THE QUESTION

Hamas leaders claim that their understanding of Islam makes Israel's survival a theological and moral impossibility. What's your response to that? How should Israel respond? How should other Muslims respond?
Posted by Sally Quinn and Jon Meacham | Your Thoughts

FROM THE PANEL

Rabbi Brad Hirschfield is an author, radio and TV talk show host, and President of CLAL-The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership. He wrote "You Don’t Have To Be Wrong For Me To Be Right: Finding Faith Without Fanaticism." Named as one of the nation’s 50 most influential rabbis in Newsweek, and one of the top 30 “Preachers and Teachers” by Beliefnet.com, he is the creator of the popular series, Building Bridges, airing on Bridges TV, and co-host of the weekly radio show, Hirschfield and Kula: Intelligent Talk Radio. For more information see www.bradhirschfield.com.

Hamas Has a Point, But So What?

While it makes some people uncomfortable, the fact is that according to some readings of Islam, Israel's existence does violate foundations of the faith both morally and theologically. So what? The faithful of every tradition have always found footnotes to justify their actions.

Brad Hirschfield, Rabbi, talk show host and President of CLAL-The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership. | 3 COMMENTS
Jan 9, 2009 at 5:09 PM
Hadia Mubarak, an "On Faith" panelist, is a senior researcher at Georgetown University's Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. Starting this fall, she will be a doctoral student at Georgetown University's Islamic Studies department. Mubarak received her Master's Degree in Contemporary Arab Studies with a concentration in Women and Gender from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. She received her Bachelor's Degree in International Affairs and English from Florida State University. In 2004, Mubarak was the first female to be elected president of the Muslim Students Association National (MSA) since its establishment in 1963. MSA is an umbrella organization of approximately 600 chapters in the US and Canada, which serves to promote religious awareness on college campuses and foster an atmosphere that accommodates the religious diversity of its student body.

Israeli Violence Makes Peace a Practical Impossibility

Hadia Mubarak, Researcher, Student | 49 COMMENTS
Rev. Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite is professor of theology at Chicago Theological Seminary and senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. She was president of CTS from 1998-2008. 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). She edited and contributed to Adam, Eve and the Genome: Theology in Dialogue with the Human Genome Project (2003).

Hamas Looks at Islam, Sees Its Own Violent Reflection

Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, Professor, Chicago Theological Seminary | 19 COMMENTS
An ordained United Church of Christ and American Baptist minister, "On Faith" panelist Dr. Willis E. Elliott has been a pastor, teacher, lecturer, administrator, consultant (to Newsweek for 38 years), church executive, and the author of six books. His five earned degrees in religion include a PhD, University of Chicago, where he was divinity research librarian. He taught in colleges, seminaries, & universities--including the University of Hawaii, where he taught "The World's Great Religions" and "Religion and the Meaning of Existence." At the 1966 Triennium of the National Council of Churches, he was the interlocutor with Billy Graham.

Hamas is Ideologically Correct and Politically Incorrect

Willis E. Elliott, Minister, teacher, author | 10 COMMENTS
Susan K. Smith   |   Martin Marty   |   Eboo Patel
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» sushmavb | I think interpreting religion is a personal issue, everyone brings a plethora of experiences, both c...
» ravitchn | It is easy to attack Zionism but that is wrong. Every European people in the 19th and 20th century ...
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