The Gulen Movement teaches providing service and being tolerant


Date posted: February 28, 2012

Shad Engkilterra, Salt Lake City

On Feb. 25, 2012, James Harrington, director of the Texas Civil Rights Project, spoke about the Gulen Movement and how to build civil society at the Pacifica Institute for the Salt Lake Interfaith Roundtable’s Interfaith Month celebrations.

Fethullah Gulen started the movement in Turkey in the 1980s as an education and service movement.  He created schools that served as alternatives to the Madrassa schools and allowed girls to get an education.

“It [education] is the great leveler in the United States,” says Harrington.  Teachers have the most important job in our society.

Gulen schools are tolerant, ecumenical and interfaith.  They use the examples of their teachers to teach children how to be good people regardless of the children’s faith.

“The greatest effect that the movement has had in Turkey is democracy,” says Harrington.

Harrington says that the United States could learn from the Gulen Movement to engage in dialogue again.

“We are not engaged right now as a society in dialogue,” says Harrington.  “It is awful what is going on.” It may be hard to engage in dialogue, but we need to compromise.

Harrington also says that the United States needs to develop and teach narratives about the country’s values and leaders.

Stories focus on one detail of a person’s life and philosophy and miss the rest of what that person did to get there and what they believed in beyond that one point.

On Martin Luther King Day, the U.S. focuses on the “I Have a Dream Speech” and doesn’t talk about his stand for peace or his Beloved Community ideal.  Talks about Christ tend to focus on His time on the cross and not his healing and caring that He did during His ministry.

Harrington also talked about spirituality, speaking out against justice and dedicating a specific portion of money and time to charity.

To see Harington talk about Turkey and what the U.S. can learn, click: Video 1 (1 min), Video 2 (3 min).

Source: Examiner.COM , February 25, 2012

Tags: | | | |


Related News

Tension at home hits Turkey’s brand overseas

ESİDEF President Mustafa Özkara said: “Top government officials, who during the Turkish Olympiads only six months ago called the Hizmet movement the ‘peace movement of the century,’ now define the same movement as a ‘parallel structure,’ a ‘gang,’ a ‘criminal organization’ and even Hashashins.

I Weep For Turkey

It has been the same topic of discourse everywhere. And it won’t stop anytime soon because of the atrocities that have followed, all in the name of sanitising the country and arresting masterminds of the phantom coup. The news coming out of Turkey has been really disturbing to many, and equally baffling to the world.

AK Party government removing critical voices from state bodies

Many bureaucrats who are just doing their jobs and have no affiliation with any political groups now face [the prospect of] being dismissed with a claim of having links to the Hizmet movement. However, it is widely known that many of the bureaucrats discharged from their posts do not have any links with the movement,” Arslan said.

Rule of law casualty of AKP-Gulen conflict

The AKP government thinks that by labeling corruption investigations and operations as a “coup” and calling those behind them as “parallel state” that it has found a justifiable way to interfere with the judiciary. Otherwise the government would not have submitted a draft bill to the parliament that totally eliminates the functional independence of the judiciary bureaucracy and promotes the minister of justice, who represents the executive branch, to the status of single decision-maker.

Abant Africa forum: Freedom of Speech and Respect to Sacred

Abant Platform and African Union Commission are jointly organizing an International Forum titled “Freedom of Speech and Respect to Sacred” on 8-9 March, 2014 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Sessions will be in the form of free discussions in the spirit of the Abant Platform. The program will be held at the Large Conference Hall of the African Union Commission Headquarters.

Chestnut Retreat Center offers a look inside their Saylorsburg facility and its mission

“CRC envisions a society in which everybody is respected for who they are, people live in peace, everybody is included, the poor and needy are taken care of, and people of different background(s) can have friendly conversations in peace,” Ak said. “CRC believes in the importance of celebrating the commonalities and respecting differences.

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

Australian Relief Organisation Orphanage Refurbishment Project in Malawi

Plot against Gülen movement in tatters as suspects confess to false testimony

Ishik University To Educate Students About the Threats of [the so-called] Islamic State

With blinders on, government sees everything as parallel structure

Scholars to discuss tolerance at Hizmet Movement conference in Taiwan

Advisor’s claim has potential to accelerate AK Party’s downfall

Fethullah Gulen: From Izmir to the Global Hizmet Movement

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News