permanent, serious injuries.

GROUP GRATITUITY: Tips automatically added to a restaurant bill (usually when a table seats 6 or more diners) will now be taxable as regular wages and subject to payroll tax withholding, which means your server won’t see those tips until payday instead of taking it home as cash.

SEARCH WARRANTS: A driver suspected of DUI who refuses to submit to or fails to complete a blood test can be served a search warrant to draw blood in a “reasonable, medically approved manner.” This law went into effect Sept. 20.

VICTIM PROTECTION: Employers are now barred from firing, discriminating or retaliating against a worker because they are a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking. The new law also requires employers to protect victims from their abusers, for example, by changing the employee's work number.

Source: NBC Bay Area

Turkish Armenian: I'd defend Turkey against our enemies as we did in the Battle of the Dardanelles

Pacifica Blogs — Sun, 22 Dec 2013 23:21:00 +0000

Cumali Önal

The chairman of the Association of Philanthropic Malatya Armenians (HAYDER), Hosrof Köletavitoğlu, is a typical Anatolian man. He defines himself as Anatolian in his heart, his mind and all his emotions. For him, a true Anatolian is a good citizen. He feels himself a stranger everywhere else, even in Armenia.

“I, as a Turkish Citizen, like all other Armenians in Turkey, wouldn't think twice to defend my country from any possible danger to our land, just as our minority-member ancestors did at the Battle of the Dardanelles,” he said.

For him it is very important to know what really happened in the war at the beginning of the last century and to share this knowledge with the whole community. “We were together, peaceful and friendly, for a long time. We shared our feasts and sorrows, weddings and funerals,” he said.

He expects Turkish authorities to have the courage to condemn the Medz Yeghern -- the Great Tragedy -- organized by the Young Turks in the Ottoman period. “Destruction, exile, sexual assaults, rapes and massacres cannot be erased by continuous denial,” he says, adding: “The inhuman, horrible tragedy has to be faced and sorrow must be shared. And it is important to keep both Armenians and Turkish civil society groups in constant dialogue.

According to Köletavitoğlu, during the years of tragedy, many Armenians were forced to convert to Islam. And he claims that the number of Armenians who became Muslim through marriages or adoptions in 1915 could be around 200,000.

In contemporary Turkey, there are hundreds of thousands Muslim Armenians. Some deny their origins; others describe themselves as ethnically Armenian but religiously Muslim. Köletavitoğlu emphasized that if Muslimized Armenians share their ancestors' painful stories with others, it will be easier for Armenians to be understood.

He said that the Armenians who survive in the region are trying to safeguard their culture and continue a struggle to maintain their way of life. “The Justice and Development Party [AK Party] made many changes but this doesn't mean they have done enough for the Armenians,” he said.

The government, Köletavitoğlu said, has made many gestures toward Alawites and Kurds and embraced them. “Armenians also deserve this and must be embraced by our friends. Armenians' arms are open to all friendly political visions without prejudice,” he added.

“Armenians do not need officials to say ‘genocide' or ‘massacre.' The world already knows what happened,” he said. Köletavitoğlu defines Anatolia as a family. “Our ancestor lived in this family. By being torn apart would not change the reality of being one family,” he said, adding: “The Armenians here continue to belong to this family. Our goal is to continue in peace and produce for our future, as our ancestors have done for centuries.”

“The purpose of the mass killings was mainly the transfer of capital and property to supporters of Committee for Union and Progress [ITC] and prominent locals,” he said. For this purpose, he claimed, the Armenians who were the most populous minority in Anatolia suddenly disappeared and were cleaned out, along with their past, from the geography, from the community, from the literature and from the local history books, as if they had never existed.

He says that all the inheritors of the rich wealth, culture and values built over the centuries are silent, but have resurgent emotions.According to Köletavitoğlu, official denial is the main reason for the Armenians' tough stance on the issue. But if Turkey changes its stance, diaspora Armenians will be more moderate.

“The Armenians were here in this region for thousands of years. According to historians, all Armenians spread around the world come from this area. When we look closer at the diaspora Armenians, their ancestors were those who left Anatolia from the 1880s onward,” he said.

Köletavitoğlu explained why diaspora Armenians keep their harsh memories of the massacres: their surviving ancestors carried their shockingly painful memories with them. These memories were transferred to the young generations.

According Köletavitoğlu, wherever they lived, the Armenians were at the heart of society. They were involved in all parts of the life; art, the trades, architecture, industry, production, transportation, commerce, science, medicine, all kinds of agriculture, literature, food, music, etc. “They had always been a major part of the life of the country, especially in economic production that helped the country to live through for most of the last 200 years of Ottoman times,” he said.

Regarding the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the events of 1915, he said that he hoped a nationwide mourning would happen in Turkey. But he doesn't expect any programs to be organized by the Armenian community in Turkey for 2015. “It was almost forbidden even to think about these tragedies and to wail for our victimized ancestors. One could only shout in silence to remember them. I will personally continue mourning for the loss of my family and community due to the killings about 100 years ago,” he said.

While flipping through the pages of books titled “Armenian Girl, Kurdish Mom,” he kept talking as his eyes began to tear. The Ottoman economy was dependent on the spoils of war and taxes. After the end of the 17th century, the empire won very few wars and began to lose strength. Some of its territories started to gain independence. Within these messy conditions the Committee for Union and Progress (ITC) became a part of Ottoman life.

He closes the book and says his concluding words: “When they [the ITC] came into power they tried to create ‘one nation, one flag, one language, one religion,' and to achieve this they needed to dominate the population and economy, for the Turkification of the country. And to achieve this goal, one-third of the whole population in Anatolia would have to somehow be eliminated from this territory.”

Source: Today's Zaman

A City In The Philippines Just Gave Us The Most Powerful Example Of Interfaith Cooperation

Pacifica Blogs — Thu, 19 Dec 2013 10:46:00 +0000

In September, Zamboanga City in the Philippines was ravaged by an armed conflict between the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the local government. The battle created tension between local Christians and Muslims, but when the fighting ended, members of both religious groups joined forces to pick up the pieces, the Inquirer Mindanao reports.

Among the damaged buildings was the Christ the King chapel, a Catholic church. Local Christians -- who make up the majority of Zamboanga's population, according to a news release from the Asia Foundation -- were shocked when their Muslim neighbors came to help them rebuild the church's walls.

“We thought they were just looking for damaged mosques to rebuild,” Jimmy Villaflores, the village head of Zamboanga's Santa Catalina district, told the Inquirer. "We have not heard of any Muslim helping build a chapel before." A group of religious leaders called ESPERANZA (Environmental, Socio-Psychological, Economic, and Religious Advancement of Neo-Zamboangaenos’ Aspiration) was formed to help repair relations following the conflict. They called together the group of Muslim volunteers who helped with the construction efforts, the Pinoy Republic reports.

Within a month, the chapel was almost 90 percent reconstructed, and together, the group of interfaith builders was able to complete it in time for the feast of Christ the King on November 30.

“I did not want the general Christian community to look down on us as bad people because we were all victims,” retired senior police officer Julmunier Jubail told the Inquirer. “We do hope that in our own small ways of reaching out, something beautiful will come out.”

Source: Huffington Post

Rumi's Death Anniversary 2013: Sufi Saint's 'Wedding' With God Remembered On Seb-i Arus

Pacifica Blogs — Thu, 19 Dec 2013 09:40:00 +0000

December 17 is the 740th anniversary of the death of the Sufi poet Rumi, whose Persian writings are considered to be a pinnacle of mystical art that transcends religious, cultural and ethnic boundaries. Also known as Mevlana, he died on December 17, 1273 in Konya, Turkey, where he is entombed below the Mevlana Museum.

Rumi's death anniversary is known in Turkey as Wedding Night, or Seb-i Arus in Turkish, which references the idea that when a Sufi saint dies, he or she is believed to have attained union with beloved God. Therefore, it is an occasion of celebration rather than mourning and Sufis gather together to recite poetry and prayers, and whirl in tribute.

Rumi scholar and author of an upcoming Harper Collins biography on the poet, Brad Gooch, told The Huffington Post, "The main commemoration takes place in Konya every year, with the presentation of the Whirling Dervish ceremony central to the order formed around Rumi after his death, the Mevlevi Order. They are famous for the meditative practice of whirling, their signature ceremony that became elegantly codified during the Ottoman period. "

Fahad Faruqui explained in a HuffPost blog, "It must be obvious, by now, that Rumi's death is no somber event for his devotees. It's actually a celebration." He continued, "Timothy Winter, a lecturer of Islamic Studies at Cambridge University, explains why: 'Rumi's death is the moment of his union with his Lord. In Sufism, God is often symbolized as a feminine beloved, known as Layla.'"

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has traveled to Konya to pay his respects.

Rumi's poetry continues to inspire long after his death. His epitaph reads, "When we are dead, seek not our tomb in the earth, but find it in the hearts of men."

Source: Huffington Post

Turkish Islamic scholar Gülen rejects any link to graft probe

Pacifica Blogs — Wed, 18 Dec 2013 14:09:00 +0000

Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen has rejected any link to an ongoing corruption probe in which 52 people, including well-known businessmen, the sons of three ministers, and a number of advisors, have been detained as part of a major investigation into alleged bribery linked to public tenders.

Gülen strongly denied allegations that the probe was launched as part of a row between the government and the Hizmet movement.

He dismissed claims circulating in national media, and deemed news reports suggesting that the faith-based Hizmet movement has “launched a war” against the government as ill-intentioned and a figment of the media’s imagination.

"Some bureaucrats, well-known businessmen and relatives of ministers have been detained by the İstanbul chief public prosecutor in the past two days. Claims of corruption, bribery and smuggling can be seen in any country. That is why there are independent judicial bodies to investigate such claims," said Gülen about the recent corruption investigation in a written statement released by his lawyer.

The Turkish Islamic scholar stressed that the issue must be discussed within the bounds of law. He also said it could be possible to talk about the rule of law for as long as states and societies fight corruption.

Source: Todays Zaman

Professor Ori Z. Soltes: ‘Gülen wants to be an altruistic servant of others’

Pacifica Blogs — Tue, 17 Dec 2013 14:40:00 +0000

Aydogan Vatandas

Professor Ori Z. Soltes, author of ‘Embracing the World: Fethullah Gülen’s Thought and Its Relationship to Jalaluddin Rumi and Others,’ explains how Gülen’s perception of Sufism is grounded particularly in the work of thinkers such as Jalaluddin Rumi, Ibn Arabi and Said Nursi, but is also grounded in the idea of selflessness

Most of the studies written on Fethullah Gülen to date generally emphasize the importance of Gülen’s approach to Sufism and how Sufism has played a central role in Gülen’s way of life and thinking.

In his recent book, “Embracing the World: Fethullah Gülen’s Thought and Its Relationship to Jalaluddin Rumi and Others,” Professor Ori Z. Soltes aims to take readers on a spiritual journey seeking the inner light of Sufism through the ideas of Gülen.

Soltes believes that Gülen’s perception of Sufism is grounded particularly in the work of thinkers such as Jalaluddin Rumi, Ibn Arabi and Said Nursi, but is also grounded in the idea of selflessness.

“Hizmet means service, serving others, not myself, and he uses the word ‘altruism’ all the time. ‘My goal is to be an altruistic servant of others,’ that’s what the Hizmet movement is all about,” he notes.

Today’s Zaman interviewed Soltes about his recent book on Gülen.

We can start with the definition of Sufism. How do you think Gülen interprets Sufism? Does he think that it’s a Muslim lifestyle, or something different?

Both. He absolutely recognizes the Islamic roots of Sufism and the Sufis who he most admires, people like Rumi, like Arabi, are marked at the wrong time by an unusual vision, which is a kind of Universalist vision. The kind of vision where Rumi says, “I go into the mosque, I go into the church, I go into the synagogue, I can go into them all.” These guys are writing and teaching in the 12th and 13th centuries, they are writing when the Crusades are going on, they are writing when the Reconquista is going on across the other side of the Mediterranean. You have Islam and Christendom at each other’s throat. Within Islam you’ve got chaos with the collapse of the Abbasid caliphate. You have, in Christendom, a whole range of problems going on that are intrafaith problems.

These guys are both Muslims and Universalists at the same time, and I think that’s something that particularly inspires Gülen. In the world in which we live, which is a world where everybody is so interconnected by way of the Internet and all those other devices that I don’t use but other people do; in that sort of world, his vision of the meaning of this Universalism is endlessly expansive. His senses, as I mentioned at the end of the book, of the importance of humanity as a series of vice-regents employed, so to speak, by God to do God’s work attending to the planet, and not simply taking from the planet, is very important. I call him a neo-Sufi; he expands what is inherent, at the very least, in the Sufism of people like Arabi and Rumi as far as it’ll go.

