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THE QUESTION

If some religious people believe they have a monopoly on truth, then are conversation and common ground possible? If so, what would be the difficulties and benefits of such a conversation?

Posted by Hal Straus on November 10, 2006 8:34 AM

FROM THE PANEL

"On Faith" panelist Elaine Pagels is Harrington Spear Paine Foundation Professor of Religion at Princeton University and author of best-selling books about the pluralistic nature of early Christianity. Her book Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas (2003), which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, focuses on religious claims to possessing the ultimate truth. Pagels' The Gnostic Gospels (1979), an analysis of 52 early Christian manuscripts unearthed in Egypt and known as the Nag Hammadi Library. The book was chosen by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best books of the 20th Century. She also authored The Origin of Satan (1995), and Adam, Eve and the Serpent (1988). Pagels was awarded Rockefeller, Guggenheim and MacArthur Fellowships in three consecutive years. Her next work, Reading Judas: The Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of Christianity, is co-authored with Karen King and set to be published in the spring of 2007. She is on leave from Princeton for the academic year 2006-2007 while a visiting scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation in New York.

Questions To Answer Before A Conversation

What we need to ask is what pressures generated each tradition's claims to monopoly, against whom such claims were made, and what is at stake in making them.

Elaine Pagels, Best-selling author and Pulitzer Prize nominee |

93 COMMENTS
Nov 20, 2006 at 12:00 PM

The Reverend William J. Byron, S.J., a former president of Catholic University, is on leave this year from his position as research professor at the Sellinger School of Business and Management, Loyola College in Maryland to serve as president of St. Joseph's Preparatory School in Philadelphia. The “On Faith” panelist served as interim president of Loyola University , New Orleans in 2003-04 and for three years prior to that, was pastor of Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Washington , D.C. From 1992 to 2000, he taught "Social Responsibilities of Business" at Georgetown University , where he was Distinguished Professor of the Practice of Ethics and served as rector of the Georgetown Jesuit Community. He was president of Catholic University for a decade (1982-92). Byron writes a syndicated bi-weekly column, Looking Around , for Catholic News Service, and is the author of a dozen books, including A Book of Quiet Prayer (2006); The Power of Principles: Ethics in the New Corporate Culture (2006) and Answers from Within: Spiritual Guidelines for Managing Setbacks in Work and Life (1998) . A founding director and past chairman of Bread for the World , Byron was also named the 1999 recipient of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities' Theodore M. Hesburgh Award for his contributions to the advancement of Catholic higher education. In that same year, he received the Council of Independent Colleges' Academic Leadership Award. Byron, who holds a doctorate in economics as well as theology degrees, served in the U.S. Army's 508 th Parachute Infantry Regiment before entering the Jesuit order in 1950. He was ordained a priest in 1961.

Reasoned Argument

Reasoned argument is essential for the preservation and advancement of both civility and civilization

William J. Byron, Columnist and former president, Catholic University |

78 COMMENTS
Nov 17, 2006 at 3:40 PM

"On Faith" panelist and rock musician Salman Ahmad founded the popular South Asian band Junoon. The group has sold over 25 million albums and in 2001 became the first rock band invited to perform at the U.N. General Assembly. Ahmad also was appointed U.N. Goodwill Ambassador for HIV/AIDS. He personalized the "I Care, Do You?" U.N. poster campaign in Pakistan by taking the well-known verse of the Koran about reverence for human life and paraphrasing it to say: "Saving one life (from AIDS) is like saving the whole of humanity." Born in Pakistan , Ahmad grew up in New York . He obtained his medical degree from Pakistan 's King Edward Medical college in Lahore . He helped form Pakistan 's first pop band, Vital Signs , whose debut album sold a million copies. Ahmad decided to give up his stethoscope and pick up his guitar, and after leaving Vital Signs in 1990 he founded Junoon. Recently Ahmad appeared in two documentary films: It's My Country Too , about Muslim-Americans, and Rockstar and the Mullahs . Both were broadcast worldwide on PBS and the BBC. A passionate activist in promoting peace between India and Pakistan , Ahmad made a song/video Ghoom Tana . It is on his latest solo album INFINITI.

Grapes By Any Other Name

It’s crucial to begin with understanding each other's cultural perspectives.

Salman Ahmad, Founder, Junoon |

182 COMMENTS
Nov 17, 2006 at 1:00 PM

Sherman A. Jackson is a professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies, a visiting professor of law, and a professor of Afro-American Studies at the University of Michigan , Ann Arbor . He has served as Executive Director for the Center of Arabic Study Abroad (CASA) in Cairo , Egypt , is a member of the U.S.-Muslim World Advisory Committee of the U.S. Institute of Peace , and a co-founder of the American Learning Institute for Muslims (ALIM). The “On Faith” panelist is also a former member of the Fiqh Council of North America , past president of the Sharî‘ah Scholars' Association of North America (SSANA) and a past trustee of the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT). In addition to numerous articles on Islamic law, theology and history, Jackson is the author of Islamic Law and the State: The Constitutional Jurisprudence of Shihâb al-Dîn al-Qarâfî , On the Boundaries of Theological Tolerance in Islam: Abû Hâmid al-Ghazâlî's Faysal al-Tafriqa and, most recently, the controversial Islam and Blackamerican: Looking Towards the Third Resurrection . Jackson has lectured throughout the US and in numerous countries abroad. He has also taught at the University of Texas at Austin , Indiana University, Wayne State University and was recently offered a full-professorship at Stanford University , which he declined.

