Tolerance is defined as allowing someone or something to exist without interference. In social and political settings, it means to let other opinions and practices that are different than ours to exist and thrive. Aristoteles defines virtues as being balanced and determining prudently in any given human condition. As a…
Read MoreIn his 2013 book, “Toward an Islamic Enlightenment-The Gulen Movement”, Hakan Yavuz examines the “structure” of the Hizmet Movement by analyzing the authority, networks and opportunity spaces perspective. According to Yavuz, Fethullah Gulen argues that salvation cannot be found in the exit or withdrawal from social life. On the contrary,…
Read MoreThe event, sponsored by the American Turkish Friendship Association (ATFA) and the Mid-Atlantic Federation of Turkic American Associations (MAFTAA) was held at the Langley High School in Virginia. Contestants from North Carolina, Maryland, Kentucky, Virginia and Delaware competed in different categories including singing, poetry recital and folk dance. Speaking at…
Read MoreFor one whose formal education was not in anthropology, theology or history, this trip to Turkey was a high-impact, factually overwhelming, and perspective-changing experience. It provided a study of peoples of different religions and philosophies, ancient and modern, side by side. My overall impression is that Turkey is a country…
Read MoreI had never visited Turkey prior to my trip with the Rumi Forum. To prepare myself before the trip, I read a history, “Istanbul: The Imperial City,” and a history of the Ottoman Empire. From these books I learned a great deal about the glories of Turkey’s history, but I…
Read MoreI will go green. This is one of my New Year resolutions for 2011. I know I am already late but better than never. Besides I am already half green. I have been printing less; reading my articles online. I have unsubscribed from printed version of the daily paper and…
Read MoreIn the past five years, through my involvement with the Rumi Forum of Old Dominion University, I’ve become intimately familiar with the work and faith perspective of the movement which emerged from the life of Fethullah Gulen. As both an ordained Baptist minister in the Christian tradition and as an…
Read MoreSome say they are the best schools around, and some say they can’t be that good without support from global powers. Some say they serve for global peace, and some other say: “Don’t be naive they must have a hidden agenda”. I will not get into questions like “water of…
Read MoreYou may be acquainted with what, in my opinion, is one of the most interesting phenomena occurring today in the world of education. I am referring to those institutions usually referred to loosely as the “Gulen schools” or “schools of the Gulen movement.” These schools should not be thought of…
Read More“Love the love, and hate all hostility” Fethullah Gulen A lot has already been said and appears to continue about the long term impacts of 9/11 tragedy for the years to follow. The days immediately following this horrific incident, all scholarly critics, and politicians and as well as renowned public…
Read More