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28 February 2008
Interfaith Leader Discusses Value of Diversity, Understanding
Ask America webchat transcript, February 27
Mike Goggin, assistant director of the InterFaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington, answered questions in a February 27 webchat on diversity and the importance of interfaith understanding.
Following is the transcript:
(begin transcript)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Bureau of International Information Programs
Ask America Webchat Transcript
U.S. Diversity: The Importance of Interfaith Understanding
Guest: Mike Goggin
Date: February 27, 2008
Time: 9:00 a.m. EST (1400 GMT)
Moderator: Welcome to today's webchat! We welcome your participation--you may begin sending in your questions now.
We will get started in just a few minutes.
Mike Goggin: Good morning. I'm glad to be with you this morning and I apologize for the slight delay in our start time.
Question [LCIslamabad]: I am Muhammad Sajid Mirza, Lincoln Corner Coordinator, International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan. I want to know about the initiatives taken by the US Government in the promotion of interfaith understanding. Thanks
Answer [Mike Goggin]: Certainly after 9/11, the Bush administration reached out to the interfaith community here in Washington. The President himself went to the Islamic Center along Embassy Row. He gathered a number of prominent Sikh-Americans to meet with him at the White House, all in the name of trying to defuse any hostilities toward these minority religious communities in America. Not being a member of a minority faith myself, it is hard to know whether dialogue is continuing with these communities. I do have a friend who works for the Department of Homeland Security and I know that her job is largely to reach out to the Muslim and Sikh communities. I think the Department of Justice is also sensitive to hearing any claims of religious discrimination brought by Muslims and Sikhs.
Q [LCIslamabad]: I am Mahwish (Student) from International Islamic University, Islamabad.
My question is, how Muslim students can fully participate & work for the socio-economic development of the US; aside from religious biasness, because what I feel is that Muslim students are not encouraged. How this religious diversity is handled or should be handled?
A [Mike Goggin]: I believe I have already answered this question earlier. But since it does not seem to have posted, I'll just mention that some years ago my alma mater Georgetown University became the first college in the U.S. to hire a full-time Muslim imam. I think that other universities doing the same will go a long way to providing for the spiritual care of Muslim students and ultimately help their productivity in the academy and in the American public square.
Q [bader_Jenin]: I am bader from jenin
This issue is very important, I think it is important for the human-being to live with each other in peace and without fighting in any way, because as i think the importance of this life is to build the universe in a good way not in fighting and killing the others hope. I think it is also important for all the human-being kinds and i am sorry about this word "kinds" but it is just to make the meaning clear, the importance of this is to live with each other because they are from the same soil but in different colors, by the way I am not colored but my best friends are black.
thanx for this chance to participate
A [Mike Goggin]: Sure, diversity is certainly a multi-faceted topic. Historically, we have seen enmity develop between people who are different in some way, whether those differences are in terms of religious background or skin color or ethnicity. The interfaith movement helps people see the values we have in common and hopefully enables us to build peace amidst our differences.
Moderator: Participants in today's webchat may be interested in viewing our new Diversity homepage at America.gov. To visit the page, go to: http://amlife.america.gov/amlife/diversity/index.html
Q [bader_Jenin]: how do you think the best way to live in peace all over the world?
A [Mike Goggin]: Peace is a process and a daily decision. The greatest contribution that an individual can make to world peace is to choose to live in peace with those in his or her immediate circle of family, friends and neighbors. Worldwide, the preponderance of violence against women and high rates of domestic abuse show us that peace is not the choice that enough people are making. On the national level, dialogue is key to building peace. When nations stop talking to each other, the hope of resolving disputes peacefully dies.
Q [Chat Participant]: Hello sir.
Can you explain "interfaith youth movement"? What it's goal and activities?