Is Common Ground The Solution or the Problem?

Part of the problem is that we often speak of "conversation" when what we really mean is "conquest."

Sherman Jackson, Co-founder, American Learning Institute for Muslims |

68 COMMENTS
Nov 17, 2006 at 11:00 AM

The Right Rev. Mark Sean Sisk has been Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New York, one of the Episcopal Church’s largest dioceses with over 200 congregations since 2001. Before returning to New York as Bishop Coadjutor in 1998, the "On Faith" panelist served for 14 years as President and Dean of Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois. The bishop also worked as a parish priest for 10 years before his predecessor Bishop Paul Moore asked him to join his staff as Archdeacon of Westchester, Putnam and Rockland Counties in New York. Mission, worship and nurture are the three main focus areas of Sisk’s episcopacy. At the root of each is the promise of keeping our Lord and our faith centered in our lives while we work together to help the most vulnerable in our society. He believes that his and other moderate, socially conscious Christian viewpoints need to be heard. It is his hope to function as a bridge-builder in dealing with the important social issues confronting us as a nation. Sisk earned a degree in economics from the University of Maryland and a Masters of Divinity at General Theological Seminary in New York. He was ordained in 1967.

Seeking Truth Requires Internal Courage

Serious conversation always provides the opportunity to enter into another’s world

Mark S. Sisk, Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of New York |

67 COMMENTS
Nov 16, 2006 at 5:30 PM

"On Faith" panelist Starhawk is a prominent voice in modern Wiccan spirituality and cofounder of Reclaiming (www.reclaiming.org), an activist branch of modern Pagan religion. She is the author or coauthor of ten books, including The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess (1979) --considered an essential text for the Neo-Pagan movement--and the novel The Fifth Sacred Thing (1993) . Her works have been translated into Spanish, French, German, Danish, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, Greek, Japanese, and Burmese. Many of Starhawk's political essays were collected into her book Webs of Power: Notes from the Global Uprising . Her newest book is The Earth Path: Grounding Your Spirit in the Rhythms of Nature . Starhawk has also recorded several tapes and CDs; most recently Wicca for Beginners (2002), Wiccan Rituals and Blessings (2003), and a four-CD set Earth Magic (2006), all produced by Sounds True. She consulted on and contributed to three films known as the Women's Spirituality series, directed by Donna Read for the National Film Board of Canada: Goddess Remembered, The Burning Times, and Full Circle . Committed to bringing the techniques and creative power of spirituality to political activism, Starhawk travels internationally teaching magic, the tools of ritual, and the skills of activism.

Diversity Brings Resilience

In human society...diverse viewpoints and approaches to the sacred can broaden our perspectives and give us more tools for grappling with the uncertain and challenging future

Starhawk, Co-founder, Reclaiming |

123 COMMENTS
Nov 16, 2006 at 4:35 PM

R. Albert Mohler, Jr. is the ninth president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary—the flagship school of the Southern Baptist Convention and one of the largest seminaries in the world. The “On Faith” panelist is a theologian and ordained minister and has served as pastor and staff minister of several Southern Baptist churches. He holds a Master of Divinity degree and the Doctor of Philosophy (in systematic and historical theology) from Southern Seminary. He did additional study at the St. Meinrad School of Theology and research at Oxford University. He became seminary president after serving as editor of The Christian Index, the oldest of the state papers serving the Southern Baptist Convention. Called "an articulate voice for conservative Christianity at large" by the Chicago Tribune, Mohler's mission is to address contemporary issues from a consistent and explicit Christian worldview. He hosts a daily radio program for the Salem Radio Network and blogs on moral, cultural and theological issues. He also has contributed chapters to several books including Hell Under Fire, Whatever Happened to Truth, Here We Stand: A Call From Confessing Evangelicals and The Coming Evangelical Crisis. He served as General Editor of The Gods of the Age or the God of the Ages: Essays by Carl F. H. Henry.

Telling the Truth About Truth

Let the conversation begin . . . and let us show up as who we are, beliefs and all....The reality is that too many "interfaith" discussions are held among those who have only a tenuous hold upon the faiths they claim to represent.

R. Albert Mohler Jr., President, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary |

262 COMMENTS
Nov 15, 2006 at 5:45 PM

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Mpilo Tutu was awarded the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize for his contribution to the cause of racial justice in South Africa. He served as the first black African archbishop of Cape Town from 1986 to 1996. Prior to this role as spiritual leader of the Anglican Church in South Africa, Tutu served as General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches from 1978 to 1985. It was in this position that he became an international voice for the anti-apartheid movement and received the Nobel Prize. In 1995, South African President Nelson Mandela appointed Archbishop Tutu Chair of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the body set up to investigate human rights violations under that country’s apartheid governments from 1960 to 1994. Tutu retired from in 1996 and was given the honorary title of Archbishop Emeritus. Since then, Archbishop Tutu served as a visiting professor and scholar at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta, the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts and the University of North Florida in Jacksonville. He has received numerous awards and has authored two books, No Future Without Forgiveness and God has a Dream. Tutu continues to write, lecture, and travel the world as an advocate of human rights and social justice. He is currently involved with a number of non-profit organizations working for peace and equality, meeting the needs of disadvantaged children and fighting HIV/AIDS.