Emphasizing Rumi

Do you think that the central figure for Gülen, as a Sufi master, is Rumi? Could you tell us how you came to this conclusion?

First of all, I would probably argue that the most important figure for Gülen is the Prophet Muhammad, there’s no question about that. But it seems to me that he sees [Rumi as important], and this I have inferred from his repeated quotes from Rumi: things that he’s written about him, things that he refers to him and because of the particular aspects of Rumi that he emphasizes, which seem connected to what he emphasizes in his broader teachings to his worldwide students about how to be in the world. So, I see Rumi as a particularly important character. Not the only one by any means, as I also mention [in the book], from Socrates to [Albert] Einstein. Also, within the Islamic tradition, not just Rumi, and within Sufism, not just Rumi, but beyond the Sufi tradition into the broader reaches of Islamic thought, which is conversant [with his philosophy]. But Rumi seems to have a particular affinity with him and I infer this based on his writings.

What about Nursi, for example, how do you think he influenced Gülen’s thought?

I think [he was] very influential. I think Gülen moves in other directions. One of the most important features of Nursi’s thought is the importance of Islam to Turkey, and he lived at the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the struggle to maintain Turkey. After that collapse, as you know, the Ottomans were on the wrong side of the fence in the respect of who’s winning and who’s losing after World War I. Those who were on the winning side of the fence were essentially three forces, the French, the British and the Americans. The Americans showed up late, not until 1917, and left the world in the hands of the British and the French, whose colonial ambitions, not to be negative about them but I’m just trying to be factual here, promptly decided how the entire Middle East would be reconfigured according to their needs.

Now it was the post-Ottoman Turkey period, and Mustafa Kemal Atatürk led a rather strong, strenuous and ultimately successful struggle against the French to assert a post-Ottoman Turkish identity, but along the way, of course, part of what he felt was necessary for the Turkey he was trying to create was to modernize it, which in his mind meant secularizing it. Nursi stood for the principal of “But then you’re throwing the baby out with the bath water,” you’re losing an important element of the Turkish soul if you eliminate Islam from the equation of Turkey. Of course, he had his own struggles, as you know, with Atatürk, and that in particular had a profound depth on Gülen’s speaking about the importance of Islam as an element within the Turkish soul. And to repeat what I said earlier, that doesn’t mean that he’s not, at the same time, thinking in a very Universalist sort of way and, I think, probably beyond where Nursi had gone in terms of his thinking.

Could you tell us a little about the formulation of Sufism? How do you think Gülen formulated the concepts of Sufism?

I think of Fethullah Gülen as a Sufi, or as a neo-Sufi, most particularly in the respect of the paradox of being so intensely Muslim on one hand and so distinctively Universalist on the other hand; I think of his understanding of Sufism as a mystical movement and what mysticism is all about, in any and every tradition. Well, the mystic believes that there’s a kind of hidden recess to [find] God, called the mysterion. It’s a Greek word, it comes from a verb stem which means to close or, therefore, to hide. So, it’s a hiddenness that every day practitioners don’t get to. The mystic has the sense that if I just go about my everyday business -- as a Jew, as Christian, as a Muslim -- and I pray with the congregation, as I do, but without really thinking about it that much, just as many people do, I’m only getting to the outer edges of God.

There’s a depth that the mystic seeks. The mystic, in seeking that depth, seeks to be filled with God. Now, I can only be filled with God if I empty myself of myself. If I’m in there, I can’t be filled with God, by definition, which also means that the mystic has to have as his or her goal not to be filled with God, because that’s still too self-centered, it’s to be filled with God so I can return from that experience and then to the community as a consequence of it. The mystic doesn’t seek enlightenment, he seeks enlightenment for the sake and safety of the community. If my goal is to seek enlightenment for myself, I’m too self-centered and, therefore, I won’t be filled with God because there’s me in the way.

So, I see Gülen grounded particularly in the work of thinkers such as Jalaluddin Rumi, Ibn Arabi and Said Nursi, but it is also grounded in the idea of selflessness.

When I achieve that, then I achieve a oneness with God and with that in mind, of course, the movement that is an outcome of his teachings directly, the Hizmet movement, is a very interesting articulation of what it means to improve a community. Hizmet means service, serving others, not myself, and he uses the word, in English, “altruism” all the time. “My goal is to be an altruistic servant of others,” that’s what the Hizmet movement is all about. What he’s been able to do, which Arabi couldn’t do, Rumi couldn’t do and Nursi couldn’t do, because they lived in a different world, was extend the theory of selflessness into a very distinct activation.

Obtaining the concept of service

Where, do you think, he obtained the concept of service? If you describe his leadership, you could say that he’s a servant leader. Where, do you think, he takes that concept -- from the Quran?

I would say, from the Quran in the first place, which means it is inherent in Islam to be a servant.

Do you mean that, according to the Quran, a leader is a servant?

Yes, exactly. And then, I think, he would say that idea is further expanded here and there, in this hadith or that hadith, it may be articulated in this way or that way, in this school of jurisprudence or that, or in this theological perspective or that, but it comes to a kind of consonant articulation in the writing of people like Arabi or Rumi, who are so emphatic about it.

So, on one hand that’s where he’s coming from, on the other hand, because he’s so broad in his self-education, he would find a kind of natural articulation of the idea of doing and not just talking or thinking in the works of Plato. The word that I used at the end of the book, ergon, meaning action, is in their thinking contrasted with logos. Logos is the words I say about some idea, while ergon is when I activate it. When Socrates gives a sermon on the immortality of the soul, that’s logos. When he drinks the hemlock like he’s drinking the best drink he’s ever had in his life, going clearly happily to death, where he’s going to be conscious of the souls of others, then that’s action; not only his words show that he really believes what he’s doing.

When examining the Sufi masters, we see that not all reach out to this global network and organizations. How, do you think, this interpretation of Islam or Sufism impacts on all these organizations and the organizational model of the movement in the world? What’s the link between Gülen’s lifestyle, Sufism and these organizations?

I guess I have two responses to that. One is, if I put myself in Gülen’s shoes, I’d imagine -- as far as I can tell, from everything I’ve read by him and everyone I’ve met who either knows, has met him or works within this Hizmet movement -- that he must struggle every day with the realization, because he can’t be blind to it, that he is renowned and revered across the world, and not let that get to him so his head’s swollen and he can’t go through the door. He maintains a lifestyle that’s humble and a sensibility that’s humble and consistent with his principles of thinking of a leader as a servant. Thinking not in the terms of the power to govern but the power to serve.

If, from his point of view, I look out on the world and I see this array of institutions that have been inspired by me, on the one hand he must be enormously uncomfortable, which is why he was so insistent that it not be called the Gülen movement, because that implies a cult of the individual and he wants to focus away from that: “On Hizmet, not on me. On Hizmet, not on me.”

But at the same time, he must realize that these are instruments for doing what, in the best of all possible worlds, he’d like to be doing, which is helping to improve the world. He creates hundreds and hundreds, for example, of educational institutions, which train students to think not of themselves but others. If you’re inculcating them to be, and this is my own coinage, “hizmetologists,” then you’re creating a mechanism that’s going to continue to spread and expand and improve the world in the future. He writes, of course, about the importance of education, because children are the future. So, how do you train them? Do you train them to be selfish little creeps or do you train them to think of others? And what are the mechanisms of doing that?

That was the first part of my answer; the second part is not as long. The second part is: If I look at it from the outside, I understand all the people who are fearful of Gülen, who feel threatened by Gülen, who make up all kinds of interesting stories about what he’s really about, what these people are really about. Anytime you’re any kind of a revolutionary, you’re going to encounter an array of people who oppose you because you’re trying new territory. Most people are uncomfortable with new territories; they want old territories.

The perception of Sufism

When we look at the example of Gülen and the Gülen movement, we cannot separate Sufism and Islam, they’re going together. In the US, for example, when you say Sufism, how would Americans perceive that term? Do they relate that to Islam?

If one thinks of the US in a pre and post-9/11 way, before 9/11 I don’t think most Americans had even close to a clue of what Islam was about. I don’t think that words like Sufi, Sunni, Shiite or any of those basic terms would’ve been familiar. Since 9/11, because there’s been an interest in Islam, there’re probably many more Americans who at least know those terms. I don’t think most of them have a clear idea of what they mean, but if you say the word Sufi [there’ll be] either blank stares, they have no idea what you’re talking about, or if they know the word they don’t know it’s associated with Islam.

What do you think about the image of Sufism in the Muslim world?

Historically, in all three Abrahamic traditions, the mystics tended to be an object of suspicion on the part of non-mystics. For whatever reasons, the assumption seems to be, “Well, they’re not really following the rules, they’re kind of breaking them.” And mysticism is, you might say, a propitious, hopeful but also dangerous enterprise. If I empty myself of self to be filled with God, there’s the danger that I can’t get myself back. If I don’t get myself back, I’m dead, crazy, apostatized or heretical. In the Sufi case, you have someone like Mansur Al-Hallaj, who comes back from this ecstatic experience, in 922, by the Gregorian calendar, and he yells out, “Ana al haq, ana al haq -- I am the truth, I am God,” and he’s executed as an heretic. What happened was that he was still so filled with God that he wasn’t able to separate himself, but he’s back in the public sphere yelling it out, and they think he’s an apostate or a heretic, but he’s simply describing a condition in which he’s so filled with God that he can’t even find himself. There’s that danger.

There’s the danger, as a practical matter, because mysticism’s so paradoxical, if all of us followed it, there’s the danger that the entire community becomes almost chaotic. There’s the practical-political danger because, let’s face it, religion and politics have always been interwoven and as often as not, people of the cloth are as much political as they are spiritual. So, as a practical matter, if you convince them all that they don’t need my spiritual leadership, I’m not going to like you very much. I’ll try to convince them that there’s something that’s just not right about what you’re telling them.

One sees that, but not uniquely in Islam, in its legalistic personality relative to Sufism, you see that in all these traditions. I suppose that’s still true to a certain extent, at least, in some places today. The mystic is an object of suspicion. It is why, in the Sufi tradition, people like Arabi, or before him, Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Ghazali are so important, because they had already established themselves as legalists before they became mystics.

Profile

Professor Ori Z. Soltes currently teaches theology, philosophy and art history at Georgetown University. He has also taught across diverse disciplines for many years at The Johns Hopkins University, Cleveland State University, Case Western Reserve University, Siegel College in Cleveland and other colleges and universities.

Source: Todays Zaman

Turkey's Tea Party

Pacifica Blogs — Sun, 15 Dec 2013 09:17:00 +0000

Mümtazer Türköne

Some civil society organizations known for their religious tendencies expressed full support for the government in newspaper ads titled, “They thought it would last 1,000 years.” The title referred to the Feb. 28 process. This was followed by a second declaration titled, “Declaration of the nation,” which sought to express full and strong support for the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government and the prime minister. The statement in the second declaration, about “attempts to undermine the achievements of the visionary leadership which has been ruling the country for 11 years,” reflects this explicit support. Such declarations target one side. These groups refer to a “group guardianship” as the main source of threats.

The terms “group guardianship,” “civilian guardianship” and “parallel state” have been used by AK Party circles in recent times to denote a natural alienation in their support base. What they mean by this is the Hizmet movement, or the Gülen movement as it is popularly defined. Those behind the ads are from different backgrounds and members of diverse religious communities and orders. This is strange: There is a state of disagreement between the AK Party and the Hizmet movement provoked by the controversy over prep schools. A religious group criticized the government's decision and policy. Other groups raised opposition to such criticisms, calling it “group tutelage” and expressed full support for the government. We should not ignore the fact that these groups are respected by the people. What is strange in this move is in the visible contradiction between the content of the ads and the goal they seek to achieve.

In general, such moves become popular and considerable when support for the government declines in an attempt to consolidate power. But there is a strange situation here: These ads were published to express opposition of a religious group which has been supporting the AK Party government for 11 years rather than another political party or initiative. It is true that there is an ongoing debate between the community and the government and that members of this community are still supportive of the AK Party and its candidates in the upcoming elections. This means that the area is being narrowed as power is being consolidated by these ads.

Mass parties consist of broad coalitions. Political leadership compiles different tendencies and interests and turns them into support for its party. Religious communities or groups have experienced repressions in these lands for many years. For the first time, they were allowed to perform their activities during the 11-year long AK Party rule. So what does the current alienation and disagreement mean?

In order to find an answer to the question, we need to follow the traces of a group within the AK Party, similar to the Tea Party of the American conservatives. A core group which sees politics as a fight to the death and compromise as treason is becoming stronger within the AK Party. Any criticisms or objections are strongly discouraged by this group.

