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Chancellor Gearhart's Remarks at the Interfaith Dialog Dinner

Institute of Interfaith Dialog Dinner
Fayetteville Town Center
September 2, 2008
7:30 pm.

Shalom.
Salamu alaykum.
Namaste.
And good evening.

Thank you for inviting me to be a part of tonight's interfaith dialog.  I hope everyone had a relaxing Labor Day weekend. For some of you it may not have been as relaxing as others. Yesterday was the first day of Ramadan, and I know this dinner will be the first opportunity to eat today for some of you.  If you are indeed observing Ramadan, I want to say that I admire your dedication to your faith, and wish you well in the coming month: Ramadan kareem.

I was raised Catholic, but my wife, Jane, who is with me tonight, was raised Methodist. We used to attend both services when we were younger, but now mainly attend United Methodist services.  I suppose I am what is sometimes called a cafeteria Christian, though I probably shouldn't advertise that now that I'm in this new job.  I have found that being Chancellor allows me to offend many more people than when I was just a vice chancellor.  Probably best that I just refer to myself as a 'Believer.'

Like many college students, I became better enlightened after taking a course on the History of World Religions while at Westminster College, longer ago than I care to mention.  It was only then that I understood how deeply connected and intertwined Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are, as well as many of the other world religions.

Some of you who were raised outside of these faiths may be surprised to know they are sometimes called the Abrahamic religions because of the Prophet Abraham's prominence in all three faiths.  He is considered the progenitor of the Semitic tribes through his sons Isaac and Ishmael. Arabs and Jews are, of course, both Semites, the Jews descendents of Isaac, the Arabs from Ishmael.
But I can hardly claim to be an expert or even have a deeper understanding of Judaism and Islam.

My knowledge of other religions, such as Hinduism and Buddhism, is even more limited.  I admit this with some embarrassment, since one of the expectations of a chancellor is pretending to know much more than you do.  I'm constantly asked to speak about subjects that I know very little about...and go ahead and speak anyway! 

That is what a chancellor does, I'm finding out.  

But I also know my ignorance of other religions is not that unusual, even for an educated adult. Like politics and sex, the details of your religion are often not considered a topic of polite discussion in our culture, though this has changed somewhat in recent years.

Also, while the United States has historically accepted, if not embraced, other religions, its religious character has been dominated by the various strands of Protestantism and to a lesser degree Catholicism.  When I was growing up, even here in Fayetteville where you tend to get a more international population, one did not often encounter many people who were not Christians.  We did have somewhat more cultural exposure to Judaism through films and literature, but even these tended to be from more secular artists like Woody Allen and Philip Roth. The viewpoint was more cultural than religious.

That's why I think this evening is a marvelous opportunity to expand my own understanding and awareness of other religions and cultures. I trust by the strong turn out that many of you feel the same way.

Now, when talking about religion and faith, one has to tread carefully. Perhaps no beliefs are more strongly felt and defended, or, for that matter, more misunderstood. The separation of church and state, particularly as the state pertains to the class room, has been a hot topic the last few years.  As a public figure, I sometimes have to walk a fine line between my own private convictions and the public obligations of my office.  So I should probably add that whatever thoughts I share with you tonight are my own, and don't necessarily reflect the university's, though they sometimes coincide.

That said, I do want to stress that the University of Arkansas is committed to diversity as our top institutional goal. We are committed to promoting and enhancing diversity in all its forms: ethnicity, nationality, religion, and even what you might call inter-generational diversity. Since higher education is clearly the gateway to a higher quality of life and general social prosperity, it is imperative that we continue to attract traditionally underrepresented and underserved populations to college-and not just to our college, to all colleges.

As an academic institution and an agent of social progress, it is also imperative that we reflect not only the composition of our society, but also strive to reflect its best ideals. It is also clear that while the people of Arkansas are the primary beneficiaries of the university, people from all over the world assist us in our mission, and benefit in turn from it. They earn degrees and conduct research that deepens and advances our knowledge of the world around us.  They are an essential component to our university, and they bring with them their traditions, religions, and cultures.

So even though we would like to increase our diversity, I can say that the University of Arkansas is nevertheless already a diverse community, with students from nearly all fifty states and almost a hundred countries attending. I see this as a one of the contributing factors to our university being the best in the state, and nationally competitive, and I hope we will continue to attract students from all over the world to our campus.  It is so terribly important to the educational process.  And when they arrive, I hope they feel welcome, and they feel that their faiths are respected if not always clearly understood.