Faith Is Necessary

The Supreme Transcendent One longs for us to live amicably together in harmony with all other creatures...No religious faith I know proclaims that violence is right, that it is right to steal, to be cruel, to oppress another

Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize winner and human rights advocate |

55 COMMENTS
Nov 15, 2006 at 5:30 PM

“On Faith” panelist Zaid Shakir is a scholar-in-residence and lecturer at Zaytuna Institute in Hayward, Calif. A graduate of Syria's prestigious Abu Noor University, Shakir is a co-founder of Masjid al-Islam, the Tri-State Muslim Education Initiative, and the Connecticut Muslim Coordinating Committee. California-born Shakir accepted Islam in 1977 while serving in the U.S. Air Force. He is a graduate of American University in Washington and earned his master’s degree in political science at Rutgers University, where he led a successful campaign for disinvestment from South Africa and co-founded a local Islamic center, Masjid al-Huda. As an American Muslim who came of age during the civil rights struggles, he has brought sensitivity about race and poverty, as well as scholarly discipline to his faith-based work. While Imam of Masjid al-Islam (1988-1994) he spearheaded a community renewal and grassroots anti-drug effort and taught political science and Arabic at Southern Connecticut State University. For the next seven years he studied Arabic, Islamic law, Quranic studies, and Islamic spirituality in Syria, and briefly in Morocco, with top Muslim scholars. In 2001, Shakir’s translation from Arabic into English of The Heirs of the Prophet was published. In 2003, he joined Zaytuna Institute where he teaches Arabic, Islamic law, history and Islamic spirituality. In 2005, Zaytuna published “Scattered Pictures,” an anthology of Shakir’s essays.

Islam Recognizes Truth and Wisdom in Other Faiths

There is much common ground for the Muslim to begin to have fruitful conversations with members of other faiths

Zaid Shakir, Co-founder, Masjid al-Islam, the Tri-State Muslim Education Initiative |

201 COMMENTS
Nov 15, 2006 at 5:15 PM

“On Faith” panelist Steven Waldman founded and is chief executive of Beliefnet.com, a Web site focused on spirituality and faith. About three million unique visitors come to the site each month, and 9 million readers subscribe to its newsletters. It has won an Online Journalism Award for general excellence. Prior to establishing Beliefnet.com in 1999, Waldman worked as the national editor of U.S. News & World Report, and as a Washington-based national correspondent for Newsweek. He also edited Washington Monthly. Waldman served as senior advisor to the CEO of the Corporation for National Service and authored the legislation establishing the volunteer organization, AmeriCorps. He contributes regularly to Slate, National Review and National Public Radio.

Mutual Monologuing

Religious people often find common ground ridiculing their common enemy of secularism

Steven Waldman, Founder, Beliefnet.com |

16 COMMENTS
Nov 15, 2006 at 5:05 PM

His Excellency Mohammad Khatami served two terms as Iran’s president from 1997 to 2005. He also founded the Tehran-based International Institute for Dialogue among Civilizations and Cultures. The “On Faith” panelist was born into a religious family and studied theology in Iran’s holy city of Qom. He also has a Master’s Degree in education from Tehran University. After Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution Khatami served as chief editor of “Keyhan Daily” newspaper, and was elected a member of parliament. He served as Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance from 1982 to 1992 and later as President of the High Council for Cultural Revolution. Khatami was elected fifth President of the Islamic Republic in 1997, gaining almost 70 percent of the votes cast. He was re-elected to a second term in 2001. Besides Persian, Khatami speaks Arabic, English and German and has written many books. In 1998, he called for a dialogue among the world’s civilizations and cultures, prompting U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan to declare 2001 the U.N. Year of Dialogue Among Civilizations. Khatami presently participates in the High-Level Group of the United Nations’ Alliance of Civilizations. The Group comprises 20 international leaders called together by Annan and the prime ministers of Spain and Turkey to counter the deterioration of relations between societies and nations. The Alliance seeks to establish a relationship of mutual respect between civilizations and rejects religious and political extremism.

Absolute Truth Manifests Itself in Diverse Ways

Through dialogue and acts of bilateral exchange, the possibility emerges for us to bring in our ideals and earnestly set out on the path toward the truth.

Seyed Mohammad Khatami, Former Iranian president |

163 COMMENTS
Nov 15, 2006 at 5:00 PM

The Reverend William McD. Tully has been rector of St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church in New York City since September 1994. The first professional calling of the “On Faith” panelist was to journalism, and he worked as a copy boy and local reporter at the Los Angeles Times. As a community worker for the Model Cities program at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Tully discerned an "underlying call" that turned him toward ordained ministry and study at the General Theological Seminary. After ordination in 1974, he served as curate at the Church of the Epiphany, Manhattan; associate rector at St. Francis Church, Potomac, Maryland; and then as rector of St. Columba's Church, Washington, D.C. The people and mission of St. Columba's taught Tully about church growth, Christian hospitality and hope for the future of the church. Working with a dedicated group of leaders, an enlarged clergy and professional staff at St. Bart’s, Tully has led the church in its growth and renewal. He loves his ministry and is always eager to meet and work with others who have found a home and a ministry at St. Bart's.