The long reign has led to intensification of this core group within the AK Party. The tendency of the mass party to integrate diverse groups and reach out to the masses and the reflex of this core group not to share power with others are clashing. Otherwise, you cannot explain the waging of war by strong defenders of a political party against those who voted for that party. A Tea Party within the AK Party is expending tireless efforts. If you pay attention, you will see that the terms “guardianship” and “parallel state” incorporate objections to sharing power. There is no other explanation for a mass party alienating its own support base.

Turkey's Tea Party is emerging slowly. We will follow the political developments with reference to this party.

Source: Today's Zaman

Moved by Syrian refugees’ woes, U.S. mayors initiate blanket drive

Pacifica Blogs — Sat, 14 Dec 2013 10:44:00 +0000

Ali H. Aslan

The conditions the Syrian refugees in Adana refugee camp are in deeply moved the U.S. mayors on an intercultural trip to Turkey. They have collected over 10 thousand blankets through the drive they kicked off once back home.

American Turkish Friendship Association (ATFA), active in Washington, D.C. had earlier taken a group of the U.S. mayors to Turkey for a study and intercultural trip, in late October. The local leaders from Northern Virginia, populated by 2.5 million, were moved by the gut-wrenching scenes in the Adana refugee camp so much so that they immediately rolled up the sleeves upon their arrival back in the country. They mobilized their offices to make it a large-scale campaign that would achieve over 10 thousand blankets along with 10 thousand dollar of monetary donation. Mark Gibb of Northern Virginia Regional Commission explained the motive: “We met a Syrian, who had been a police officer for 17 years, living in a cramped room. We asked how we can help him. And he replied: “Just send some blankets, it’s getting colder.””

Numerous NGOs representing a wide range of social communities contributed to the campaign under the leadership of Fairfax, Loudoun, and Purcellville mayoral offices. Districts’ federal and state officials were as well informed on and gave their support to the campaign. The local Turkish-run institutions mobilized a large number of volunteers. The campaign gained huge publicity through flyers and news on local media. The donations have been stored at facilities of state offices, schools and places of worship.

Mayor of Fairfax -home to one of the most prosperous and educated population of the nation-Sharon Bulavo, had earlier encouraged his locals to donate via a message on the office’s official website, on November 19. The office is bursting at the seams due to donations, he reported. Bulavo the other day was in Latter-Day Saints Church, one of the facilities used to pack the donations. He put on a Hizmet Relief vest and joined the campaign volunteers. Loudoun Mayor, Scott York, alike sweated over at the embarking facility in Sterling. He personally packed the shipping and loaded it to the truck.

Another initiator of the campaign is Purcellville Mayor, Robert Lazaro. In his address to the Turkish and American volunteers joining their hands at the facility, Lazaro referred to their visit to the refugees in Adana camp as the most humbling experience of his life. He further hailed the Turkish government’s and people’s aid efforts.

The New Jersey-based Hizmet Relief, in cooperation with Kimse Yok Mu Foundation, took the lead in the campaign. The foundation’s website has been used to receive monetary donations. The overall donations will be delivered to Norfolk port by Paxton Company at no charge. Sean Connaughton, Secretary of Transportation of Virginia, who had attended the ATFA’s trip, is also contributing to transportation. The world-famous Maersk is sponsoring the shipment to Mersin port. The mayors intend to greet the shipping to depart from the US on December 18, at Mersin port and personally deliver it to those in need. Kimse Yok Mu is in charge of the final transportation phase. Adana businessmen as well are reported to be involved in the delivery.

In addition to Adana, the American delegation including Coles Mayor, Martin Nohe; and Alexandria Mayor, William Euille as well had been to Istanbul, Izmir, Ankara and Cappadocia and met with their counterparts. The visitors were impressed by the hospitality, food, natural attractions and historical sites; President of Mid-Atlantic Federation of Turkic American Associations (MAFTAA), Mahmut Yeter, and Pinnacle Academy Principal, Mustafa Akpinar, both reported. Yet, the most striking and touching part was in Adana, Yeter said.

Source: The Hizmet Movement Blog

Middle East's Struggle for Democracy: Going Beyond Headlines

Pacifica Blogs — Fri, 13 Dec 2013 09:07:00 +0000

Alp Aslandogan

The ongoing struggle in the Middle East is not between the so-called Islamists and secularists. It's not pro-Morsi vs. pro-military in Egypt, or even Assad vs. opposition in Syria. The real struggle is between those committed to the core values of democracy and human rights and those who want to maintain a status quo of authoritarianism and domination.

Western observers often place Middle East actors and their motives into well-intentioned but partially inaccurate or sometimes misleading categories. For example, the three major groups in Iraq are labeled as Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds. The first two are religious categories, while the third is ethnic. The majority of Kurds are Sunni, and the majority of Iraqi Shiites are ethnically Arabs. So the right, albeit inconvenient, categories would be Sunni-Kurds, Sunni-Arabs and Shiite-Arabs.

These categories would be trivial details if it weren't for the fact that Middle Eastern realities of these labels do not always overlap with established western understanding. For instance, those in the Middle East who call themselves "secularists" would be perceived in the west as the "good guys" who believe in democracy and separation of church and state.

But Turkey's historic self-proclaimed "secularists" in practice were anything but secular or democratic. As Edhem Eldem, Professor of History at Istanbul's prestigious Bogazici University observed, Turkish "secularism" often "marginalized and oppressed those who openly displayed their beliefs; head-scarf-wearing women were banned from universities, and few protections were given to religious minorities." The government ran every single mosque and prescribed the preachers' sermons. Turkey's self-proclaimed secularists were also aggressive nationalists, who denied millions of Kurdish citizens their cultural rights, including the right to speak their mother tongue. Those who did not embrace the official government ideology were sometimes beaten and jailed.

Counter-intuitive to a western audience, on the other side were participants of the Hizmet social movement, originated by Turkey's most influential preacher and social advocate, Fethullah Gulen, who advocated for democracy, equal opportunity and social justice, and defended religious rights of all faiths in Turkey, including Orthodox Christians and Jews. Gulen's sympathizers started free tutoring centers in Turkey's Southeast, serving tens of thousands of children from low-income families, often of Kurdish descent, helping protect them from recruitment by terrorist organizations operating around Turkey's borders.

In 2008, when the Turkish judiciary prosecuted military officials charged with planning or perpetrating military coups, western media called it a struggle between Islamists and Seculars. In reality, as correctly observed by Dr. John Esposito of Georgetown University, it was a struggle between pro-democracy groups and those military officers who were found guilty of some of the worst crimes against their fellow citizens. Kurdish citizens, many of who saw their loved ones disappear under military-dominated periods, celebrated this development alongside journalists who were intimidated or fired from their jobs during the same periods.

Last month, when Hizmet representatives criticized the government-proposed legislation that calls for banning exam prep schools, Turkish and Western journalists labeled this opposition as a feud between Prime Minister Erdogan and Mr. Gulen because roughly 15-25 percent of these prep schools were founded by Hizmet participants according to variousestimates.

But that is an oversimplification because this underlying struggle is between democracy and free enterprise on the one hand against government overreach and authoritarianism on the other. If enacted, this legislation would make Turkey the only country in the world to ban a whole category of legitimate private enterprise -- and that too, one that provides math, science and language arts training to children of low-income families who cannot afford private tutoring.

It is ironic that the Turkish ruling party (AKP) that fought against government overreach during their first term 2003-2007 has, since then, taken steps that completely contradict its earlier record. From recent discourse on regulating student homes and government's heavy-handed reaction to Gezi Park protests, to restrictions on freedom of the press, Turkey is rekindling its historic struggle between those committed to democracy and those who benefit from authoritarianism and dominance.

Turkey is often cited as an example for struggling Middle East countries such as Egypt and Tunisia; after all, Turkey experienced a similar transition 60 years ago. But as the Turkish experience shows, democracy is a messy process with a steep learning curve. It sometimes can seem like too much to ask of both governments and the governed to have patience to learn the difference between legitimate democratic opposition and rebellion; enforcement and oppression. Nevertheless, abandoning the path to democracy is not an option.

What was termed an Arab spring is actually a beginning of the fall of authoritarian regimes that will hopefully lead to a spring of democracy. But let's be prepared that spring will come only after a harsh winter of authoritarian establishments resisting democratizing reforms. What is clear is that people in the Middle East yearn for their freedoms, and we hope that their struggle leads them toward democracy and away from the yoke of domination. For outside observers, understanding this struggle requires going beyond the convenient labels of the news headlines.

Dr. Aslandogan is the President of the Alliance for Shared Values, a non-profit that represents interfaith dialogue organizations affiliated with Hizmet in the U.S.

Source: Huffington Post

Turkish Syriac Catholic patriarch launches ‘Fruits of Dialogue’

Pacifica Blogs — Wed, 11 Dec 2013 23:53:00 +0000

Tuğba Mezararkalı

“Diyaloğun Meyveleri” (Fruits of Dialogue), a book by Deputy Patriarch of the Turkish Syriac Catholic Church Yusuf Sağ, was launched at a reception held at Taksim Green Park Hotel in İstanbul on Tuesday night.

The event, organized by the Intercultural Dialogue Platform (KADİP) of the Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV), was attended by Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew, GYV President Mustafa Yeşil and GYV Deputy President Cemal Uşak, İstanbul Mufti Professor Rahmi Yaran, Armenian Orthodox Archbishop Aram Ateşyan, Turkish Syriac Orthodox Archbishop Yusuf Çetin and many other guests, in addition to the book's author. Messages from EU Minister Egemen Bağış, İstanbul Governor Hüseyin Avni Mutlu and İstanbul Mayor Kadir Topbaş were read out at the event.

Delivering a speech at the event, Bartholomew praised the role of Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen in promoting dialogue among different faiths.

“Considering that an important goal of dialogue is to get to know each other and that the first steps were taken fearfully to this effect, we always remember the courageous approach of Fethullah Gülen with praise,” he said.

Voicing his wish for an increase in the number of people who work to develop feelings of empathy and understanding, he said the event, organized by KADİP for the “Diyaloğun Meyveleri” book, is the concrete and meaningful result of dialogue.

The writer, Sağ, said his book explains what dialogue means. Giving some information about the content of the book, he said he tried to highlight the importance given by Gülen to education and hard work in his book.

Sağ said: “They [followers of the Hizmet movement inspired by Gülen] are working for the welfare, peace and happiness of humanity. Gülen is, too. I set out with a belief in this. This book is a summary of their efforts.” He offered his thanks to everyone who helped him write the book.

The Hizmet movement is a group of volunteers engaged in interfaith and intercultural dialogue inspired by the ideas of Gülen, whose teachings promote mutual understanding and tolerance between cultures. Now residing in the US, Gülen has pioneered educational activities in a number of countries, along with efforts to promote intercultural and interfaith activities around the world.

The GYV's Yeşil, who also spoke at the event, said dialogue is not a preference but an obligatory choice.“We have never seen dialogue as something we do in our spare time. We saw it as an obligatory thing. We saw it as a practice whose absence cannot be compensated,” he said.

Armenian Orthodox Archbishop Ateşyan said there is need to join in dialogue for the benefit of humanity even if dialogue efforts prove fruitless.“We will eat that fruit [of dialogue]. This book shows us a path. We need the views of every wise person. I offer my thanks to the GYV for playing a role in this holy mission,” he said.

The 123-page-long book is divided into three chapters titled “Meaning of dialogue," “Dialogue works” and “Dialogue: a solution, an approach or search?"

Source: Today's Zaman

Attacks on free press in Turkey

Pacifica Blogs — Sun, 08 Dec 2013 22:58:00 +0000

Abdullah Bozkurt

It appears that Turkey's powerful prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has adopted a two-pronged assault on the right to freedom of expression and free press in Turkey against the background of increased criticism of his government amid outrageous revelations that the government has been running a massive profiling program on unsuspecting innocent citizens with no reasonable cause whatsoever.

The damaging exposé came right after the government's plot to forcefully close all privately funded college prep schools that was seen as a violation of the right to engage in free enterprise and the right to education in Turkey. That has sparked a huge public outcry, leading to unrelenting social media campaigns against the government on Twitter, with hundreds of thousands up in arms with millions of protest messages communicated each and every night for three weeks now.

What we used to see when powerful generals came after journalists with civil and criminal charges filed in court to muzzle the free press in Turkey has now effectively been replaced with Erdoğan's civilian government that adopted a scorched-earth policy to get rid of anybody or any institution that stands in the way of imposing a highly politicized Islamist agenda on Turkish society. Two recent cases that violate the right to freedom of the press and speech are a clear indication that Erdoğan's government is committed to curbing free press while tilting fast towards a more authoritarian way of government.

