Insha'allah

On the day when headlines show the Pope greeting King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, the GTU made even bigger news with the official opening of the Islamic Center. It was a beautiful event and a beautiful day. This op ed was in the SF Chronicle today.
Jack Luikart
The original article can be found on SFGate.com here:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/11/06/EDD7T6NQH.DTL
Tuesday, November 6, 2007 (SF Chronicle)
Studying Islam for a more peaceful world
James A. Donahue,Munir Jiwa
Despite popular assertions that religion is at the root of the world'sproblems as at no other time in recent history, closer study reveals thatit is not religion per se that is plaguing the world but themisunderstanding of religion. Positing a divide between Islam and theWest, or the religious and the secular, not only misrepresents Islam andMuslims, but the nature and mission of all faiths. Understanding andstudying Islam is a matter of great urgency - it is, in fact, critical, ifhumankind is to have a peaceful future. The Chronicle recently reported that despite an atmosphere of toleranceinthe Bay Area and the long history of Muslims in the United States, many ofthe Bay Area's 200,000 Muslims worry that they are seen by non-Muslims asoutsiders. How is religion so prone to being misunderstood? All too often we seereligion hijacked and twisted in the service of agendas wrought fromdeeply divisive issues, fueling fear and hatred, providing fertile groundfor the politics of polarization, which serves only to further divide.Study, debate and open dialogue, on the other hand, offer the promise ofunderstanding and living peacefully with each other. Because our work is graduate education in religion centered oninterreligious dialogue, engaging one another about difference is a way oflife for us at the Graduate Theological Union. In our teaching, researchand community conferences, as well as in our day-to-day operations as aconsortium of ecumenical and interfaith graduate programs, we embrace,rather than avoid, the critical tensions that arise from differentperspectives. A starting point for our work is the comparative study ofsacred texts - the Torah, Christian Bible and Quran. Our end goal is themaking of religious leaders and educators who will address issues ofreligious pluralism and difference in local communities, the nation andthe world. Why? Because one role of religion is to cultivate civiccharacter and virtue so differences in the public square can be peacefullynavigated and negotiated. In this way, rather than being a dividing force,religion can be a powerful catalyst for finding resolutions togeopolitical, economic and social problems. Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. To study and teachIslam and to learn from Muslims is to understand the world and its complexand diverse faith traditions. As the West unfortunately casts a wary eyeon Islam, it is especially important to understand Islam in a broad,interfaith context. Today, the Graduate Theological Union will open aCenter for Islamic Studies in Berkeley that will focus on Islam as aliving world religion in a setting that includes the study of Judaism,Christianity, Buddhism and other religious traditions. The center will build an academic platform to help scholars andstudentsof many faiths understand Islam as a world religion with a theology ofpluralism and rich scholarly traditions. It also will sponsor conferencesto build bridges across religions and cultures, and it will serve as acommunity liaison with Bay Area Muslims. In all of these activities, itwill offer students and the larger community the opportunity to facedifferences and cooperate so even those who strongly disagree on issuesmight find enough common ground and a safe space to work together onprojects for the common good. One of our students recently asked, "Can I respectfully engage andwelcome'the other', while at the same time allowing others to be different?" Thisis an immensely important question. If asked by many, it offers a glimpseof what the Bay Area, the nation and the world could become. The very good, but under-reported news is that interfaith dialogue andaction is well underway in scores of academic, civic and religiouslocations around the world. We support these efforts. We look forward tocontributing in our own way, through interreligious education, to anunderstanding of Islam that could bring the world a step closer to peace.Because whatever name one gives to God, it seems inconceivable to us thatGod's purpose would be to divide humanity. James A. Donahue is the president of the Graduate Theological Union inBerkeley and a professor of ethics. Munir Jiwa is a professor of IslamicStudies and director of the Center for Islamic Studies at the GraduateTheological Union. www.gtu.edu----------------------------------------------------------------------Copyright 2007 SF Chronicle