NYC Event: Juan Cole

Several things began to come together in my thinking at the MLT Conference in Copenhagen. To be clear, it was not a result of the planning of the MLT, but a series of amorphous thoughts that started to click from meeting people at the conference. With the Progressive Faith Blog Con coming straight after, these ideas began gaining more clarity. Coincidentally, both the good folks at Progressive Islam (1, 2, 3) and Von Aurum published pieces that further moved my thoughts forward. I had been planning on this post for some time, but as the adage goes “Man proposes, God…

Four questions were posed to us in small groups. The questions are below, with my thoughts in brackets. Couldn’t capture everyone’s ideas, but feel free to answer in comments on your own. Topic: Integration of Islam and the West What frustrates/angers/annoys/etc. most about the topic? [The question. As long we see a dichotomy between Islam and the West, others will as well. For the most part, I have to say, at least in the US the integration question seems to be coming more from the Muslim community. Those who want to reach out to us already accept religious identity and…

In anticipation of a panel I’m on on diversity, here are two quotes from Diana Eck on the topic. (Thanks to one of the other panelists, Emily Ronald, for finding and supplying them.) “What then, is pluralism? The word has been used so widely and freely as a virtual synonym for such terms as relativism, subjectivism, multiculturalism, and globalism that we need to stop for a moment and think clearly about what it does and does not mean. Pluralism is but one of several responses to diversity and to modernity. It is an interpretation of plurality, an evaluation of religious…