One such case involves Emre Uslu, a columnist for Today's Zaman and the Taraf daily, who was sued by Erdoğan over an opinion piece on the prep schools' ban in which Erdoğan's lawyers claimed that Uslu attacked Erdoğan's character and insulted him. The other is the case about Turkey's one of leading investigative reporters, Mehmet Baransu of Taraf daily, who was being subjected to criminal charges following a government petition that he revealed a controversial 2004-dated National Security Council (MGK) document indicating that Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) signed on to a planned crackdown on Turkey's well-respected faith-based community. He later exposed further leaked documents proving that Turkey's notorious spy agency has been running a massive profiling program under the government's watch, targeting people and groups that are not closely aligned with Erdoğan's political party.

Both cases highlight the growing worry on the state of affairs in the media landscape in Turkey where the government has by and large pressured most media groups to acquiesce to Erdoğan's wishes. Instead of coming clean and apologizing to the nation for a massive violation of citizens' rights, the AK Party government has opted for a policy of denial while throwing anything, such as legal and financial sanctions, at the free media in order to intimidate and silence it. Yet this represents a futile attempt considering how vibrant Turkish society is and how public expectations are running high from the sitting government in Turkey. I suppose Erdoğan, encircled with a core group of Islamist-leaning advisors who seem to be out of touch with reality, is making the same mistake Turkey's condescending and meddlesome generals had once made. Generals who used to see themselves as above the law were also targeting the media with impunity during the turbulent years of a painstakingly difficult era. But justice has eventually caught up with them.

It feels as if the Erdoğan government has ventured into a fight that it cannot win over the long haul. Turkish society has transformed fundamentally in the past three decades. It will not accept any imposition of an Islamist agenda just as it refused the militarist-Kemalist agenda of past governments. Public awareness is high on many issues and civic groups/non-governmental organizations have been strengthened considerably. The young population with an appetite to learn and a keen interest in what is happening beyond the borders of Turkey, coupled with an affluent and growing middle-class, demands more from the government in terms of rights and liberties. Turks have been emancipated and empowered with a new conscience now.

For example, just from a legal point of view, the government‘s move to censure journalists appears very weak considering the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) whose judgments are binding on Turkey. In its rulings, the court made it clear that state officials cannot be protected against criticism and insult at a higher level than ordinary people through penal laws that carry a higher penalty. What is more, journalists should not be imprisoned or media outlets closed for critical comments, according to the Strasbourg-based court.

Erdoğan seems to be trying to swim against the current in Turkey and perhaps in a bid to delay his day of reckoning. His government has set out on a path of creating a “friendly” media in Turkey through business dealings in public tenders and contracts. A political force that controls, influences and indirectly owns private media groups, coupled with the increased dominance of the ruling party on the news agenda in state media, is a danger to the well-functioning of democracy in Turkey. The increasing display of an antagonistic attitude by some pro-government media circles in Turkey towards anybody or any group that may have differences with Erdoğan's line of thinking on a given issue should ring alarm bells. Prime Minister Erdoğan's jumping the gun on attacking the critical media for what he calls a smear campaign and a big appetite to prosecute journalists for defamation and other offences indicate a pattern of intolerance towards the media.

Furthermore, the ugly face of abusing state power has started to show its teeth with administrative decisions to block journalistic inquiries and deny access to press events and meetings. The accreditation system is used to prevent critical media from covering press events and this practice was unfortunately defended by AK Party officials as routine and standard procedure common in other countries as well. There are substantial rumors in the Turkish capital that public broadcasting agencies as well as pro-government media maintain informal blacklists of individuals who are barred from appearing even as a guest commentators.

The hope for Turkish journalists to check on this abusive power is the relatively independent judiciary in Turkey. Thanks to a major overhaul in the 2010 public referendum, Turkey's higher judiciary has become more democratic, accountable to people and pluralistic in its composition of judges and prosecutors. Changes introduced, for the first time in Turkey, the individual right to petition to the Constitutional Court on violations of fundamental rights and freedoms. On top of that, the ECtHR stays as a last resort to remedy any injustice that might be sustained in Turkish courts. There are many examples of judicial investigations of journalists on various charges that the ECtHR found violated standards on access to information and freedom of expression.

For example, in the case of Erbil Tuşalp vs Turkey, the ECtHR issued a landmark verdict in 2012, sending a strong signal to the Turkish prime minister that his libel cases have no standing in the court of law considering the rights enumerated in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court said journalist Tuşalp had exercised his right to freedom of expression as protected by Article 10 of the ECHR. The court underlined that the limits of acceptable criticism are wider as regards a politician than as regards a private individual. Therefore, the court said, Erdoğan was obliged to display a greater degree of tolerance. The court also reiterated that journalistic freedom also covers possible recourse to a degree of exaggeration, or even provocation. In the opinion of the court, Article 10 is applicable not only to information or ideas that are favorably received, but also to those that offend, shock or disturb. The court said that without pluralism, tolerance and broadmindedness, there is no democratic society.

Although the convention recognizes that freedom of speech may be restricted in order to protect the reputation of others, defamation laws or proceedings cannot be justified if their purpose or effect is to prevent legitimate criticism of public officials or the exposure of official wrongdoing or corruption. The court believes that the right to sue in defamation for the reputation of officials could easily be abused and might prevent free and open debate on matters of public interest or scrutiny of the spending of public money. The court is also of the opinion that any sanction on journalists for libel cases cannot be substantial lest this may deter others from criticizing public officials and limit the free flow of information and ideas. Under these standards, Uslu's criticism of Erdoğan should be rejected by Turkish courts.

As for the exposure of secret government documents, the rule of thumb is that criminal penalties for the protection of public order or national security must be balanced with the right to freedom of expression. Baransu exposed profiling documents and served public interest by letting people know what their government is up to with secret files. The government's filing a criminal complaint against him violates Baransu's freedom of expression and the public's right to know. The Erdoğan government cannot hide behind state secrecy protections to restrict freedom of expression and information. If Turkish courts agree with the government's position on this one, Turkey will stand out from the crowd of 47 members of the Council of Europe where prosecutions for breach of state secrecy are very rare and usually lead to light sentences.

In all likelihood, legal complaints will end up with the acquittal of journalists against government charges. In the meantime, however, perhaps Mr. Erdoğan simply wants to buy some smooth-riding time until the elections are over. He probably thinks that the proceedings will take some time to sort out. The downside is that the chilling effect on the Turkish media with government attacks on free press will continue to loom large.

Source: Today's Zaman

Students strengthen spirituality on campus

Pacifica Blogs — Thu, 05 Dec 2013 15:50:00 +0000

By Liliana Frankel

This week, Sharples lit a menorah and sidelined the condiments bar to make room for a Christmas tree. These religious symbols were praised as festive, and widely appreciated once people found the condiments bar again. However, such prominent displays of faith on campus are rare. Although mentions of Quaker values are as routine in school functions as the “God Bless America” at the end of the State of the Union, students have noted that more in-depth discussions of spiritual matters are generally avoided.

“It’s not something that you talk about,” said Suness Jones ’16, who is the Tri-Co president of the Newman Club, an organization for Catholic students. “You talk about your sexuality, maybe your political beliefs, but rarely is [spirituality] amongst those questions.”

Joyce Tompkins, the interfaith coordinator, observed the same. “The default is secular, so there’s an assumption that you’re not religious unless you come out as a religious person.” Borrowing language from the gay rights movement, she praised the openness newly possible in conversations about sex and gender, but said that “religion’s kind of still in the closet. It’s…the last bastion of that old way.

Some of the prevailing arguments for secularism rely on a perceived dichotomy between faith and science; the full acceptance of a belief without supporting facts seems counter to academic logic. Secularism allows students to discuss “spiritual” questions of the meaning of life without any attached religious baggage.

Usually Swarthmore’s Quaker values are considered within the secular framework. However, Professor Mark Wallace of the religion department suggested that college founders’ incorporation of their faith into the school’s structure leaves it an “undercurrent” in student life. He sees intent in the open layout of the campus. Because “nature is really the dominant feature,” Swarthmore physically reflects the Quaker focus on “interior life, finding your own spiritual life…[It] really tries to be a sort of secular monastery, where students can pursue their own path intellectually and spiritually,” Wallace said.

Religion classes are not meant to serve as a conduit to spiritual experience, so they attract students from everywhere on the spectrum between skeptical and devout. Wallace said that most of his students do not come from a strong faith orientation. Those who do are often challenged by the switch to a detached, academic approach. Students generally “keep the two parts, [personal beliefs and class learning], in watertight compartments,” Wallace said.

Jones, who struggled to navigate a religion class during her freshman fall, deplored the necessity of this distinction. “I think it’s completely intertwined…the more I learn here, the more I’m able to see God in everything,” she said.

For Salman Safir ’16, an intern at the Interfaith Center and the director of the Muslim Students Association, the distance between academic and traditional experiences of faith becomes problematic when it goes unrecognized. Classes may provide analysis of the impact of faith on culture and politics, but according to Safir, true “religious literacy” is best gained firsthand.

Most faith groups, including those managed by Safir and Jones, are open to students regardless of their background. Safir believes that aside from supporting their members, religious communities can provide an educational service to the campus as a whole. “It’s our responsibility to put a real non-academic spin on it: this is what it means to be Muslim in a post-9/11 world. You have the more academic side [from the classes] and also a more personal side,” Safir said.

Safir is a founding member of Swarthmore’s Muslim Students Association. When he arrived last year, its previous incarnation had been disbanded due to a lack of interest. All religious organizers interviewed spoke of the ongoing struggle to achieve critical mass. Tompkins cited a lack of the resources which might attract more religious students as one factor which has led to low participation on campus. Less commonly practiced religions, such as Islam and Buddhism, have functioned largely without the administrative support Tompkins would have liked to see. It was a major victory for her to secure the hiring of a part-time Muslim student advisor, who will begin work next term.

Leaders are hoping to strengthen the small groups associated with their specific traditions, and on a larger scale, they are engaging in interfaith dialogue.

Kelilah Miller, Swarthmore’s Jewish life coordinator, believes that these community building efforts are very relevant to the school as a whole. “I’m interested in helping students think deeply about what it means to be part of a community. What does it require of you? What can you expect of it? When it gets hard, what do you do? When there’s conflict, what do you do?” she asked.

According to Miller, religious communities can serve as models, but not everyone will view them as such. “People have radically different understandings of community, which are somewhat culturally determined,” she said.

Quaker values have lately been cited as the impetus for campus-wide community-building discussions. However, Miller feels that their focus on universalism is not always productive. Religious communities are bound by their particulars, while Quaker tradition prefers to remove boundaries and de-emphasize ritual. “Quaker values are a normalizing force,” Miller said. “To have [multiculturalism], we need to have multiple cultures.”

The existence of a secular norm makes students of faith uneasy when it allows others to dismiss a part of their identity. While the silence on religion outside of Bond Hall may give an impression of homogeneity, great diversity exists in spiritual views and religious expression at Swarthmore. Over time, perhaps it will become more openly celebrated.

Source: The Phoenix

Too Good to Be True

Pacifica Blogs — Thu, 05 Dec 2013 15:50:00 +0000

Emre Celik

When was the last time you heard that?

I've heard it a few times -- here's the story.

I am now in my fifth year in Washington, D.C., having immigrated from Australia. Here I have had the pleasure and responsibility of presiding over the Rumi Forum, an organization dedicated to interfaith and intercultural understanding. As part of my position I have the good fortune to travel and talk about issues relating to pluralism, social cohesion, and peaceful coexistence.

On one occasion returning from a speaking engagement in Jacksonville, Florida, I stopped over at the Philadelphia airport for a short commute to a similar engagement at Georgetown, Delaware. I was seated amongst numerous dignitaries including State Legislators and various community leaders. After initial pleasantries we started speaking about the role of the Rumi Forum, and in particular the inspiration that Fethullah Gulen plays (Gulen is our Honorary President), and the motivation behind a global movement,Hizmet). This person had been on one of our study trips to Turkey as part of our intercultural mission to better educate leaders about this important Muslim majority country and strategic U.S. (and Western) ally. He knew quite well the important role Hizmet had played through numerous NGOs both globally and in the U.S. in regards to the values of civilizational dialogue, democracy, human rights, and respect for the 'other'.

Yet at the end of the conversation he leant over to me and said, "I like what the forum and the wider movement does, but it's too good to be true."

Three days later, I was in Norfolk, Virginia, to speak at our local chapter's awards night. I sat next to one of the recipients. An important civil servant, he had worked hard and passionately on various initiatives. He hadn't known much about our forum but had inclined to accept the award after some personal research. After we had developed a rapport, he turned to me and said, "Emre, I respect all that you do and am honored to be receiving this award but it's too good to be true."

