‘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

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