Pacifica Institute Utah hosts ‘Love is a Verb’ screening for interfaith season

"Love Is a Verb" is a documentary detailing the life and teachings of Turkish Islamic teacher Fethullah Gulan.


Date posted: February 28, 2015

MADDIE SWENSEN

SALT LAKE CITY — Pacifica Institute Utah sponsored a screening of the film “Love is a Verb” on Monday, Feb. 23, at the Salt Lake City Library as part of Interfaith Season sponsored by the Salt Lake Interfaith Roundtable.

Interfaith Season is a two-month celebration of all the different faiths in the Salt Lake valley. The Salt Lake Interfaith Roundtable works to promote cooperation by providing information and encouraging dialogue between different faiths.

Pacifica Institute Utah is the local chapter of a nationwide nonprofit organization of Turkish-American volunteers based in South Salt Lake. Members carry out projects promoting awareness of issues such as social welfare, education and poverty.

Andrew Coserok, a local sculptor, was at the event to share his personal feelings of the Gulen movement. Although not a member of the Pacifica Institute, he described the organization as “seem(ing) to exist solely to find excuses to be nice to their neighbors.”

“Love is a Verb” is a documentary highlighting the life and work of Fethullah Gulen, an Islamic scholar from Turkey. Gulen inspired the “Hizmet” movement, named for the Turkish word for service.

“Love is a Verb” has been nominated for awards at various film festivals throughout the United States and won Best Documentary Film at the Maryland International Film Festival.

The Hizmet movement, often called the Gulen movement, focuses primarily on education, interfaith and intercultural dialogue and humanitarian outreach.

“In these fields, the Hizmet movement exerts a considerable influence on the global society,” Coskun Kariparduc, a member of Pacifica Institute Utah, said in an email. “The participants of the movement have managed to establish educational institutes focusing on academic success and universal ethical values, humanitarian aid organizations that function wherever there is a disaster without distinguishing between races, and interfaith-intercultural dialogue institutes that establish bridges between diverse communities.”

According to the documentary, the first Gulen-inspired educational institute opened in 1980. As of 2009, it was estimated that 2 million students attend the 1,300 Gulen-inspired schools worldwide.

Hizmet’s humanitarian organization, “Kimse Yokm Mu?” which translates to “Is anybody out there?” carries out service projects across the world, bringing relief to the most impoverished places.

According to the documentary, the Gulen movement is often viewed negatively in Turkey, and as a result, a warrant was out for Gulen’s arrest, forcing him into self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania. When the Turkish government was reorganized, the warrant was suspended and Gulen was invited back, but he regretfully declined.

Prior to viewing the documentary, Coserok spoke to the audience about his personal feelings on the Gulen movement.

He expressed the fear and questioning he felt toward the Muslim faith after 9/11. Eventually, he came to the conclusion that he was going to approach this faith as he would want someone to approach his.

“Islam, as it is practiced today, is a beautiful rainbow of faith built on many of the same principles of my own (Christian) faith,” Coserok said. “Muslims love their children and want to do good in the world. In the Quran it says, ‘And if anyone save one life, it would be as if you saved the life of the whole world.’ ”

Wanting to learn all he could about Islam, he read the Quran, talked to his neighbors, emailed scholars about the faith and eventually met members of Pacifica Institute Utah and learned of the Gulen movement.

“Fethullah Gulen does not govern anyone or direct any efforts. He simply continues to show the truth of what he knows,” Coserok said. “And those who are able do good wherever they are. There is a beautiful truth in this, common to every faith but often lost to our jaded sight. When God answers prayers, many times it is by the hands of the good-hearted and the faithful.”

Source: Desert News , February 28, 2015


Related News

Islamic scholar Gülen urges followers to remain calm in face of insults

Fethullah Gülen, the inspiration behind the Hizmet movement, which Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan continues to insult and target with a smear campaign, threatening to pursue criminal proceeding against it, has urged his followers to remain calm and avoid making inflammatory remarks about those who appeal to insults.

Former US Ambassador David Newton praises Gülen

A former US ambassador has said he wishes Turkish intellectual Fethullah Gülen’s ideas will spread to the Arab world. David Newton, former US ambassador to Iraq and Yemen, said last week at an iftar (fast-breaking dinner) hosted by Maryland Turkish-American Inhabitants (MARTI), a non-profit organization established in December 2003, that “the mother of all values […]

Kimse Yok Mu volunteers help restore eyesight to African cataract patients

Volunteers of Kimse Yok Mu Foundation’s (KYM) Konya chapter offered hope to some 150 cataract patients across the African continent, through their donations.

Reconsidering Gender Equality and Peaceful Societies

The Journalists and Writers Foundation with its Women’s Platform organized the Annual Istanbul Summit on May 7-8, 2016 in Bangkok, Thailand in partnership with Thailand Achievement Institute. This year’s topic was “Reconsidering Gender Equality and Peaceful Societies.”

CHP Adana deputy lends support to mosque-cemevi project

Yet another figure from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), Adana deputy Turgay Develi, has expressed his support for the first joint mosque-cemevi (Alevi house of worship) project launched in Ankara last week. The groundbreaking ceremony of the first ever mosque-cemevi cultural center was held in Ankara on Sept. 8 with the participation of a number of government figures, Alevi and Sunni community leaders and members of the public.

Health Screening in Haiti

Embrace Relief and White Tulip Health Foundation organized a health screening at an orphanage in Haiti. Five volunteer doctors from Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey donated their time by traveling to Haiti and providing both orphanage residents and nonresidents with basic health screenings.

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

In Case You Missed It

Turkey detains Mozambican software developer over links to Gülen movement

Veteran out of social security coverage after being dismissed in post-coup purge

Massachusetts Judges Express Fears Over Arrests, Firings Of Judges In Turkey

Erdoğan using hate speech against Gülen movement, says MEP

Train, equip and persecute?

Experiences with Hizmet and the Followers of Fethullah Gülen

When paths part…

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News