In my five years in this position, I had only heard those words twice, and they were three days apart. I wasn't at all surprised. People for various reasons can have doubt or be skeptical about individuals or groups. But at the same time, I was somewhat saddened that after close to 15 years of service to the wider American community, particularly in the wider D.C. metropolitan area, the forum had people that had known us and our mission well or had come into contact with us through various programs still fostered doubt.

I wasn't sure if it was our Muslimness, or Turkishness or the fact that the forum is part of a global movement (only becoming recently known to the wider American population through various articles) that somehow led to such skepticism. Is it purely a post 9/11 syndrome by a small minority or simply an attitude toward all forms of 'other' -- and we happen to be the new or current 'other'?

Does such skepticism further ostracize the 'other' or does it give rise to greater motivation and encouragement for such communities, groups and organizations to be more proactive? I believe it is the former. Our passion for community service can (and never should) be dampened by a handful. We need to ask ourselves, "What can we do further to bridge the gap between communities and eradicate doubt, prejudice and misunderstanding -- personally, socially and intellectually?"

We should all be proactive in dialogue, and this is not too good to be true!

Emre Celik is an Australian based in Washington, D.C.'s Rumi Forum

Source: Huffington Post

Hanukkah 2013: Dates, Rituals, History And How-Tos For Celebrating The Festival Of Lights

Pacifica Blogs — Mon, 02 Dec 2013 17:39:00 +0000

Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, is celebrated for eight days beginning at sundown on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2013. On the Hebrew calendar, the dates are 25 Kislev to 2 Tevet in the year 5774.

This year, some are celebrating "Thanksgivukkah," as Thanksgiving is celebrated the day after the first Hanukkah calendars are lit on Wednesday night. The convergence of these two holidays won't happen again for another 77,798 years, according to some calculations.

An eight-day celebration, Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in the second century B.C.E. during the Maccabean revolt against oppressive Greek rulers. It is one of the most widely observed Jewish holidays and is celebrated by lighting a nine-branch candelabrum, commonly called a menorah. (Technically, the candelabrum for Hanukkah is called a hanukkiah to distinguish itself from the seven-branch menorah used in the Temple and described inExodus 25.)

The story of Hanukkah is one of revolution and miracles: Greek influence over the Jews in the Land of Israel had become an affront to Jewish culture and ritual. Antiochus, the Greek ruler, forbade Jewish religious practice, so a small group of Jews, the Maccabees, revolted. These Jews eventually prevailed and, as a first order of business, restored the Holy Temple, which had been desecrated. The menorah in the Temple needed to be re-lit because, according to tradition, it should burn continuously. The Temple liberators found one vial of olive oil, enough for one day of light. Miraculously, the oil lasted for eight days.

Today, Jews everywhere light menorahs on each night of Hanukkah. Traditionally, one candle or flame is lit for each night until the eighth night, when all eight lights shine together. The menorah has a ninth "helper" flame -- known as the shamash -- used to light the other candles. This is necessary because in Jewish law the Hanukkah lights' only purpose is to visually proclaim the miracle of the holiday. Jews place the lit menorah in a prominent window in order to fulfill this commandment.

Gift giving is now a common practice on Hanukkah, and it is therefore a beloved time for Jewish children. Fried potato pancakes (latkes) and doughnuts (sufganiyot) are traditional fare, and a spinning top (dreidel) with four Hebrew letters has become synonymous with the holiday. The letters -- nun, gimel, hei, shin -- form an acronym for the message of Hanukkah: A great miracle happened there.

Source: Huffington Post

Intercultural Affairs Council Augments Campus Dialogue

Pacifica Blogs — Mon, 02 Dec 2013 17:31:00 +0000

By Nicole NG

Five years after its creation, the Intercultural Affairs Council has been staying true to its purpose of creating open and inclusive campus dialogue.

Created in 2008, the IAC strives to promote respect and understanding amongst undergraduates by challenging social biases and promoting a more open-minded campus culture. This year’s new student board members — who were selected on Nov. 1 and will meet for the first time on Nov. 11 — will work closely with campus offices such as the Chaplain’s Office and the various cultural houses to promote dialogue and fund programs that bring various student groups together. Though the mission of the organization has not changed since its inception, council members said that in recent years, they have seen fewer issues on campus that they need to address.

“We’re focused on creating a notion of community of allies,” said Maria Trumpler, director of LGBTQ resources, who sits on the IAC board as a staff member. “Instead of being responsible for own community, it’s really important that you stand up for other communities that you don’t personally belong to, particularly when groups face hostility or are targeted.”

One of the IAC’s foremost subcommittees, the Community Response Committee, was formed five years ago in response to a series of discriminatory incidents on campus, including one particular incident in 2008 involving a fraternity that took sexist photographs outside of the Women’s Center. Trumpler said that the subcommittee — which is tasked with responding to incidents that target specific groups or individuals — has seen fewer cases requiring its attention in recent years.

In its earlier years, students and groups approached the subcommittee with issues several times a month. But now the team is only needed several times a year, Trumpler said, attributing the decline to the expansion of other ways in which the University engages students who report campus issues — including greater involvement from Dean’s and Master’s Offices — and also to the general improvement of Yale’s social climate.

When graffiti that threatened the Slifka Center with arson was discovered in Sterling Chemistry Lab last semester, said Rabbi Megan Doherty, a senior Jewish fellow at the Slifka Center, the Community Response Committee was a visible presence in public conversations about the threat and it offered both emotional and logistical support.

Over the last five years, Trumpler said, she has noticed a dramatic increase in open-mindedness about personal identity and diverse collaboration — at least in the students that she works with.

“I think that’s just part of Yale culture, that negative comments are not tolerated in this community,” said Kiki Ochieng ’15, a Community and Consent Educator and returning IAC member. “And the IAC is responsible for fostering a community standard of what’s acceptable and what’s not, and the community respects that.”

In responding to incidents, Trumpler said, the subcommittee on incident response strives to provide a broad community of support and outreach for groups or individuals that may have been targeted. According to Ochieng, IAC student involvement with the response team may become more formalized this year.

Through its programs, the IAC also tries to prevent incidents from happening in the first place, said Senior Associate Director of Compliance and Varsity Administration Amy Backus. IAC student and staff members discuss potential points of contention during meetings, in order to facilitate dialogue on campus before tensions escalate.

“It goes back to providing students with an opportunity to get to know one another,” Backus said. “It might seem artificially manufactured, but we think it’s an important opportunity to get discussions to occur.”

The IAC funds and coordinates programs that promote collaboration across different groups. Past events include organizing bus trips to Washington, D.C. for Obama’s inauguration, inviting football player Mark Sanchez to discuss faith on campus, hosting a series of forums on socioeconomic class and funding “Kwanzika,” a joint celebration between the Afro-American Cultural House and Slifka Center.

Twenty-two staff members and students comprise the IAC.

Source: Yale Daily News

Getting to meet, understand the other: the path to peace

Pacifica Blogs — Thu, 28 Nov 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Michael Swan

Interfaith dialogue doesn’t start with an exchange of creeds or comparison of theologies. It begins with friendship.

Out of the world’s seven billion people well over one billion are Catholic and slightly more are Muslim. The Church is embedded in Western civilization, history and culture. The world’s Muslims are concentrated in lands the West colonized and exploited. There is no declared war between Islam and the West, but thousands upon thousands have died. Interfaith dialogue is not an esoteric pastime for nerdy scholars. It is the only way forward, the only path to peace.

But it begins with friendship.

In September my wife Yone and I were invited on a study tour to Turkey by the Intercultural Dialogue Institute, one of a network of Muslim foundations established around the globe by the Hizmet movement of modern Sufi Muslims. But it didn’t start there. It started with invitations to iftar dinners — dinners that break the day-long fast of Ramadan. Over the years we met and spoke and shared meals with Muslims who wanted to reach out to their Christian neighbours.

Friendship, however, is not the easy, uncomplicated thing it was when we were children. We each have our houses, our jobs, our families, friends and commitments. We live in our own exhausting worlds. What would it take to move beyond our own little world?

The last place I expected to find a connection with Islamic faith was in the person of Mary. I knew Mary figured in the Quran, but was unaware of her importance and ubiquity in Muslim Scripture and consciousness. Mary’s home overlooking Ephesus, directly across the Aegean Sea from Athens, is a uniquely peaceful place revered by Muslims and Christians.

Pope John Paul II spoke of the “feminine genius” and held up devotion to Mary as the best route to Jesus. But Pope Francis has pointed out how we lack a truly profound theology of women in the Church. If we began with Mary and paid attention to women, especially poor women, would we have the means to atone for our own sins and heal the divisions between Muslims and the West?

The opportunity to travel to Turkey is extraordinary under any circumstance. This land bears the imprint of empires that have shaped Western civilization and its encounter with the East. The Persians, Alexander the Great, the Romans, the Ottomans have each taken a stab at what it means to be civilized in Turkey. For a Catholic it is also where St. Paul learned to follow Christ, where the Councils of Ephesus and Nicea established a universal Church with a universal creed. And where St. Basil and St. Gregory taught the Church how to think about faith.

But this opportunity went beyond that. The Intercultural Dialogue Institute took us into Turkish homes for dinner. We were introduced to Turkish politicians, teachers, police, union leaders, bus drivers, mothers, journalists and engineers.

We didn’t discuss theology. We discussed the intense and long-running debate in Turkish society about secularism and compared it to Canada’s debate over the Quebec Charter of Values. We talked about Canadian multiculturalism and the rapid change in Turkish society. We talked about democracy and freedom of expression. We talked about women’s roles and ambitions. We talked about stereotypes, misperceptions and the role of religion in people’s lives.

But much more of our time was spent talking about how to cook kunefe, kofte and Imam Bayildi, how easily children learn a second language, what it’s like to live in a city of 15 million, Turkish popular music, health care systems, soccer and weather.

We didn’t settle any issues. We brought together a law professor, a politician, a union leader, a journalist, a translator, a doctor, an engineer — some of us deeply religious and others not. We accomplished an experience of life together, a brief communion of hearts and minds, a time outside of our own little worlds.

We don’t have to go to Turkey for this. We could smile at the woman in the hijab or wish the man who fixes your photocopier “Eid mubarak.” He might wish you a merry Christmas.

Source: Catholic Register

Evangelical scholar reflects on role of faith in public life

Pacifica Blogs — Wed, 27 Nov 2013 01:48:00 +0000

A question and answer session with Richard Mouw, president emeritus of Fuller Theological Seminary during a recent visit to Utah Valley University.

Matthew Brown

During two decades as president of one of the world's largest theological seminaries, Richard Mouw has a long list of accomplishments. And at the top of the list is his work in interfaith relations between evangelicals and those of other faiths.

He has received both praise and criticism for reaching out to Mormons, Muslims, Jews and others, seeking not to convert but to gain a better understanding of the differences between them and to find areas where they can work for the common good.

"We understand we have deep disagreements, but we are going to make sure those disagreements are of the nature we thought they were. We are going to approach each other in friendly engagement and really try to understand each other," he said of his approach.

Now 73 years old and retired from being president of Fuller Theological Seminary, Mouw plans to apply his concept of "convicted civility" to explore ways religious communities can constructively impact social, political and economic life. Next fall, Mouw will direct a newly funded Institute for Faith and Public life.

During a recent visit to Utah, where he spoke to students at the LDS Institute of Religion at Utah Valley University, Mouw squeezed in time for an interview about his future plans and past work as a leader in interfaith dialogue.

Deseret News: What are some issues the institute can address in the area of faith and public life?

Richard Mouw: One issue has to do with immigration. How do we serve our values as Christians who believe God is concerned about the family and God is concerned about what the Bible calls the "stranger in the land"? ... I believe we have to worry about security and secure borders. But at the same time, if we are concerned about families, the stability of family life, then we need to find ways to give these people, who have come here because there are economic opportunities and they comprise a very important labor market, a path to citizenship.

The other issue is the question of sexuality, same-sex marriage and questions of religious freedom. Does Fuller have the right to express our views on this subject without being accused of hate speech? Do we have the right to receive federal loans for our students when our admissions and hiring policies are in accordance with more traditional and conservative views?

I am conservative on those issues. But I also believe we live in pluralistic society where I think a person of same-sex orientation should have the right to work and have equal rights in the marketplace and in political life. But at the same time, I think institutions that are guided by traditional convictions on these matters ought to have the religious freedom to configure the life of their communities in accordance with their convictions.

DN: Explain your concept of convicted civility.

