CLAL Special Features
Welcome to CLAL Special Features where you will find articles by guest columnists and roundtables on hot issues and special topics.
Jewish Public Forum Seminar:
“What Is Religion For?”
November 19, 2001
Pre-Seminar
Response
“What Is Religion For?”
By Dov Linzer
How do
we—as religious leaders—come to terms with the violent, jihad-like elements in
our own texts, histories, and traditions? Is
it ever possible to separate the passion and meaning that religion (and other -isms)
provides from the fundamentalist right/wrong, we/them, saint/sinner mentality that
accompanies them? Does not a liberal,
pluralistic approach to life and religion rob us of a depth of meaning and purpose?
What is the responsibility of
religious leaders to denounce fundamentalist interpretations of their religion which are
destructive to society while these—historically and textually speaking—may in
fact be legitimate interpretations? As
members of the larger American society, how far should our valuing pluralism and tolerance
and abhorrence of hate-crimes take us? Should
our first response to Sept. 11 be “this is not valid Islam”? Or should it be “The moderate Islamic
community shares some of the blame for not speaking out against its fundamentalists”?
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