Barnes Symposium to Explore Islam’s Commonalities with Christianity

March 13, 2009

Islamic-Western relations in both religious and secular contexts will be the focus of the Barnes Symposium at the University of South Carolina March 26 – 27.

COLUMBIA, SC – March 13, 2009 – Built around the outreach mission of “A Common Word,” the international interfaith coalition initiated in 2007 by Muslim scholars and intellectuals, the symposium – “Theory and Application of ‘A Common Word’” – will explore how Islamic and Christian communities, which together represent more than half the world’s population, might find areas of agreement in worship, governance, development, the environment and human rights.

Keynote speakers Thursday from 8:20 – 9:10 a.m. include Sheikh Ali Goma’a, grand mufti of Egypt, who will appear via videoconference, and William O. Gregg, assistant bishop for the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina. Other speakers include Ibrahim Kalin, spokesperson for “A Common Word,” and Joseph Lumbard, professor of Islamic and Middle Eastern studies at Brandeis University.

Co-sponsoring the symposium are the School of Law, which will serve as host to all sessions in the law auditorium, and the department of religious studies, as well as the university’s Islamic World Studies Program and Zayed University of the United Arab Emirates. Zayed University will join the proceedings via videoconference and will host senior Muslim and Christian figures from throughout the Middle East.

“‘A Common Word’ is a broad attempt at cooperation among Muslims and Christians and, ultimately, the rest of the non-Muslim world,” said Dr. Waleed El-Ansary, professor of religious studies and signatory to “A Common Word.” “Recent polls show that the dominant public perception is that the only relationship Muslims can have with members of other faiths is an antagonistic one. Yet the two most fundamental pillars of Islam – love of God and love of one’s neighbor – are indisputably shared by every major faith. This symposium will strive to achieve greater understanding of what people believe and why, also building on this common ground as it affects day-to-day life.”

“We focus the application of ‘love of neighbor’ on the practical issues of the environment, development and human rights,” said David Linnan, professor of law. “In practical terms, we invariably face questions about distributive justice and human dignity. The practical issue is the extent to which thinkers and doers working within majority Christian and Moslem societies as their frame of reference understand the issues similarly, or in a different light.”

The South Carolina symposium is situated between two major events devoted to “A Common Word.” Yale University played host to a weeklong conference last July, and Georgetown University will be the site of another in December.

“Ours is sort of the middle leg of the triple crown,” said El Ansary. “We expect the Georgetown conference to include senior political figures, showing how important and how relevant the ideas behind ‘A Common Word’ have become.”

The Barnes Symposium is an annual event that connects the law school with cross-campus scholars, practitioners and policymakers from around the world via videoconferencing to discuss pressing issues of law and morality.