RM: I got that from Lutheran historian and theologian Dr. Martin Marty, who said there are a lot of people today who have strong convictions but are not very civil, and a lot of people are civil but don't have very strong convictions. What we need is to put them together. One of the real challenges is for those of us who, for example, have strong convictions on sexuality that are based on what we take to be the traditional Christian consensus on this matter. We need to be able to treat people who believe differently and who act differently with a kind of kindness in public life, respecting people's dignity, while at the same time we don't want to compromise our own personal convictions.

DN: What is different about the students entering the seminary today compared with those who entered 20 years ago or when you entered school?

RM: Typically, the students coming to Fuller are more globally aware. Many of them have traveled abroad so they are concerned about issues like human trafficking, the environment, poverty. This isn't about getting into left-wing causes. It's a deep sense that to be a follower of Jesus is to care about these things. They are not always sure we are doing the right things on these issues, so they are really struggling on what it means to be a follower of Jesus in the present world.

But there is also a younger generation of evangelicals who may not be liberal on things, but they resent the highly judgmental, homophobic spirit of some of the older generation. Not that (the younger evangelicals) disagree theologically or morally, but they know people who are gay or lesbian and they don't want those people to think that if they are evangelical means they are hateful, spiteful people. They are really struggling with this and how do we exhibit a kinder, gentler spirituality without sacrificing our convictions.

DN: In addition to your interfaith outreach, what would you say were other major accomplishments during your 20 years as president of Fuller Theological Seminary?

RM: We took on a major project of interfaith theology and the arts. As a part of that, we started a program called Reel Spirituality and developed a strong ongoing relationship with Christians in Hollywood. We brought together screenwriters, producers (and) actors with pastors and just talked about how does Hollywood tell stories. How can we learn from Hollywood to better communicate the gospel to the youth culture? ... Now, we offer a lot of classes on theology and film. We have a woman who evaluates scripts for Disney studios and has a master's degree from Fuller because she wanted to be guided by Christian concerns in discerning good from bad scripts in terms of Christian values.

We have also done a lot with international relations. I started going to China at least once a year since 1994 to build relationships with the government there and to build up churches. We now have 21 approved seminaries that are part of the government-approved system. We just try to work with government officials and gain a better understanding of their situation and form partnerships.

DN: Describe what is taught in the seminaries in China.

RM: Fuller has three schools: theology, a missions faculty that does a lot of anthropological and intercultural study and clinical psychology. There is a lot of interest in our psychology program. When talking early on with government officials in China in charge of religious affairs, they said they didn't have a mental health system that could help with problems such as divorce, intergenerational conflict, suicide and addiction - four big problems that have surfaced with the growth of a market system in China. They asked if Fuller could help churches learn how to counsel people.

So we bring about 30 Ph.D. psychology students to China for three-week periods to help in that.

This is a wonderful time for faith-based communities in China to be moving out of their sense of martyrdom and persecution and into an active engagement and even partnerships, trying to be a resource and partner wherever we can.

Source: The Leader

A Christian's journey through Islam

Pacifica Blogs — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 16:20:00 +0000

Jonas Yunus*

Brussels - All over the globe, the Muslim community finds itself caught in the middle of strenuous societal debates. With Islamophobia on the rise in the West and extremism in the name of Islam growing in the East -evidenced by sectarian violence in countries like Egypt, Syria and Pakistan - the debate is often presented as a clash between Western values and Islamic fundamentalism. Few people are aware however, how much internal debate is going on within the Muslim community itself. Old ideas are challenged, new groups are forming and all sorts of evolutions take place that do not fit the crude dichotomies of "secular versus religious" or "democracy versus Islam" that politics and the media so often adhere to when discussing current events.

For someone with a background in anthropology and theology, this intrigues. I therefore decided to look up some of the most influential spiritual leaders and artists from the Muslim world and dialogue with them about these momentous changes on the crossroads of religion, culture and society. I wanted to learn more about new ideas which are bubbling up in Muslim societies and I hoped to find some novel insights that could show a way out of the present day discourse of dichotomy.

I gathered all these talks on a website and called the project Halal Monk. It seemed like the proper name for these interreligious conversations and my journey through Islam as a Christian.

As the Halal Monk, I get to meet exceptional people. I spoke about faith, fear and love with Feisal Rauf, the imam behind the so-called Ground Zero Mosque; I talked about Sufi music with Pakistan's great female singer Abida Parveen; and I received an explanation about true authority in the Islamic world from revered British scholar Abdal Hakim Murad.

When I asked Murad where the real centres of authority are found, his unexpected answer was to look beyond the worldly powers and toward living saints. "Their self is gone and only the prophetic form remains. The dignity, the ancient wisdom, the selflessness, the love for others... you see it in the prophet and you see it in the saint."

Murad's answer was exemplary of the theme all my encounters seemed to have in common. Almost all the people I was graced to meet emphasised the importance of looking beyond literalism - both of the religious extremists as well as of the staunch materialists. They oppose an excessive consumer society but just as well they denounce religious rigidity. They root themselves strongly in Islamic tradition but they do not limit their religion to a set of convictions, rules and physical appearances.

As such, many of them show a way out of dichotomy and conflict not only through words, but through example. Not their specific beliefs, but their gentle characters, their sense of justice and their compassionate hearts were proof of their Islam.

This realisation brought about a deeper self-reflection on my own cultural background and Christian upbringing. It made me remember how the Christian tradition has the tendency to emphasise faith as its core aspect. That is to say, it stresses the need for right belief. And since many of our values, norms and ethics are derived from Christian culture, I saw that the Western world, in general, is very much focused on correct convictions.

That is exactly why we debate how compatible Islam is or isn't with democracy, or why religious convictions in general are often discussed by asking how much they accept or reject certain scientific findings. But my journey so far has taught me this: religion isn't about being right, it's about being good.

Perhaps then, we shouldn't look at the contemporary conflicts between the West and the Islamic world as a problem of clashing ideas or incompatible cultures. They aren't arguments that can be won by someone who's right. They can only be overcome when all of us try to be good. That is to say, when we try to uphold the general moral guidelines of not hurting, not killing and not stealing; when we try to live according to the golden rule of not doing unto others what we wouldn't want done unto ourselves.

It makes no sense therefore to ask Muslims to be more moderate Muslims. In fact, we should support Muslims to be better Muslims, just like we should support Jews to be better Jews and Christians to be better Christians. Compassion, justice and humanity aren't the result of moderate convictions, they're the result of spirit and soul.

* Jonas Yunus is a Belgian Christian theologian. Professionally, he has been active in different peace work organisations focusing on cultural diversity. For more information on his interfaith web project, visit Halal Monk. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).

Source: Huffington Post

A Post Ramadan Lesson: Two Boys Forgo a Royal Feast

Pacifica Blogs — Sun, 22 Sep 2013 23:41:00 +0000

Rabbi Allen S. Maller

Once upon a time a King went out to hunt on a very warm day in the Fall of 2007. After a few hours he felt very hot and tired, so he decided to stop for lunch. His servants unpacked a large picnic basket they had brought with them and set up a table.

Now the King didn’t want to eat together with his servants, nor did he want to eat alone. The King told one of his servants to find someone to come and eat lunch with the King. The servant walked to a nearby road, saw two 13-year-old boys walking along, and told them that the King wanted to see them.

The boys were very surprised, and a little frightened, but they went with the King’s servant. When they arrived at the picnic, the table was set with all kinds of wonderful foods and drinks. The King told the boys to sit down next to him and eat. The boys sat down next to the King, but they did not eat.

After a few minutes the King said, “Why are you not eating? My food is prepared by the best cook in the Kingdom. It is the best tasting food in the country. Doesn’t it look good to you”

“It looks great, and I am sure it is the best food I will ever taste,” answered one boy, “but I can’t eat it.”

“Did you just finish eating lunch? If so you do not have to eat a whole meal, just have some of these great deserts” said the King.

The other boy replied, “Actually we did not eat lunch today, but we cannot eat anything, not even one of those really good looking chocolate covered candies.”

The King was surprised and asked, “Are you sick? Is that why you have lost your appetite?”

“No,” said the boys, “We are not sick and we haven’t lost our appetites.”

“Then why are you not hungry?” asked the King.

“But we are hungry” said one boy, and his friend added, “Neither of us ate lunch, and I did not eat breakfast. We are very, very hungry.”

The King looked bewildered and shouted, “Then why don’t you eat since both of you are hungry and the food is delicious?”

“Because this month is Ramadan* and I am a Muslim” said one boy. The other boy nodded and said, “And today is Yom Kippur* and I am Jewish.”

The King was astonished and said, “Why shouldn’t you enjoy yourselves? This is the best tasting food you will ever eat and you are hungry.”

“That is true, but that makes it even more important for us to fast,” answered the boys. “It is easy not to eat food you do not like. The test of a person’s self-control is best when the temptation is greatest.”

“Do you think God cares if you eat or not? Go ahead and eat, I will not tell anyone, especially your parents.”

Both boys said, “No thanks. Even if you don’t tell anyone else, we will know that we failed to live up to our religious duties to God.”

The King thought for a moment and then asked the Muslim boy why the Muslim God made Muslims fast for a whole month while the Jewish God only required one day of fasting.

The Muslim boy answered, “Muslims fast on Ramadan because that is the month that Prophet Muhammad received the first verses of the Holy Qur'an. Fasting brings us closer to God, inspires us to seek to reconcile with our adversaries, and stimulates us to give charity to the hungry.

Jews fast for one day because that is what the Torah requires of them. There is only one God. Jews and Muslims obey the same God, but God asks each religious community to do different things. God judges us according to how good we are in our own religion, not according to somebody else’s religion.

The Holy Qur'an in Surah 5, Verse 48, says: “If Allah had so willed, He could have made humans a single people, but He tests you in what He has revealed to you, so strive to compete in all virtues.”

My father says that this is one of the most important teachings of the Qur'an for both Muslims and everyone else in today's world. Muslims fast everyday for the whole month of Ramadan, but only from sunrise to sunset. We can eat dinner after sunset and breakfast before sunrise. Jews have to go without food or drink for a full 24 hours on Yom Kippur. Each community must be faithful to its own religion.”

The King asked the Jewish boy, “What is Yom Kippur?”

“Yom Kippur teaches us that we must improve ourselves each year by changing some of our bad habits or behavior. We must admit we have done bad things and hurt people. We have to go face the people we hurt and make peace with them. This is not easy to do.

My father says that to improve oneself takes lots of self-discipline. Fasting is good training in one of the most basic and difficult self-disciplines; dieting. It is easy to eat food that tastes good. But to limit yourself by restricting your diet every day, and not eating at all on Yom Kippur, is a real challenge and helps Jews improve their self-control and spiritual self-discipline.

All faithful Jews who are 13 years or older, are commanded by God to fast on Yom Kippur, so I have not eaten since dinner last night. I knew fasting 24 hours on Yom Kippur would be a test of my will power, and my commitment to be a faithful Jew, but I never thought I’d be challenged by being tempted to eat a meal fit for a King.”

The King was very impressed by what the boys said. He was even more impressed by the boys’ self-discipline and commitment to be faithful to their own religious teachings. So the King told the boys to come to the palace the next evening, along with their entire family, and have dinner with the King and the Queen. And that is what they did.

One year, the King also tried to fast on Yom Kippur, but he was only able to fast until 4 pm when he gave up, saying “I couldn’t do it for even one day. I guess if you don’t start when you are young it is a lot harder than it sounds.”

*Ramadan: Both the Jewish and the Muslim calendars are based on the moon; so the dates of Muslim and Jewish holidays change each year in terms of the solar calendar, The Jewish calendar is connected to the solar calendar so the changes are not cumulative. The Muslim calendar's changes are cumulative so Ramadan falls 11 days earlier every year. In every generation (31-31 years), Yom Kippur and Ramadan coincide at least 2 or 3 times; and September 22, 2007 was the third year in a row that Yom Kippur coincided with Ramadan.

*Yom Kippur: The Day of Atonement, the last day of the ten days of Awe during which Jews examine their hearts and minds and seek out people they think they have hurt or ignored during the last year to make amends and reconcile. God will forgive their sins when they have both reconciled with others, and reformed themselves to not repeat their bad behavior.

Rabbi Maller's web site is: rabbimaller.com

Hospitality, Community, and Friendliness

Pacifica Blogs — Wed, 18 Sep 2013 16:52:00 +0000

Mollie Griminger*

Originally published in KidSpirit's God issue. In her essay for the Global Beat, Mollie reflected on whether people with different conceptions of God could live together peacefully, using her community as an example.

Since I moved to my quiet neighborhood in Bethesda, Maryland, three years ago, it's become clear to me that having conceptions of God different from other people doesn't change the neighborly values of hospitality, community, and friendliness. Every family on my street is religiously unique in their own way. In my immediate neighborhood, there are practicing Jews, Christians, and Muslims, all with different conceptions of God. However, despite these differences, what we celebrate is our commonality.

