Scholars' Corner

The Institute for
Christian & Jewish Studies
presents

Islam and the Jewish-Christian Encounter

Is Religious Faith Compatible with Democracy?

Introductory Remarks by
Dr. Christopher M. Leighton
Executive Director, ICJS

My name is Chris Leighton. I'm the director of the Insti-tute for Christian & Jewish Studies. It gives me great joy to welcome you to the second in our series entitled "Islam and the Jewish-Christian Encounter."

This evening we have our work cut out for us. I want to start by bringing to your attention a saying that goes something like this: "If at first you don't succeed, don't try skydiving." If at first you don't succeed and you're a Jew or a Christian or a Muslim, what you do is you get up when you're knocked down, you get up when you're confused, you get up when you're uncertain, you get up when you face hardship, over and over and over again, to see what can be done, to learn from your mistakes, and to carve out new relationships, new dynamics that repair the world and make it a better place.

Christians, Jews, and Muslims have a huge problem that they have not learned how to handle in adequate terms, namely, the question: How does one maintain the integ-rity of one's faith and at the same time pay allegiance to the nation to which one belongs? How does one recog-nize and affirm the diversity, the pluralism, within one's own tradition, and at the same time come to terms in constructive ways with the fact that one lives side by side with neighbors who also see the world and see it very differently? The challenge of balancing and adjudi-cating the claims between our faith and the nations to which we belong confronts Jews, Christians, Muslims, each in our own distinctive ways. And it is, I think, a particular challenge for Christians and Muslims to call into question their own imperialistic impulses. Which is to say, if there is something inherent within our tradition that would have us make the world over in our own image, then we end up denying the integrity of those with whom we live who do not share our own belief sys-tems, our own convictions.

So we come together tonight to brood on some of the political and social ramifications of national identity, religious identity, and identity in the international com-munity. Once again we will start with Dr. Sulayman Nyang, who was introduced last time: a professor at Howard University, truly a remarkable man, whose ability to plumb the depths of his own tradition and enter graciously into explorations of the views of others sets him apart from the overwhelming majority of people I have ever met of any persuasion. He will be followed by the new Jewish scholar at the Institute for Christian & Jewish Studies, Rabbi Charles Arian. Rabbi Arian was trained as a Reform rabbi, he is a practicing Conserva-tive Jew and rabbi who worships at an Orthodox shul. He does his best to work with all of us at the Institute for Christian & Jewish Studies to make sure that we have our eyes open to other realities, and he does a superb job of expanding our horizons. So Charles will follow Dr. Nyang with his response and then be followed by Taylor Branch -- no stranger to Baltimore, indeed, no stranger to anyone who's concerned about civil rights, issues around religious pluralism, an extraordinary writer, Pulit-zer Prize winner, awarded the MacArthur Fellowship. His resume would take up the better part of the evening to review. We are really privileged to have all three of them.

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