We Are Already In The Conversation

We are already on common ground, and I don’t believe we’re alone. The monopoly has been broken

William Tully, Rector of St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church in New York City |

14 COMMENTS
Nov 15, 2006 at 4:30 PM

“On Faith” panelist Michael Otterson has served as director of media relations for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since 1997. As senior spokesman for the church, Otterson has worked with most major publications, TV and radio networks, and other news media in the United States and overseas on issues ranging from the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City to the Church’s burgeoning international growth and diversity. A convert to the Mormon faith, he worked as a journalist for 11 years before being appointed director of the Church’s public affairs office in London in 1976 – the first such office outside the United States. After opening and managing a new Pacific Area public affairs office in Australia, Otterson moved to the United States in 1991 to help oversee the church’s international public affairs from its Salt Lake City headquarters. In a church that operates worldwide with a lay clergy, Otterson has served twice as a stake president (leader of a group of church congregations), in both England and Australia. He is now a US citizen.

Engaging Without Rancor

Jesus talked to anyone He thought would listen, sometimes adding “Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.”

Michael Otterson, Media relations director, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints |

72 COMMENTS
Nov 15, 2006 at 3:45 PM

Arnold M. Eisen is chancellor-elect of the Jewish Theological Seminary and the Koshland professor of Jewish culture and religion at Stanford University. When the “On Faith” panelist assumes his full responsibilities as chancellor in June, he will step down from the Stanford position. An expert on American Judaism, Eisen has worked closely for the past twenty years with synagogue and federation leadership around the country to analyze and address the issues of Jewish identity, the revitalization of Jewish tradition, and the redefinition of the American Jewish community. He has been a frequent scholar-in-residence at synagogues across the country. A product of the Conservative movement, he has served on the faculty of the Wexner Heritage Program, the Wexner Fellowship, the Nahum Goldman Fellowship of the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, Tel Aviv University, and Columbia University. Eisen's recent publications include Taking Hold of Torah: Jewish Commitment and Community in America (1997); Rethinking Modern Judaism: Ritual, Commandment, Community (1998); and The Jew Within: Self, Family and Community in America (2000), co-authored with sociologist Steven M. Cohen. He is currently at work on a book about new possibilities for the meaning of Zionism.

Dialogue Can Change Hearts and Minds

It's true that the religions of the world have rarely been tolerant of one another, let along capable of true mutual respect. The world no longer has the luxury of such intolerance - nor need we settle for it....

Arnold M. Eisen, Chancellor-elect, the Jewish Theological Seminary |

4 COMMENTS
Nov 15, 2006 at 3:42 PM

Richard J. Mouw has served as president of Fuller Theological Seminary since 1993, after four years as provost and senior vice president. A philosopher, scholar, and author, the “On Faith” panelist has been recognized as an important voice among reform-oriented evangelicals. Mouw, who earned a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Chicago, has a broad record of publication with 16 books, including Consulting the Faithful, and Calvinism in the Las Vegas Airport and his articles have appeared in more than 50 journals and magazines. Currently he serves on the editorial board of Books and Culture as is a regular columnist on “Beliefnet.” Mouw has served on many councils and boards, including the Commission on Accreditation for the Association of Theological Schools (as chair) and the Council on Civil Society. He currently serves on advisory boards for Religion and Ethics Newsweekly, the International Justice Mission, and the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy.

No Time for Arrogance

There are very good, Christian reasons to believe that a serious, broad-ranging conversation about matters of common concern can produce better understanding

Richard Mouw, President, Fuller Theological Seminary |

2112 COMMENTS
Nov 15, 2006 at 3:40 PM

Timothy Matovina is associate professor of theology at Notre Dame and Director of the Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism at the university. His area of expertise is theology and culture, with a specialization in U.S. Catholic and U.S. Latino theology and religion. His publications include numerous essays and a dozen books, most recently Guadalupe and Her Faithful: Latino Catholics in San Antonio, from Colonial Origins to the Present, (2005) and the co-edited volume The Treasure of Guadalupe (2006). Previous publications of the “On Faith” panelist include Presente! U.S. Latino Catholics from Colonial Origins to the Present (2000) and Horizons of the Sacred: Mexican Traditions in U.S. Catholicism ( 2002). Matovina has been involved in Latino faith communities for 25 years and speaks widely on U.S. Catholicism and Latino religion. Audiences at his presentations include activists, media experts, students, teachers, civic and business leaders, and Latino Catholics, including nearly every major Latino Catholic organization in the country.

An Aztec-Spanish Lesson in Interfaith Dialogue

So firm was their conviction that when their adversaries insisted they accept the Christian faith, they respectfully retorted: “Allow us then to die...

