Harvard Gazette /By Chuck Leddy, Harvard Staff Writer
Henry Louis Gates Jr., the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research, moderated an open, free-flowing, and at times amusing 90-minute interfaith dialogue among “three remarkable American leaders”: Rabbi Angela W. Buchdahl, senior rabbi-designate at New York City’s Central Synagogue; Sheik Yasir Qadhi, dean of academic affairs at the Al-Maghrib Institute; and the Rev. J. Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. The panel discussed, among other things, the role of religion in public life, the challenges of interfaith dialogue, and the critical nature of religion in making the world better.
The Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr. Initiative on Religious Freedom and Its Implications, which sponsored the event, is a joint program of Harvard’s Center for American Political Studies (CAPS) and the George Washington Institute for Religious Freedom. It was established to explore the causes, processes, and effects of religious freedom in cultures and countries by supporting Harvard research on the topic, as well as academic conferences and workshops.
“This inspiring symposium is part of a larger and longer conversation on religious freedom, pluralism, and toleration, and I’m both deeply grateful to Ambassador Loeb for supporting this vision and thrilled that Harvard is launching this dialogue,” added Professor Daniel Carpenter, director of CAPS.
Gates began the inaugural symposium on May 1 by asking the panelists how they viewed faith-based political activism in a climate of separation of church and state.
Walker answered first: “Separation doesn’t mean we need to go and hide and not try to make the world better. We Baptists roll up our sleeves and get involved, motivated by our religious convictions. Martin Luther King and many others lived according to this tradition, and the country is far better off for it.”
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