Now, as a Methodist, and former Catholic, it's nearly impossible not to recognize the importance of an ongoing interfaith dialog.  To cite on obvious example, I don't have to tell you that the events of September 11 really exposed this nation's lack of understanding of Islam.

At once, the acts of a few extremists unfairly symbolized the beliefs of an entire religion. All across this country Americans who happened to be Muslim were treated with suspicion and endured all sorts of aspersions about their beliefs.
Non-American Muslims were tarred with an even worse brush.  But Osama Bin Laden is no more the face of Islam than Eric Rudolph is the face of Christianity. Rudolph, incidentally, committed several bombings a few years back, including setting one off at the Atlanta Olympics.

In his Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Looming Towers, Lawrence Wright makes the case that Al-Queda's attack on America had very little to do with religious differences or even the American way of life. Instead, Wright argues that Bin Laden's attack had everything to do with America's policies in the Middle East, among them stationing troops permanently in Saudi Arabia. The complaint was political rather than theological, and was well documented.

Bin Laden may not have approved of the so-called "American way of life," but that was not what compelled him to attack us.

It was our foreign policy.

This is not to make a value statement about American foreign policy, only to relate a point. In a way, recognizing the attack as a criticism of policy makes our differences more tractable, as our religious beliefs are often non-negotiable. Politics, in theory, are negotiable because we can change and negotiate policies, so long as we are willing to admit that simply blaming religious differences is the lazy approach to conflict resolution.

Now, I'm not here tonight to criticize our foreign policy in the Middle East, though I do think some criticism is in order. Nor am I really qualified to dissect the origins of other conflicts there. I do think, though, that as we gather here tonight, many of us are painfully mindful of what is happening there.

We hear about a so-called 'clash of civilizations' in the press and in academia.
Much of the media would have you believe that it is a religious conflict-that it is a clash between a Judeo-Christian West and an Islamic East. But I am not convinced that this is so. The fact that you are here leads me to believe you are not convinced, either.  The roots of these conflicts are much more complex than just religion.

And it seems to me there isn't anything necessarily incompatible with the Abrahamic religions. There are doctrinal differences, to be sure, but in my mind they all seem to be striving for the same thing: To help us define and understand our relationship both with God and our fellow humans; to provide principles and practices by which we can model our daily lives and prepare for the afterlife; to comfort us in times of doubt, sorrow, and hardship; and to believe in something that is greater, stronger and more enduring than we are.

I am not convinced that devout Muslims, devout Christians, or devout Jews live their lives very differently. They may dress differently, recognize different prophets and employ different sacraments, but in the main I think their concerns, behaviors, and values are quite similar. And an extremist by any other name is an extremist.

In fact, when you boil it all down, I think this holds true for Hindus, Buddhists, and most other world religions.  We all believe in the ultimate worth and dignity of the human spirit and the promise of mankind to do what is good and proper toward our fellow man.   Perhaps this dinner is a step toward increasing our understanding and knowledge.

Ultimately, I think we all want the same things: to lead meaningful lives that are spiritually fulfilling; to have loving families and friendships; and to exercise goodwill toward our neighbors, be they of different races or religions.

Mixed in there are likely values like hard work, honesty, moderation and, I hope, tolerance. Perhaps you're prohibited from eating pork or beef; perhaps you hold service on Saturdays instead of Fridays or Sundays; perhaps you used to eat fish on Fridays.  I'm not sure the specific details are nearly as important as the core beliefs.   This is not to say that the details don't matter, only that we shouldn't let them divide us.

Let me conclude my remarks by pointing to a wonderful example of interfaith spirit right here in our community.  The first Jewish temple of its kind in Northwest Arkansas will be built by a Muslim contractor, Fadil Bayyari, who has described himself as a 'student of the similarities between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.'

In fact, Bayyari is donating his services and will do the construction at cost. Additionally, the temple has been designed by Arkansas School of Architecture graduate, Brett Park, a Christian. This new facility will serve the Jewish community of Fayetteville and N.W. Arkansas, and act as a community resource center for residents and University of Arkansas students of all faiths.
This is an extraordinary example of interfaith cooperation and understanding, and I am personally proud to call Fayetteville home where these interfaith efforts exist.

I would like to thank you for inviting me to speak tonight. I enjoyed both dinner and the conversation, and I greatly appreciate the spirit of this evening. I was an honor to be a part of it.

Thank you.