A [Mike Goggin]: The interfaith youth movement is a term coined by Dr. Eboo Patel, an Ismaili Muslim-American who is the founder and Executive Director of a Chicago based group called the Interfaith Youth Core. Dr. Patel's thesis is that terrorist organizations sadly spend a lot more time and energy on youth development than houses of worship do. The interfaith youth movement is the push to engage, train and develop young adults as leaders in the goals of the interfaith movement, which are to advance peace and help people realize that harmony is possible between people of different religious beliefs. The interfaith youth movement is beginning to attract some media attention here in the United States. Dr. Patel and some fellows from his project appeared on a popular morning program called "Good Morning, America" about one month ago.
A major activity of the movement is the Days of Interfaith Youth Service, a weekend in April that is designed to get young people of different faiths working together on social service projects that are important to the local community. Here in Washington, we will be volunteering at a Habitat for Humanity site building homes for families that would not otherwise be able to afford them and planting trees and collecting trash along the Anacostia River. There are projects planned in a number of different cities across the United States and even in some international venues.
Moderator: Thank you for your questions. Mr. Goggin continues to review them.
Q [Chat Participant]: dear all
iam fraidoon from Afghanistan and i joined to web chat of USA and so you said that you should have questions and comments about Islam and America.
why you made this webchat about Islam and America?
best regards Fraidoon fojan From Afghanistan GCEP of Takhar province Taloan ILC thanks...
A [Mike Goggin]: Well, I think interest around the world is high about just how accepted Islam is in America. People are interested to know how comfortable Muslims are in America and how comfortable America is with Islam.
There have actually been a couple of news stories in the last couple of days that illustrate these concerns. Barack Obama is a Democratic Presidential candidate. He is a Protestant Christian but his name makes some people think he is Muslim. There was a photograph released a couple of days ago that shows Obama wearing traditional dress while visiting Kenya a couple of years ago. He is wearing a simple tunic and a head covering that might be associated with the Muslim world. Then yesterday, at a rally in Cincinnati for one of Obama's rivals John McCain, a radio talk show host continued to refer to Obama by the name "Barack Hussein Obama," which is apparently Obama's full name. These types of things are happening because some people clearly believe that the majority of Americans are not ready for a Muslim President or, in this case, a President whose name sounds Muslim and who might occasionally dress in the style of a Muslim. Time will tell if creating this image of Obama will hurt or help his candidacy.
Moderator: Learn more about the candidates and issues at stake in the U.S. Presidential Election at our Elections 2008 homepage: http://uspolitics.america.gov/uspolitics/elections/index.html
Q [Kuba]: Why in US there is not a similar situation of violence as in Europe lately where minority population fought with police? What reasons you can give?
A [Mike Goggin]: Europe is largely a secular society which some might consider "post-religion" and without a long history of making accomodation for the rights of immigrant groups. The United States is the world's most religiously pluralistic nation thanks to the 1965 Immigration Act that opened entry to people of many different faiths from South Asia and even schoolchildren know that the United States is a "land of immigrants." This is painting with a very broad brush of course and it's not to say that there is not a major debate raging today in our country about illegal immigration, but I do hear from people who are members of minority religious and ethnic groups who have lived both in Europe and the U.S. say that assimilation has been easier for them here rather than there.
Q [Kuba]: Turkey undergoes a debate on headcovering and public institutes of education. Can you say something about US experience?
A [Mike Goggin]: There was a bit of a controversy recently about a Muslim high school student competing in a track meet in Montgomery County, Maryland and being disqualified from the competition because the full-body covering that she was wearing was two colors instead of one. It's hard to say if the judge in that case was just going strictly by his rulebook or if there might have been some religious prejudice entering into his decision. I can tell you that I am in public schools a lot around the Washington, D.C. area and there are definitely young Muslim women wearing hijab in those schools and no one thinks twice about it. Of course, there are other Muslim women in our country who choose not to cover. It does not seem to be a controversy in our schools. I believe our hour is now up. Thank you for this opportunity and I hope that we have the chance to chat again.
Mike Goggin: Thank you for your comments and questions today! It has been my pleasure to be with you.
Moderator: We wish to thank Mike Goggin for joining us today. The webchat is now closed.
A full transcript of today's webchat will be available on our Ask America Homepage (http://www.america.gov/multimedia/askamerica.html) usually within one business day.
(Guests are chosen for their expertise. The views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Department of State.)
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