Our neighbors of different religious persuasions all live peacefully together because we share the values of friendship and showing kindness to others. For example, during the snowstorms that buried the mid-Atlantic in 2010, a Muslim family spent hours helping out others by shoveling out the driveways of the elderly, and using their SUV to help take people to the hospital in the deep snow. And when the mother of that family was having surgery, we invited them over for dinner. The neighborhood also exhibits as much hospitality as they can to others, reminding all their guests that "my home is your home."

In addition, the differing religious faiths in our neighborhood aren't ignored. Instead, they're celebrated. Everyone on the block is always interested in learning about another household's customs. For example, each year, during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot my family sets up the Sukkah (a specific type of large, rectangular structure in which we eat for the entirety of the holiday) and invites our closest families on the block to join us for a meal. None of them hesitate to experience this unique aspect of Jewish culture, not only because they're fascinated, but also because of the opportunity to sit down and have a conversation with their neighbors.

Although an important identification of a person and their family, conceptions of God are eclipsed by the neighborly values of hospitality and openness in a community.

*When she wrote this, Mollie Griminger was 13 years old.

Source: Huffington Post

Armenian church on Akdamar Island hosts first baptism in 98 years

Pacifica Blogs — Wed, 18 Sep 2013 12:28:00 +0000

Armenians from Turkey and around the world have descended on Akdamar (Akhtamar in Armenian) Island on Lake Van for an annual Divine Liturgy on the island’s 10th-century church, which was reopened to occasional prayer in 2010 after a hiatus of close to 100 years.

Turkish authorities restored the church between 2005 and 2007 before opening it as a museum. The Divine Liturgy was celebrated there for the first time in 95 years in 2010. This year, a baptism took place during the service in the historical church.

The Divine Liturgy began at 11 a.m. at the historic Surp Haç (Holy Cross) Church. The ceremony was conducted by the acting head of the Armenian Patriarchate in Turkey, Aram Ateşyan.

“During our religious service, we will pray for our country’s peace, unity and solidarity. There was no empty seats at the service four years ago, but as time passed, the number of attendees decreased. Nearly a thousand people have participated this year, unlike previous years’ thousands. For the first time in 100 years, we will have a baptism inside the church. I would like to take this occasion to thank our governor, the security forces and the mayor,” Ateşyan said.

Worshippers prayed for peace in the Middle East and in the world during the service.

Some 800 security forces stood on guard during the ceremony. Police took tight security measures on and around the island, while conducting a bomb search with sniffer dogs and police divers.

Today the Armenian community in Turkey, which numbers around 70,000, is concentrated in Istanbul.

Neighbors Turkey and Armenia do not have diplomatic relations and a move toward reconciliation launched in 2009 has not borne fruit.

Source: Hurriyet Daily News

Sukkot 2013: The Welcoming, Glorious Jewish Feast of the Tabernacle Explained

Pacifica Blogs — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 13:21:00 +0000

The Jewish Feast of the Tabernacle, Sukkot, in 2013 begins at sundown on Wednesday, September 18, and ends at nightfall September 25. The Festival of Booths, as Sukkot is also known, is observed from the 15th to the 21st of the Tishrei in the Jewish year of 5774.

For the eight days and seven nights of Sukkot, Jews traditionally eat and sleep in a sukkah, a temporary dwelling with a thatched roof, from which the holiday gets its name. Two other components of the holiday are inviting guests, or ushpizin, and waving the four species, known as the lulav and etrog.

Sukkot is one of three biblically mandated holidays for which the ancient tribes made a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem. The holiday is based on the verse: "Every resident among the Israelites shall live in booths, in order that your [ensuing] generations should know that I had the children of Israel live in booths when I took them out of the land of Egypt" (Leviticus 23:42-43). The sukkah is a physical remembrance of the "clouds of glory" that surrounded and protected the Israelites as they wandered the desert after escaping from Egypt.

The commandment regarding the "four species" -- the lulav (palm, willow and myrtle) and etrog (citron) -- also comes from chapter 23 of Leviticus: "And you shall take for yourselves on the first day [of Sukkot], the fruit of the hadar tree [myrtle], date palm fronds, a branch of a braided tree, and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for a seven day period" (23:40). The lulav and etrog are held together and, after reciting a blessing, waved in six directions -- forward, backward, left, right, up and down -- in acknowledgment of God's dominion over all creation.

Another important aspect of Sukkot is welcoming of guests (ushpizin in Aramaic) into the sukkah. While people actually invite friends, family and strangers into their hand-built temporary homes, on each night of Sukkot a different ancestral guest, leading the entire group of "holy shepherds," is said to enter the sukkah, and Jewish teachings are invoked in their names. The ushpizin -- Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph and David -- embody seven different spiritual paths that, together, bring humanity and all of creation to a more perfected state: Abraham is lovingkindness, Isaac is strength, Jacob represents harmony, Moses is eternality through Torah, Aaron is divine splendor, Joseph is spiritual foundation and David embodies sovereignty.

Source: Huffington Post

A Reflection on the Yom Kippur Liturgy -- Repentance Through Acts of Righteousness

Pacifica Blogs — Wed, 11 Sep 2013 14:41:00 +0000

Ron Kromish

As we approach the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, which comes at the end of ten very special days called "the days of Awe," I am mindful of how much the liturgy of our special High Holiday prayer book is not simply particularistic. It is not intended for the Jewish People alone -- it is also universalistic, with implications for all human beings, and for us, as Jews, for our relationship with all humanity, not just our own tribe. Moreover, it is also clear that the theme of justice pervades our worship, implying that our concern for fair treatment for all human beings flows directly from the prayers that we recite. In other words, our liturgy requires that we behave as a people whose destiny is inextricably woven with the destiny of all humanity and whose ideal of justice is not merely for ourselves but for everyone.

In the special Yom Kippur additions to the set of traditional prayers known as "The Amidah" -- the 18 benedictions that we say silently and aloud during every Jewish worship service -- the interweaving of the dual themes of universalism and particularism is very loud and clear.

First, we ask God to instill His awe in all human beings and in all creatures that He has created, and we recognize that all of us are bound up in the human family. This is first and foremost. We are all part of the human family. It was fascinating for me to hear my friend Kadi Abdulhakeem Samara , one of Israel's leading Muslim judges, make the same point about his understanding of Islam, when he spoke at a special iftar seminar for ICCI in Jerusalem in July.

The second paragraph of this special set of prayers asks God to give honor and hope to His people, joy to their land, and gladness to their city, the city of Jerusalem. At the same time that Jews are part of humanity, we are also a people, with a very special attachment to our land, the land of Israel, and its religious capital, Jerusalem.

In the third paragraph, it all comes together:

The righteous, beholding this (that we are both part of humanity and committed to our people), will rejoice, the upright will be glad, the pious will celebrate with song, evil will be silenced, and all wickedness will disappear like smoke, when You remove the tyranny of arrogance from the earth.

Together with all other human beings who care about the earth, we must cooperate to banish evil and wickedness, whether it is the scourges of war or the wanton destruction of the environment which we all share.

At the end of the same set of additional prayers that we repeat in every worship service during these holidays, the framers of our liturgy refer to the prophet Isaiah who said "The Lord of hosts will be exalted through justice and the holy God will be sanctified through righteousness." This is a two-part deal -- prayer alone will not suffice. Genuine atonement can only happen "through righteousness," when we act kindly and justly to our fellow human beings.

These liturgical ideas, which are so central to the Jewish Tradition, are also foundational for the work of peace-building in Israel and Palestine that I have been engaged in for the past 22 years. One of my Muslim colleagues put it succinctly many years ago when he told me that "Dialogue is not enough!" Just as prayer without acts of loving-kindness is insufficient, dialogue without action too is incomplete.

This is why I believe strongly that in all educational programs that I continue to promote through the Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel (www.icci.org.il), we say that peaceful coexistence is our goal and that dialogue, education and actions are our methods.

Jewish tradition emphasizes the importance of good deeds, of tikkun olam or "repairing the world." Without doing our part to "repair the world," even in small ways, we have not fulfilled our responsibility; our prayers and our discussions are meant to be the beginning of the process, not an end in themselves. This is why I am putting more emphasis in our educational work on action projects in recent years, and for the future. This is not accidental or coincidental; rather, it flows from basic religious concepts which I hold dear.

On Yom Kippur, our misdeeds against fellow human beings are not forgiven by prayer. We are enjoined to ask the person whom we may have wronged during the past year for forgiveness. Repentance will not come from an outside source but through our human actions to make the world a better place to live.

Similarly for peace. Peace will not come if we only pray for it. Rather, praying for peace should be a catalyst for acting for peace in concrete and substantive ways.

Source: Huffington Post

Related Article

Yom Kippur 2012: The Day Of Atonement Explained

Diyarbakır church to display Armenian legacy

Pacifica Blogs — Mon, 09 Sep 2013 21:11:00 +0000

One of Diyarbakır’s most famous churches, the Armenian church of Surp Giragos, is set to become a city museum hosting artwork and artifacts depicting the Armenian history in the city.

Earlier, the Hürriyet Daily News reported that Diyarbakır Metropolitan Mayor Osman Baydemir and Surp Giragos Armenian Foundation President Ergün Ayık had signed a protocol to turn the church, which was recently restored and opened to prayer, into a museum.

According to the protocol, the church’s Hıdır İlyas section will be given to the municipality and converted into a museum featuring belongings and ethnographic artifacts.

Ayık said the church was the largest church in the Middle East but was in ruins until it was restored and reopened to worship three years ago.

Noting that the church was surrounded by many famous buildings and artifacts in the city, Ayık said, “The representatives are evaluating the buildings around the church.”

The Diyarbakır City Museum will display Armenian heritage and Armenian art. “We are currently meeting with the municipality and we have signed a protocol to open this part,” Ayık said.

“We will first collect artifacts before decorating the museum. The decorations and the curation will be made according to the artifacts,” said Ayık, noting that there would be information about the family, social and cultural life of Armenians.

Letters from Lice

Very few artifacts have survived over the past 100 years, but Ayık said they were able to collect letters from 1913 from a family who lived in the province’s Lice district, as well as kitchen appliances, musical instruments and other examples of writings from elsewhere.

During the last 100 years, many artifacts that belonged to Armenian families have been lost, he said. “We are currently collecting artifacts to display in the museum. This is the first time that something like this has happened in Turkey, and many people are approaching this with suspicion.”

The written documents are very valuable because they reflect the lifestyle of Armenians at the time, he said. “We have collected these documents from Turkey and also from foreign countries. We have succeeded in collecting these artifacts.”

Noting that there were also many financial documents, Ayık said these revealed the debts and the trade that Armenians had in history.

Artifacts in Istanbul

The artifacts that have been collected have been sent to Istanbul to be analyzed and researched.
Collecting the data and the artifacts has taken a long time, he said, adding that the job was an important task that only professionals could do.

After analyzing the works, the artifact will be sent to the museum for display.

Surp Giragos, which boasts seven altars, originally had an earthen roof, although a new roof of wood was subsequently erected over the restored church. It was closed in 1915-1916 before being returned to the local Armenian community in 1960.

A new bell that was made for the reopened church was made in Russia especially for the place of worship.

Source: Hurriyet Daily News

Ramadhan and Fasting

Pacifica Blogs — Wed, 04 Sep 2013 13:53:00 +0000

Özgür Koca*

Ramadhan, the ninth month of lunar calendar, is a time of joy, generosity, compassion, and breaking bread with others.

At the heart of Islamic belief stands the reality of God, the One, who is at once transcendent and immanent, greater than all we can conceive or imagine yet closer to us than our own consciousness. From the realization that this world is a message from God, a desire flows forth to establish a link between human spirit and God. Religious practices such as fasting, supplications, prayers in its myriad forms, and charity serve precisely to this purpose of relating human spirit and its creator. As such, fasting, although in different forms, exists in almost all religious traditions. Jews practice fasting on Yom Kipur, it is an integral part of Hinduism, Buddhists monks and nuns frequently practice it, many Christian denominations practice it and so on.

Fasting in Ramadhan involves abstaining from food, drink and sexual activity from dawn to dusk. However, true fasting involves more than this. Abstaining from eating and drinking is not an end in itself, but rather it is a means. By disciplining our body, fasting paves the way for a self-transformation, spiritual cleansing, and realization of a higher ethical standard. Good deeds, kindness, and helping others become fruits of this transformation. Fasting is an act of not only the stomach, but the whole body. Eyes refrain from looking at anything that is blameworthy; tongue refrain from lying, backbiting, abusive speech, and hypocrisy, hate speech, and so on. If fasting is understood and actualized properly, Ramadhan becomes a time to practice self-control, kindness, self-discipline to be a better person, to improve our relationship with others.

