‘I admire Fethullah Gulen’s vision of a world that’s different from the one we have’


Date posted: April 4, 2015

Gilbert Friend Jones is the Senior Minister at the First Congregational Church of Chrystal Lake, IL. He serves as a board member of North American Interfaith Network. He finished Master of Divinity at Princeton Theological Seminary and his Doctorate of Ministry in Religion at Howard University School of Divinity, Washington.

“The people of Istanbul Center and of Niagara and I’ve found also in other cities I’ve visited, in Salt Lake city for example, there’s a certain characteristic of people who have been influenced by Fethullah Gulen that is incredibly beautiful.
There’s a serenity and a peacefulness and a dedication, a generosity of spirit.”

“In the Christian faith, Jesus said, ‘It’s by their fruit you will know them.’ And I look at the Gulen Movement and at the fruit it has produced and I think it’s really a remarkable organization worldwide.”

“They have ways of, through their kindness, through their love, through their intrinsic goodness of opening hearts… and when hearts open, doors open and things begin to happen. I think that, generally speaking, what I see worldwide and in this country, is very benign and good and worth supporting.”

“I appreciate that he’s [Fethullah Gulen] an Islamic thinker who spoke out after the attacks on September 11, immediately. In our country, for years after September 11 people kept saying, ‘why aren’t the Muslims speaking up’, and he did speak up but he wasn’t broadcast. He didn’t have the microphone in his mouth, so to speak. And I always regretted that because he was one who did.”

*Produced by Spectra Media exclusively for Irmak TV, Atlas of Thoughts (Fikir Atlasi) connects the scholars, politicians, jurists, religious figures, journalists, and academics reflecting on Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gulen and the Hizmet Movement with the audience. Each episode features a person from a different segment of the society with diverse experiences regarding the Hizmet activities and its volunteers. If you are interested to hear about the Hizmet and Mr. Gulen from these people’s perspectives, do not miss this show!

Source: Spectra Media , May 6, 2014

Tags: | | | |


Related News

Turkey Heads Toward Radical Islamic Dictatorship

Thousands have been arrested. Civil rights are suspended. People are jailed with no way to consult lawyers or present a defense. The coup has become an excuse for Erdoğan to purge state institutions, and even the private sector, of his critics, regardless of their guilt with regard to the insurrection. The Turkish government — and a 100% state-controlled media — has accused the U.S. government of being behind the coup attempt itself and harboring its purported mastermind, Fetullah Gulen.

The Other Side of the Ocean – What Happened in Pennsylvania?

During the time when the Gezi events were at their peak, a certain group in the United States planned to carry out a demonstration in the area where Fethullah Gulen is currently residing by organizing over the Internet, similar to the way they had in Turkey. For weeks they shared with tens of thousands of […]

Journalists and Writers Foundation at UN ECOSOC annual meeting

Journalists and Writers Foundation attended UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) annual meeting, in attendance of which were ambassadors, ministers or other senior officials of UN member countries, in Geneva. In his speech at the meeting, JWF’s Abant Platform Secretary General Huseyin Hurmali detailed on the contributions of the educational institutions inspired by JWF Honorary President Fethullah Gulen to sustainable development, promoting education, pluralism and peace building.

Mr. Fethullah Gülen’s interview for Moskovskiy Komsomolets newspaper

In the interview that was published at one of Russia’s most popular newspapers, Moskovskiy Komsomolets, Mr. Gülen talked about the aircraft crisis between Russia and Turkey, the divided state of the Muslim world, secularism, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and terrorism. “Certain things done [the Turkish government] in recent years were wrong. The downing of that warplane was wrong,” he said.

Who is escalating tensions?

Whenever someone questions the government’s performance or flaws in Turkey, the Gülen movement is put under the spotlight. And whenever there is a mass protest, the Gezi figures and Alevis are accused of being behind it.

PM Erdoğan widens hostile stance to include more and more groups

Erdoğan has been trying to dodge the damaging impact of the corruption scandals by using Hizmet as a scapegoat. Gülen, an ardent supporter of transparency and accountability in government, was critical of Erdoğan government’s efforts to stall the corruption investigations. Speaking to the BBC on Monday, Gülen said that the massive corruption investigations that have shaken the government cannot be covered up no matter how hard the government tries to derail the probes — not even by blaming the scandal on what the prime minister has called the “parallel state,” a veiled reference to the Hizmet movement inspired by Gülen.

Latest News

Turkish inmate jailed over alleged Gülen links dies of heart attack in prison

Message of Condemnation and Condolences for Mass Shooting at Bondi Beach, Sydney

Media executive Hidayet Karaca marks 11th year in prison over alleged links to Gülen movement

ECtHR faults Turkey for convictions of 2,420 applicants over Gülen links in follow-up to 2023 judgment

New Book Exposes Erdoğan’s “Civil Death Project” Targeting the Hizmet Movement

European Human Rights Treaty Faces Legal And Political Tests

ECtHR rejects Turkey’s appeal, clearing path for retrials in Gülen-linked cases

Erdoğan’s Civil Death Project’ : The ‘politicide’ spanning more than a decade

Fethullah Gülen’s Vision and the Purpose of Hizmet

In Case You Missed It

Turkey’s coup attempt & a more intimate view of the Hizmet Movement

Pak-Turk International Schools Foundation-Stone Laying Ceremony

Never without justice

Afghan leaders: Increase in Turkish schools would help bring about peace

In Greece, Turks tell of lives full of fear in Recep Erdogan’s Turkey

Erdogan and Gulen: Inevitable Clash?

Best robot design award for Turkish school students in NY competition

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News