9/11: Rebuilding Faith – a Program by Rachael Kohn
September 11, 2011 by
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The 9/11 attacks prompted a major critique against Islamism in particular and against ‘fundamentalist’ religion in general, and kick-started an international atheist movement….Listen to ABC Radio National this evening at 6:05 p.m.
Rachael Kohn
Muslims, Christians and Jews have had the unenviable task of re-examining the antipathies amongst them, and finding ways to repair relationships. Sultan of Oman Professor of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Melbourne, Abdullah Saeed, Associate Professor at the Centre for Research on Social Inclusion at Macquarie University, Marion Maddox, and Co-Chair of the National Dialogue of Christians Muslims and Jews, Jeremy Jones, OAM, discuss the impact of 9/11 on interfaith relations.
As ALL religions mentioned above have transcended FROM THE OUTSET the “mere” academic sphere and have been, actually, conceived as POLITICAL ideologies, one hopes that the discussion schedulled will address the ESSENTIALL ideological function of Islam, its effective, tangible, participation in the political structures of its geopolitical places of practice. I hope, therefore, that this event will not be a fest of spiritual bruderschaft, of lemonade inebriation with gentile touches of sensible places of , actually, serious discord. The current onslaught of true aggressive islamic formal,government, control of an increasing numeber of countries requires truthful contemplation of a world ALREADY at the mercy of what we call “extremme” manifestations of a “certain” religion.When ideologies of intolerance and vicious dismissal of civilised values become state policies, when the Muslim Brotherhood is operating with ostensive pride and legitimacy, we are,indeed, faced with a regurgitated “revolution”. It is the reafirmation of a 7th century political system, in the garb of a religion, its open advances of territorial posession and mind opression of a large slice of a world which has, already, dealt with the evils of a world war which allowed a Shoah.The new Shoah planned carefully in mosques and coffee shops of the islamic political bazaars is upon us. Our own Rachel Kohn,adorable as she is, endowed with a voice and speach of honney and apparent wisdom,our own Jeremy Jones, have the irreversible DUTY to remind and exact reason and truth from the islamic counterpart who is,seemingly, accepting to take part in a forum of civilised exchanges.
We shall see, but I, for one, need a lot to have my confidence in decency restored !!