THE QUESTION
Two world church leaders died this week -- President Gordon B. Hinckley of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Archbishop Christodoulos of the Greek Orthodox Church. How important are religious leaders to members of the faith and to public perceptions of those faiths?"
Posted by Sally Quinn and Jon Meacham on January 30, 2008 4:11 AM
FROM THE PANEL
"On Faith" panelist Daisy Khan is Executive Director of ASMA Society (American Society for Muslim Advancement). As wife of Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, Ms. Khan mentors young Muslims on questions of assimilation, tradition and modernity, and intergenerational challenges. In the aftermath of 9/11, Ms. Khan focused on creating interfaith programs aimed at seeking commonalities among the Abrahamic faith traditions, such as a groundbreaking theater production titled Same Difference and The Cordoba Bread Fest interfaith banquet.
Crisis of Religious Leadership
There is a dearth of religious leaders in Islam, and I know many Muslims who feel they have no religious leaders to turn to. As a result, others fill this vacuum, including the more ignominious figures that represent the worst of the Muslim community.
Daisy Khan Executive Director of American Society for Muslim Advancement. |Feb 18, 2008 at 5:28 PM
Kathleen Flake is associate professor of American religious history at Vanderbilt University. The "On Faith" panelist teaches courses in new religious movements and the relation between church and state in America. She researches the effect of politics on religion and the strategies by which religious communities maintain a sense of fidelity to an originating vision, while changing over time. Her recent book, "The Politics of American Religious Identity: the Seating of Reed Smoot, Mormon Apostle," addresses both questions in the context of twentieth-century Mormonism. Descended from Southern Mormon pioneers and Baptist dust bowl migrants who ended up in Arizona, she now lives in Nashville, and is a practicing Latter-day Saint. Prior to her appointment to Vanderbilt, she was a litigation attorney in Washington, D.C., representing the government in civil rights and professional liability cases.
How to Bury a Prophet
David Waters Associate Professor, Religious History |The Right Reverend John Bryson Chane is the eighth Episcopal Bishop of Washington, a diocese that encompasses 93 congregations and about 45,000 church members in the District of Columbia, and the Maryland counties of Prince George's, Montgomery, Charles and Saint Mary's. Before coming to Washington, the “On Faith” panelist was dean of Saint Paul's Cathedral in San Diego from 1996-2002. In Washington, he also serves as president of the Protestant Episcopal Cathedral Foundation, which governs Saint Alban’s School for Boys, the National Cathedral School for Girls, Beauvoir Primary School, the Cathedral College and the National Cathedral. Throughout his ministry, Chane has been active in projects addressing low-income housing needs, public education reform, poverty and health care reform issues. He also has worked with Episcopalian and charitable organizations around the world as a community organizer, board member and adviser. In San Diego, he was part of an initiative to strengthen ties with Hispanic church members. As part of that effort, he served on the Diocesan Hispanic Task Force and coordinated the “Church Without Borders” program linking the Diocese of San Diego with the Diocese of Western Mexico and the Anglican Church of Mexico. Chane, who earned his divinity degree at Yale Divinity School, enjoys playing drums in reunions with his old blues band, "The Chane Gang."
Introverts Need Not Apply
John Bryson Chane Episcopal Bishop of Washington |“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
Public Sees Leaders First
John Esposito Founding director, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, Georgetown University |READER RESPONSE
» Parker | Since my religious leader, Gordon B Hinckley, has been mentioned within the context of this question, I feel to respond though I know many will take i...
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Links & Resources
- VIDEO: DIVINE IMPULSES with Sally Quinn
- VIDEO: FINDING FAITH by Christy McKerney
- GEORGETOWN/ON FAITH
- THE GOD VOTE by Jacques Berlinerblau
- FAITH IN ACTION by Katherine Marshall
- THE FAITH DIVIDE by Eboo Patel
- UNDER GOD by Claire Hoffman
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- FAITHBOOK
- PRAYING FIELDS by Kathy Orton
- NEWSWEEK: Belief Watch by Lisa Miller