Timothy Matovina, Director, Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism |

27 COMMENTS
Nov 15, 2006 at 3:35 PM

“On Faith” panelist John L. Esposito is professor of religion, international affairs and Islamic studies at Georgetown University. He also is founding director of the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. A specialist in Islam, political Islam and the impact of Islamic movements from North Africa to Southeast Asia, Esposito is editor-in-chief of The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World (4 vols.), The Oxford History of Islam, The Oxford Dictionary of Islam, and The Islamic World: Past and Present (3 vols.). His more than 30 books include: Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam, What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam, World Religions Today (with D. Fasching & T. Lewis), The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality?, Islam: The Straight Path; Islam and Politics; Islam and Democrac, Makers of Contemporary Islam (with J. Voll) and Islam and Secularism in the Middle East (with A. Tamimi). A consultant to the State Department and corporations, Esposito was appointed to the World Economic Forum’s Council of 100 Leaders and to the High Level Group of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations. He is a recipient of the American Academy of Religion’s 2005 Martin E. Marty Award for the Public Understanding of Religion and of Pakistan’s Quaid-i-Azzam Award for Outstanding Contributions in Islamic Studies

Concern for Neighbor Can Trump Belief Monopoly

Those who feel they have a monopoly on truth can be an obstacle to...understanding needed in today's world. However, this need not be so.

John Esposito, Founding director, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, Georgetown University |

17 COMMENTS
Nov 15, 2006 at 3:30 PM

Jim Wallis is president and executive director of Sojourners/Call to Renewal, progressive Christian movements founded to fight poverty and promote social justice. He also is the author of the best-selling God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It (2005). The “On Faith” panelist was raised in a Midwest evangelical family. As a teenager, his questioning of the racial segregation in his church and community led him to the black churches and neighborhoods of inner-city Detroit. He spent his student years involved in the civil rights and antiwar movements. While at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Illinois, Wallis and several other students started a small magazine and community with a Christian commitment to social justice that has grown into a national faith-based organization and network. In 1979, Time magazine named Wallis one of the “50 Faces for America’s Future.” Wallis also is editor-in-chief of Sojourners magazine and speaks at more than 200 events each year. Some of his other books include Faith Works; The Soul of Politics: A Practical and Prophetic Vision for Change; Who Speaks for God? A New Politics of Compassion, Community, and Civility; and Call to Conversion.

Finding Common Ground on Higher Ground

Religion must be disciplined by democracy...meaning that we don’t claim that our religious authority must be everyone’s or dictate their moral or political fate

Jim Wallis, President, Sojourners/Call to Renewal |

11 COMMENTS
Nov 15, 2006 at 3:10 PM

"On Faith" panelist Elie Wiesel received the 1986 Nobel Prize for Peace in recognition of his long-time advocacy for oppressed peoples. Wiesel was deported with his family to Auschwitz from Transylvania at age 15. His mother and younger sister perished there, and Wiesel and his father were moved to Buchenwald, where his father died before the concentration camp was liberated in 1945. Two older sisters survived as well. Wiesel’s book Night describes what he witnessed as a prisoner of the Nazis. Originally published in 1956 in Yiddish, it since has been translated into more than 30 languages and millions of copies have been sold. Wiesel’s writings, teachings, and advocacy have earned him more than 120 honorary degrees from universities in Europe, America and Israel. He holds the rank of Grand-Croix in the French Legion of Honor and has been awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal in the U.S. He and his wife Marion established the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity after he received his Nobel Prize. Its mission is to advance human rights and encourage peace through dialogue. Since 1976, Wiesel has been the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Boston University. He has also taught at the City University of New York and Yale University. The latest of his more than 50 books, Un desir fou de danser, was published in France in 2006 and is set to be published in English by Knopf.

Not With Fanatics

The fanatic does not believe in dialogue; I do. How then is conversation between us possible?...

Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Prize winner and author of Night |

47 COMMENTS
Nov 15, 2006 at 3:00 PM

George Weigel is a Catholic theologian and Senior Fellow of Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington. He is the author or editor of eighteen books, including the New York Times bestseller Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II, which has been translated into twelve languages. The “On Faith” panelist’s most recent books include The Cube and the Cathedral: Europe, America, and Politics Without God, Letters to a Young Catholic and God's Choice: Pope Benedict XVI and the Future of the Catholic Church. Since 1999, he has been the Vatican analyst for NBC News, and he publishes frequently in newspapers and opinion journals around the world. A member of the Catholic Theological Society of America and the Council on Foreign Relations, he was awarded the papal cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice in 2000. In 2006, Weigel became the second non-Pole honored by the Polish government's highest award for contributions to Polish and world culture, the Gloria Artis Gold Medal.

Real Conversation is Truth-Centered Conversation

Tolerance doesn’t mean ignoring differences, as if differences didn’t matter. It means engaging differences, in the calm confidence that everything that is genuinely true ultimately directs us toward the God who is the world’s source and the world’s destination.

George Weigel, Catholic theologian and best-selling author |

8 COMMENTS
Nov 15, 2006 at 2:55 PM

Karen Armstrong’s books about different religions, including her highly acclaimed “A History of God,” have made her one of the most prominent authors on religious history. The London-based “On Faith” panelist also is the author of three television documentaries and took part in Bill Moyers’ television series “Genesis.” Since September 11, 2001, she has been a frequent contributor to conferences, panels, newspapers, periodicals and broadcast media on the subject of Islam. Comparative theology is a particular interest of the author, who entered a Roman Catholic convent in 1962 at age 17, but after seven years as a nun left her order to pursue English literature at Oxford University. Her books, which have been translated into 40 languages, also include “Through the Narrow Gate,” “Islam: A Short History,” “Buddha,” a spiritual memoir, “The Spiral Staircase,” and most recently “The Great Transformation.”