During this month we break the routine of our lives. From this follows a sincere thankfulness and appreciation of many things we take for granted. After long hours of thirst, when we break our fasts with a sip of water, when it slowly flows down our throats, when we feel it in almost every part of our bodies, and when we shiver with joy, at that very moment, we realize that there is nothing mundane in this world, there is anything banal. Everything is unique, everything is special, everything is miraculous; especially the things we take for granted. Sometimes the colors the world withers in our views because of the boredom of the routine. With fasting the world regains its colors back.

People are more generous, more cordial, and more ready than other times of the year to do good and charitable work. Why? Fasting helps one to fell the pain of the less fortunate. It gives you a chance to empathize. During long hours of thirst and hunger one realizes how it feels not to be able find something to eat or drink, how it feels to be inflicted by famine or disasters. It helps us to cultivate empathy with the suffering of others and, thus, to restore compassion to the center of all morality and religion. Compassion leads to charity. In charity we transcend our ego, our selfishness, we dethrone ourselves from the center of the world and put another there.

Fasting helps develop a very important skill: patience. During long hours of fasting, by refraining from eating, drinking, and sexual activity, one practices patience and learns to wait for an end and to strive perseveringly towards a goal. Thus, fasting is an opportunity to transcend over-indulgence and to reconsider our bad consumption habits. As experts indicate, one of the disastrous consequences of our current consumption habits is environmental crisis. It is therefore urgent to develop habits of careful consumption and a balanced relation with the bio-physical environment. Fasting clearly helps to realize this goal.

Any religious practice is twofold. It has an outward and an inward aspect. To use Rumi’s analogy, a religious practice resembles a fruit with its kernel and shell. Shell and kernel makes the totality of a fruit and their togetherness yields the desired result. Still, one does not want to get stuck forever in shell. One desires to go beyond shell to taste kernel and sap. Now, abstaining from eating and drinking is a physical act; this is the outward aspect of fasting. It paves the way for the attainment of the realization of a spiritual goal attached to it; this is the inward aspect of fasting. The spirituality of fasting involves a deeper understanding of human condition. In fasting, we realize how needy, how weak, how fragile, how finite we are. We are finite and we yearn for the Infinite. Departing from physical thirst and hunger we intimately witness our spiritual and existential thirst and hunger for infinity. Herein, we attain a deeper consciousness of the Divine. Herein, we start smelling the alluring perfume of the Divine. Herein, we escape from our finitude to the bosom of the Infinite and quench our spiritual thirst and hunger.

* Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies at Claremont School of Theology

Rosh Hashanah 2013: The Jewish New Year Explained

Pacifica Blogs — Tue, 03 Sep 2013 18:15:00 +0000

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, is celebrated in 2013 from sundown on Sept. 4 to nightfall on Sept. 6. The Hebrew date for Rosh Hashanah is 1 Tishrei 5773.

Though Rosh Hashanah literally means "head of the year," the holiday actually takes place on the first two days of the Hebrew month of Tishrei, which is the seventh month on the Hebrew calendar. This is because Rosh Hashanah, one of four new years in the Jewish year, is considered the new year of people, animals and legal contracts. In the Jewish oral tradition, Rosh Hashanah marks the completion of the creation of the world.

Rosh Hashanah is the beginning of the Jewish High Holy Days, or Yamim Noraim (the "Days of Awe"), and is followed 10 days later by Yom Kippur, the "day of atonement." The Mishnah refers to Rosh Hashanah as the "day of judgment," and it is believed that God opens the Book of Life on this day and begins to decide who shall live and who shall die. The days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are viewed as an opportunity for Jews to repent (teshuvah, in Hebrew) and ensure a good fate.

Jews traditionally gather in synagogues on Rosh Hashanah for extended services that follow the liturgy of a special prayerbook, called a mahzor, that is used during the Days of Awe. At specific times throughout the service, a shofar, or ram's horn, is blown. The mitzvah (commandment) to hear the shofar, a literal and spiritual wake-up call, is special to this time of year.

The new year is the only Jewish holiday that is observed for two days by all Jews (other holidays are observed for just one day within the Land of Israel) as it is also the only major holiday that falls on a new moon.

A common greeting on Rosh Hashanah is shana tovah u'metukah, Hebrew for "a good and sweet new year." Many traditional Rosh Hashanah foods -- apples and honey, raisin challah, honey cake and pomegranate -- are eaten, in part, for this reason.

Source: Huffington Post

Francis calls for prayer and fasting for peace in Syria

Pacifica Blogs — Mon, 02 Sep 2013 01:37:00 +0000

Thomas Cox

Imploring peace in Syria, Pope Francis Sunday called peace makers around the world to fast and gather for prayer next Saturday, Sept. 7th.

He said prayer services will be conducted in St. Peter’s Square beginning at 7 PM and lasting to midnight.

“I have decided to proclaim for the whole Church Sept. 7th, the vigil of the birth of Mary, Queen of Peace, a day of fasting and prayer for peace in Syria, the Middle East, and throughout the world, and I also invite each person, including our fellow Christians, followers of other religions and all men of good will, to participate, in whatever way they can, in this initiative.”

“We will gather together in prayer, in a spirit of penitence, to ask from God this great gift [of peace] for the beloved Syrian nation and for all the situations of conflict and violence in the world, ” he said.

“Never again war!” said Francis. “We want a peaceful world. We want to be men and women of peace.”

Francis also issued a forceful condemnation of the use of chemical weapons. “There is the judgment of God, and also the judgment of history, upon our actions,” he said, “ [judgments] from which there is no escaping.” He called on all parties to conflicts to pursue negotiations, and urged the international community to take concrete steps to end conflicts, especially the war in Syria.

“Humanity needs to see gestures of peace,” said Pope Francis, “and to hear words of hope and of peace.”

The full text of Pope Francis’ Angelus remarks, as reported by Vatican radio, follows:

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Hello! Today, dear brothers and sisters, I wish to make add my voice to the cry which rises up with increasing anguish from every part of the world, from every people, from the heart of each person, from the one great family which is humanity: it is the cry for peace! It is a cry, which declares with force: we want a peaceful world, we want to be men and women of peace, and we want in our society, torn apart by divisions and conflict, that peace break out! War never again! Never again war! Peace is a precious gift, which must be promoted and protected.

There are so many conflicts in this world which cause me great suffering and worry, but in these days my heart is deeply wounded in particular by what is happening in Syria and anguished by the dramatic developments which are looming.

I appeal strongly for peace, an appeal, which arises from the deep within me. How much suffering, how much devastation, how much pain has the use of arms carried in its wake in that martyred country, especially among civilians and the unarmed! I think of many children will not see the light of the future! With utmost firmness I condemn the use of chemical weapons: I tell you that those terrible images from recent days are burned into my mind and heart. There is a judgment of God and of history upon our actions, which are inescapable! Never has the use of violence brought peace in its wake.

War begets war, violence begets violence.

With all my strength, I ask each party in this conflict to listen to the voice of their own conscience, not to close themselves in solely on their own interests, but rather to look at each other as brothers and decisively and courageously to follow the path of encounter and negotiation, and so overcome blind conflict. With similar vigor I exhort the international community to make every effort to promote clear proposals for peace in that country without further delay, a peace based on dialogue and negotiation, for the good of the entire Syrian people.

May no effort be spared in guaranteeing humanitarian assistance to those wounded by this terrible conflict, in particular those forced to flee and the many refugees in nearby countries. May humanitarian workers, charged with the task of alleviating the sufferings of these people, be granted access so as to provide the necessary aid.

What can we do to make peace in the world? As Pope John said, it pertains to each individual to establish new relationships in human society under the mastery and guidance of justice and love (cf. John XXIII, Pacem in Terris, [11 April 1963]: AAS 55, [1963], 301-302).

All men and women of good will are bound by the task of pursuing peace. I make a forceful and urgent call to the entire Catholic Church, and also to every Christian of other confessions, as well as to followers of every religion and to those brothers and sisters who do not believe: peace is a good which overcomes every barrier, because it belongs all of humanity!

I repeat forcefully: it is neither a culture of confrontation nor a culture of conflict which builds harmony within and between peoples, but rather a culture of encounter and a culture of dialogue; this is the only way to peace.

May the plea for peace rise up and touch the heart of everyone so that they may lay down their weapons and be let themselves be led by the desire for peace.

To this end, brothers and sisters, I have decided to proclaim for the whole Church on 7 September next, the vigil of the birth of Mary, Queen of Peace, a day of fasting and prayer for peace in Syria, the Middle East, and throughout the world, and I also invite each person, including our fellow Christians, followers of other religions and all men of good will, to participate, in whatever way they can, in this initiative.

On 7 September, in Saint Peter’s Square, here, from 19:00 until 24:00, we will gather in prayer and in a spirit of penance, invoking God’s great gift of peace upon the beloved nation of Syria and upon each situation of conflict and violence around the world.

Humanity needs to see these gestures of peace and to hear words of hope and peace! I ask all the local churches, in addition to fasting, that they gather to pray for this intention.

Let us ask Mary to help us to respond to violence, to conflict and to war, with the power of dialogue, reconciliation and love. She is our mother: may she help us to find peace; all of us are her children! Help us, Mary, to overcome this most difficult moment and to dedicate ourselves each day to building in every situation an authentic culture of encounter and peace. Mat, Queen of Peace, pray for us!

Source: National Catholic Reporter

Martin Luther King Jr.'s Faith Background Key To His Drive For Justice

Pacifica Blogs — Thu, 29 Aug 2013 22:25:00 +0000

Lauren Markoe and Adelle M. Banks

WASHINGTON (RNS) Fifty years to the day after Martin Luther King Jr. knocked on the nation’s conscience with his dream, religious leaders gathered in a historic church to remind the nation that he was fueled by faith.

Later, in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial where King thundered about America’s unmet promises, King’s children joined the likes of President Obama and Oprah Winfrey to rekindle what Obama called a “coalition of conscience.”

At Shiloh Baptist Church, where King preached three years before his 1963 “I Have A Dream” speech, Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh clergy summoned King’s prophetic spirit to help reignite the religious fires of the civil rights movement.

King’s daughter, the Rev. Bernice A. King, said at the service that her father was a freedom fighter and a civil rights leader, but his essence was something else.

“He was a pastor,” said King, who was 5 when her father electrified the nation in front of the Lincoln Memorial. “He was a prophet. He was a faith leader.”

“We can never forget as we celebrate, as we remember . . . that it was that faith and the spirit of God itself that fueled, that infused the movement that led to great change and transformation in the 50’s and 60’s.”

The Rev. Raphael Warnock, senior pastor of Martin Luther King’s own spiritual home, Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, said they had come together to celebrate a servant of God, “whose ministry stretched far beyond the four walls of the church, and whose parish was America and the world itself.”

Other clergy recalled with pride how members of their own faiths joined with King 50 years ago to non-violently challenge racism and demand equal opportunity and jobs.

Rabbi Julie Schonfeld, executive vice president of the Rabbinical Assembly, read from a letter written to King by Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, who walked shoulder-to-shoulder with him during the freedom march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala. in 1965.

“Even without words, our march was worship,” Heschel wrote. “I felt like my legs were praying.”

Schonfeld said that in the years after the Holocaust, King gave Jews in America a spiritual rebirth, a reason to believe that “God had not forsaken all mankind.”

Born in Sudan, Imam Mohamed Magid, president of the Islamic Society of North America, said King’s legacy made it possible for 28 faith communities came to his mosque after 9/11 to pray alongside his congregation.

King taught that “hate cannot drive out hate,” Magid said. “Only love can do that.”

After the morning prayer service, throngs gathered at the site of King’s speech to mark decades of progress but warn that justice remains elusive for some.

“We’re not here to claim any victory. We’re here to say that the struggle continues,” said Andrew Young, a King aide who went on to become mayor of Atlanta, U.N. ambassador and president of the National Council of Churches. “Pray on and stay on and fight on.”

Added King’s eldest son, Martin Luther King III: “No one ever told any of us that our road would be easy. I know that our God, our God, our God would not bring all of us this far to leave us.”

The Rev. Joseph Lowey, one of the last living icons of the civil rights movement, spoke from a wheelchair close to the imposing statue of Abraham Lincoln and challenged the crowd to battle modern-day efforts to deny rights and restrict freedom.

“We come here to Washington to say we ain’t going back,” said Lowery. “We’ve come too far, marched too long, prayed too hard … bled too profusely and died too young to let anybody turn back the clock on our journey to justice.”

Source: Huffington Post