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
Key Societal Challenges after 9/11
(a partial list of the challenges identified by seminar participants)
· How can we prepare
ourselves, and our society, for living in a more dangerous world without panic or
xenophobia?
· How do we move
beyond a clash of world-views in which each side views the other as an enemy or as lacking
in humanity?
· How do we defend
liberal society in a time of war?
· How do we deal with
the new political challenges without ignoring existing ones such as poverty, both at home
and abroad?
· How do we widen our
understanding of national defense in an era of global interdependency?
· The global
capitalist system is based on movement of people, goods, capital & information. How
can these be deployed for the benefit of all peoples?
· How do we ensure
that our public conversations about issues such as race, religion and globalization are
not polarized into a conflict between “us” and “them”?
· The attack on 9/11
has produced a new sense of community. Can we sustain a sense of community like this
without relying on crisis?
· How do we
capitalize on the current surge of interest in volunteering? Can it be sustained?
· How do we talk
about mortality and the meaning of life without lapsing into easy answers?
· What are the
ethical and spiritual steps that are needed to help break the cycle of trauma and
violence?
· How do we talk
about the complex issues raised by 9/11 with our children?
· If 9/11 marks the
end of relativism, how do we distinguish between “good” and “bad”
religion?
· Fundamentalism is
not unique to Islam but poses a challenge for Jews and Christians as well. How do we
embrace our religious traditions when they conflict with deeply felt Western ethical
values?
· How can we create a
dialogue of equals between the Islamic world and the West?
· How can we find
ways to gather into communities of faith that are both open and rooted, and create
practices that both strengthen community and deepen exchange between communities?
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