No One Can Have the Last Word on God

The reality we call God, Brahman, Nirvana or the sacred is transcendent. That is, it goes beyond our mundane experience. If we imprison ourselves in dogmatic ideas, we are closing our minds to the divine.

Karen Armstrong, Prominent author on religious history |

46 COMMENTS
Nov 14, 2006 at 9:30 PM

“On Faith” panelist Sam Harris is the author of the best-selling books Letter to a Christian Nation (2006) and The End of Faith (2005), which won the 2005 PEN Award for Nonfiction and has been translated into many foreign languages. Harris is a graduate in philosophy from Stanford University, has studied both Eastern and Western religious traditions, and is now completing a doctorate in neuroscience. He makes regular appearances on television and radio to discuss the danger that religion now poses to modern societies. His essays have appeared in Newsweek, The Los Angeles Times, The Times of London and The Boston Globe.

Faith Won't Heal a Divided World

If there is common ground to be found through interfaith dialogue, it will only be found by people who are willing to keep their eyes averted from the chasm that divides their faith from all others.

Sam Harris, Best-selling author of Letter to a Christian Nation |

942 COMMENTS
Nov 14, 2006 at 9:00 PM

Susan Jacoby is the author of "The Age of American Unreason," to be published in February by Pantheon. She began her writing career as a reporter for The Washington Post, and has been a contributor to a wide range of periodicals and newspapers for more than 25 years on topics including law, religion, medicine, aging, women's rights, political dissent in the Soviet Union and Russian literature. Jacoby has been the recipient of grants from the Guggenheim, Rockefeller and Ford Foundations, as well as the National Endowment for the Humanities. In 2001-2002, she was named a fellow at the Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library. Jacoby’s other books include Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism (2004); Wild Justice: The Evolution of Revenge, a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 1984, and Half-Jew: A Daughter's Search for Her Family's Buried Past. She is working on a book about the relationship between American anti-intellectualism and political polarization, to be published by Pantheon in 2008. Her photo is by Chris Ramir.

Dumb Dialogue

Bind faith is impervious to evidence and cannot be swayed by argument

Susan Jacoby, Author and reporter |

68 COMMENTS
Nov 14, 2006 at 8:00 PM

Randall Balmer, an Episcopal priest, is the Ann Whitney Olin professor of American religious history at Barnard College, Columbia University, and a visiting professor at Yale Divinity School. The “On Faith” panelist has written ten books, including Thy Kingdom Come: How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America and Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: A Journey into the Evangelical Subculture in America, which was made into a three-part documentary for PBS. Balmer was nominated for an Emmy for his script-writing on that series. His second documentary, Crusade: The Life of Billy Graham and a two-part examination of the creation-evolution debate, In the Beginning: The Creationist Controversy, also aired on PBS. Balmer has lectured at the Chautauqua Institution, the Commonwealth Club of California and the Smithsonian Associates and been a visiting professor at Rutgers, Yale, and Princeton. He has published widely in academic journals and his syndicated commentaries on religion in America have appeared in newspapers across the country. He is editor-at-large for Christianity Today. A spiritual memoir, Growing Pains: Learning to Love My Father's Faith (2001) was named spiritual "book of the year" by Christianity Today. He is currently at work on a history of religion in North America.

Democratic Etiquette and the Religious Right

I really didn’t expect the Religious Right to climb out of the Republican Party’s cozy bed. But I did think they might stick out a foot and maybe wiggle a toe or two.

Randall Balmer, Columbia University professor, author |

168 COMMENTS
Nov 14, 2006 at 7:30 PM

“On Faith” panelist Richard Land has served as president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission since 1988. During his tenure as a spokesperson for the largest Protestant denomination in the country, Dr. Land has represented Southern Baptist and other evangelicals’ concerns inside the halls of Congress, before U.S. presidents, and as a member of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. In 2005, Land was named one of “The Twenty-five Most Influential Evangelicals in America” by Time magazine. Educated at Princeton and Oxford, Land has worked as a pastor, theologian, and public policy maker addressing social and cultural issues. A pro-family advocate, he is a regular columnist for the Internet spiritual website Beliefnet, As host of the radio program, For Faith & Family, Land is heard by more than 1.5 million listeners each week.

Religious Convictions Need Not Impede Search for Common Ground on Societal Issues

God alone has a “monopoly” on truth. He is Truth—which means that truth is defined in relation to the God revealed in Scripture

Richard Land, President, Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission |

28 COMMENTS
Nov 14, 2006 at 7:00 PM

“On Faith” panelist Brian D. McLaren is a best-selling author, pastor and intellectual leader of “emerging church,” a Christian evangelical movement that seeks new ways to worship and understand the gospel in a postmodern era. He serves as a board chair for Sojourners/Call to Renewal, an evangelical social justice ministry, and is a founding member of Red Letter Christians, a network of progressive evangelical leaders who seek to apply Christian values to a broad agenda of concerns, including poverty, environmental care and advancing peace. McLaren, who is founding pastor of Cedar Ridge Community Church in Maryland, has lectured widely in the United States and abroad. His topics include postmodern thought and culture, Biblical studies, evangelism, inter-religious dialogue, ecology, and social justice. His eight books include A New Kind of Christian, A Generous Orthodoxy, and The Secret Message of Jesus. In 2005, McLaren was named by TIME magazine as one of America’s 25 most influential evangelicals.

