Seminary Events & Happenings 
      

Fear and Loathing:
Extremism, the Norm and
the Limits of Religious Tolerance

With Peter Gottschalk

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Time: 7:00 PM

Location: Hartford Seminary, 77 Sherman St., Hartford

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Religious extremism and intolerance dominate the news. Mutual hatred between Shi’a and Sunni capture headlines in the way that Catholic and Protestant antagonisms did a generation ago and European anti-Semitism a generation before that. But to what degree do the extremists who seem to propel this violence represent their larger religious community? And how accurately does the media describe religious interactions when they disproportionately focus on spectacles of hatred and violence? On the other hand, can antagonism to another religion become so normal as to be transparent in our own everyday lives? Does anti-Jewish sentiment, Islamophobia, and anti-Christian prejudice filter into our news and entertainment? An examination of newspapers, films, and political cartoons helps to answer some of these questions while challenging our assumptions about how we view the world.

Peter Gottschalk is Associate Professor of Religion at Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT. As a specialist on Hinduism and Islam, he has lived for four years in India and Pakistan. His first book, “Beyond Hindu and Muslim,” explored the complexities of identity among different communities in India. Gottschalk co-wrote his most recent book, “Islamophobia: Making Muslims the Enemy” (Rowman & Littlefield, 2007), in an attempt to trace manifestations over the past five decades of an enduring anxiety among Americans towards Muslims and Islam. His current research investigates the ways in which European science and theology contributed to British views of perennial Hindu-Muslim conflict.

Cost: $10 - Please register in advance for this event.

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For more information, contact Tubanur Yesilhark at (860) 509-9555 or events@hartsem.edu.

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