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CAN WE TALK ABOUT GOD?
Devotion and Extremisim in the Modern Age
An evening of conversation and discussion with:
Zaid Shakir & Roger Scruton
DVD
Total time: 114 mins
Special Donor Gift Offer
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On a Tuesday evening in Berkeley, California, a capacity crowd gathered for a thought-provoking conversation between Roger Scruton and Zaid Shakir, two thinkers with some common ground -- and some sharply differing perspectives.
About the DVD:
In the West, we like our religion private. Indeed, recent religious flashpoints—from the Danish cartoon controversy to the rhetoric of Pat Robertson to a Congressman swearing an oath on the Qur'an—have taught us to fear public manifestations of religion. How deserved is that fear? And, does privatizing our religions help us manage faith’s ugly side—or does it, in fact, push the devout so far in the corner that they lash out in desperation?
Imam Zaid Shakir is amongst the most respected and influential Islamic scholars in the West. A graduate of Syria's pretigious Abu Noor University, he has studied with renowned scholars in Syria, Egypt, and Morroco. He has translated and published several traditional texts and lectures frequently at conferences and workshops around North America. He is currently a scholar-in-residence at Zaytuna Institute. (Click here for a full bio)
Roger Scruton, the foremost conservative thinker in Britain, is a writer and philosopher who has taught in both Europe and America. He is currently a research professor at the Institute of Psychological Sciences in Arlington, Va. Scruton believes the values held by the West are distinct from those held by other cultures –- and that this creates problems of accommodation, notably for Muslims in western societies. (For a full bio click here.)
The event was moderated by Sandy Tolan of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, and sponsored by KPFA 94.1 FM, Cody’s Books, the Near Eastern Studies Department, and the Religion, Politics, and Globalization Program at UC Berkeley.
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