God's Greatness Defeats All Efforts to Monopolize Truth

If we believe that God is so great that our best thought of God is like a child's crayon picture of the sky ...then we'll know that however true, beautiful, and good our knowledge of God may be, it is nothing close to a monopoly

Brian D. McLaren, Best-selling author and intellectual leader of “emerging church” |

30 COMMENTS
Nov 14, 2006 at 6:30 PM

Daniel C. Dennett is the Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy, and Co-Director of the Center for Cognitive Studies, at Tufts University. His most recent book was Breaking the Spell (2006). The “On Faith” panelist also is Co-founder of the Curricular Software Studio at Tufts, and has helped design museum exhibits on computers for the Smithsonian Institution, the Museum of Science in Boston, and the Computer Museum in Boston. Dennett has written over 300 scholarly articles on various aspects of the mind in scientific journals. His first book, Content and Consciousness, appeared in 1969. It was followed by Brainstorms (1978), Elbow Room (1984), The Intentional Stance (1987), Consciousness Explained (1991), Darwin's Dangerous Idea (1995), Kinds of Minds (1996), and Brainchildren: A Collection of Essays 1984-1996 (1998). He co-edited The Mind's I with Douglas Hofstadter in 1981. Dennett completed his D.Phil degree work under Gilbert Ryle at Oxford in 1965, and has lectured at Harvard University, Pittsburgh and the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. He has received two Guggenheim Fellowships, a Fulbright Fellowship, and a Fellowship at the Center for Advanced Studies in Behavioral Science. In 1987 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He spends most of his summers on his farm in Maine, where he harvests blueberries, hay and timber, and makes Normandy cider wine, when he is not sailing. He is also a sculptor.

No Vegetables, Please

So what if the Bible, or the Quran, says something? Since not everybody accepts that these texts are infallible, citing them as if they were is just rude

Daniel C. Dennett, Co-Director, Center for Cognitive Studies, Tufts University |

370 COMMENTS
Nov 14, 2006 at 6:00 PM

Syndicated political columnist and “On Faith” panelist Cal Thomas has a twice-weekly column that appears in over 500 newspapers around the world. A graduate of American University, Thomas is a veteran of broadcast and print journalism. He has worked for NBC, CNBC, PBS television, and the Fox News Channel where he currently appears on the weekly media critique show, “Fox News Watch.” Thomas has authored ten books, including Blinded by Might: Can the Religious Right Save America?, A Freedom Dream, Public Persons and Private Lives, Book Burning, Liberals for Lunch, Occupied Territory, The Death of Ethics in America, Uncommon Sense and Things That Matter Most. His latest was The Wit and Wisdom of Cal Thomas. In 1995, Thomas was honored with a Cable Ace Award nomination for Best Interview Program. Other awards include a George Foster Peabody team reporting award, and awards from both the Associated Press and United Press International. Common Ground, which Thomas writes for USA Today, offers insightful discussion of contentious social issues with his friend and political counterpart, Bob Beckel. The two are working together on a book to be published in 2007.

The Christian Faith...Offers Hope Founded in Objective Truth

Truth has taken a beating in our relativistic, pluralistic and politically correct age. Rather than give offense by claiming to know the truth, we prefer the age-old admonition of hostesses for polite conversation: discuss neither religion, nor politics at the...

Cal Thomas, Syndicated political columnist |

42 COMMENTS
Nov 14, 2006 at 5:45 PM

The Reverend Gardner Calvin Taylor is senior pastor emeritus of the Concord Baptist Church of Christ in Brooklyn, N.Y. The “On Faith” panelist led the congregation from 1948 to 1990, as church membership grew by 9,000 and through a 1952 fire that necessitated a $1.7 million rebuilding effort. His role as pastor included oversight of the Concord Baptist Church Elementary School, Concord Nursing Home, Concord Clothing exchange, Concord Federal Credit Union, Concord Seniors Residence and Concord Baptist Christfund. Beyond Brooklyn, Taylor has taken the pulpit from London’s Westminster Hall to China to Copenhagen to Zambia. His publications include How Shall They Preach, The Scarlet Thread, Chariots Aflame and Wisdom. Among his awards and honorary degrees are doctorates from Oberlin College, Leland College, Wake Forest University and Howard University; a Star of Africa, conferred by Liberian President William Tubman; and the rank of Knight Commander, Order of African Redemption, conferred by President William Tolbert of Liberia. President Clinton awarded Taylor the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2000. Born in Baton Rouge, La., he now resides in North Carolina.

