‘Hizmet Movement and Fethullah Gulen inspire uniting people around spiritual ideals’


Date posted: March 28, 2015

Dr. Gerald Grudzen is a Professor of Philosophy and Comparative Religion at San José City College. He teaches Humanities, American History and Comparative Religion. Prof. Grudzen received his MA in Theology from the Maryknoll School of Theology. He completed his Ph.D. in History at Columbia University in New York.

“I would say that the most significant aspect of the Hizmet Movement is its interfaith work. We live in a world that is segregated by different types of classes, groups, religions.. and, in order for humanity to understand that we’re linked together as one family, we need to reach beyond our denominations and realize that we all share a common humanity and a common spiritual principle.

And, I think, in the modern world, since a lot of the spirituality has been secularized, what I like about the Hizmet Movement is that it’s a spiritual movement but it also is attempting to help humanity unite.”

“The Hizmet Movement and what Mr. Gulen is inspiring is uniting people around spiritual ideals. And I like the idea in your schools that you don’t really teach religion directly; you teach ethics. I think that’s another hopeful sign that out of this spiritual movement you’re bringing people together of different religious-cultural backgrounds, but they’re uniting around a certain ethical principle of love and care for humanity and service of humanity.

If we can all share that ideal, then there’s a positive future for humanity.”

*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 5, 2014

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After all, it is not difficult to understand that the reasons pushing so many people so far from home have been a love of service and a love of their own country. During the course of my travels, I also had the chance to meet a few of the teachers dedicated to their service and to teaching in these schools. Most of them had sacrificed some of their own opportunities so that they could simply contribute to the schools at which they are working.

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