No Monopoly On Truth

The peril of religious conviction is arrogance and intolerance

Gardner Calvin Taylor, Senior Pastor Emeritus, Concord Baptist Church of Christ |

8 COMMENTS
Nov 14, 2006 at 4:30 PM

The Right Reverend Jane Holmes Dixon served as Episcopal Bishop of Washington, Pro tempore, with ecclesiastical authority for the diocese until she retired in 2002. When the “On Faith” panelist was consecrated in 1992 as Suffragan Bishop of Washington, she was the second woman to be elevated to the office of bishop in the Episcopal Church, and the third in the worldwide Anglican Communion. A graduate of Vanderbilt University, she obtained a Master of Divinity degree from Virginia Theological Seminary in 1981. The seminary awarded her a Doctor of Divinity degree in 1993. Dixon has worked extensively to enhance understanding among different denominations and was instrumental in bringing about the conference, Two Sacred Paths: Christianity and Islam: A Call for Understanding at Washington National Cathedral in 1998. She also presided at the Interfaith Service for the Nation at the Washington National Cathedral on September 14, 2001. She has served as President of The Interfaith Alliance, a national organization with 185,000 members and 75 local activist groups, and recently joined The Interfaith Alliance Foundation as senior advisor for Inter-Religious Affairs.

Conversation not Conversion

Candor vital for establishing common ground

Bishop Jane Holmes Dixon, Former Episcopal Bishop of Washington, Pro tempore |

12 COMMENTS
Nov 14, 2006 at 4:00 PM

The Rev. Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, is the 11th President of Chicago Theological Seminary. She has been a Professor of Theology at the seminary for 20 years and director of its graduate degree center for five years. Her area of expertise is contextual theologies of liberation, specializing in issues of violence and violation. An ordained minister of the United Church of Christ since 1974, the “On Faith” panelist is the author or editor of thirteen books and has been a translator for two translations of the Bible. Her works include Casting Stones: Prostitution and Liberation in Asia and the United States (1996) and The New Testament and Psalms: An Inclusive Translation (1995). Since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Thistlethwaite has been working diligently to promote peace, including a presentation at the U.S. Institute of Peace, which appears in one of their special reports. Most recently she edited and contributed to Adam, Eve and the Genome: Theology in Dialogue with the Human Genome Project (2003).

Godtalk and Godwalk

Abstract principles unconnected to ethics historicallly have gotten a lot of people killed.

Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, President, Chicago Theological Seminary |

11 COMMENTS
Nov 14, 2006 at 10:53 AM

Irish-born John Dominic Crossan is a professor emeritus in the religious studies department at DePaul University in Chicago. Between 1950 and 1969, he was a member of a 13th-century Roman Catholic religious order, the Servites, and remained an ordained priest from 1957 to 1969. He has delivered lectures to secular and lay audiences from Scandinavia to Australia to Japan to South Africa. The On Faith panelist has authored 23 books and his writings have been translated into 11 languages. His work focuses on the historical Jesus, earliest Christianity and the historical Paul. Core titles include “The Historical Jesus,” “The Birth of Christianity” and “In Search of Paul,” co-written with archaeologist Jonathan L. Reed. Dr. Crossan’s next book, “God & Empire: Jesus Against Rome Then and Now,” is scheduled for publication in February. The professor earned a doctor of divinity degree at St. Patrick’s College in Maynooth, Ireland and a humanities doctorate at Stetson University in Florida. The American Academy of Religion and DePaul and Stetson universities have recognized him with awards for scholarly excellence. His Web site is www.johndominiccrossan.com.

Monopoly & Genocide

When monopoly-on-truth is taken literally it always contains within itself a lethal germ of murder

John Dominic Crossan, Lecturer and professor emeritus, DePaul University |

11 COMMENTS
Nov 13, 2006 at 8:30 PM

“On Faith” panelist Akbar Ahmed holds the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University. He is a former High Commissioner of Pakistan to Great Britain and has advised both Britain’s Prince Charles and U.S. President George W. Bush on Islam. Ahmed’s numerous books, films and documentaries have won awards and been translated into many languages including Chinese and Indonesian. Ahmed has worked to increase interfaith understanding, most prominently touring with Judea Pearl, father of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, to speak about the necessity of tolerance. Ahmed was the first Muslim to lecture at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. He is a senior fellow at The Case Foundation in Washington, D.C. He spoke at the Chairman’s Distinguished Speakers Lecture Series at the Pentagon and gave the inaugural lectures for the first Chair in Jewish-Muslim Studies at the University of Illinois-Chicago. In 2005 he was finalist—along with Judea Pearl--in a competition for “Most Inspiring Person of the Year” run by www.beliefnet.com.

Common Ground

In this changing complicated, violent and uncertain time dialogue is no longer an academic exercise; it is an imperative

Akbar Ahmed, Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies, American University |

383 COMMENTS
Nov 13, 2006 at 5:30 PM

READER RESPONSE

» Stan | We need to back up to the beginning. Humans apparently won't tolerate there being no god. Thence, they want the Bible and the other writings to be tr...

» TheArchon | Which religion does NOT claim to have a monopoly on "truth"? Religious beliefs are based on faith, not facts, and you can't disprove faith. It wor...

» Human being | Conversation, as defined by Martin Buber, can have a common ground as result, if it is a "dialogue" the participants strive to have. A dialogue has to...

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