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


Related News

‘Mr. Gülen is to me simultaneously both incredibly modest and a visionary’

I’m inspired by the Hizmet Movement. I didn’t realize that until I came in contact with the Movement, but all of my life, education and service and dialog have been transformative to me. … This is the work that all of our hearts should be doing. So it remains a source of inspiration for me in my work.

Dr. Reuven Firestone Interviewed by Muslim Turkish Movement “Hizmet”

Hizmet is active in interfaith dialogue in Turkey and many other countries, and has built private and charter schools in many countries, including the US.

White House courts int’l students as language festival concludes in DC

White House has hosted international students who has been in Washington for over two weeks as part of the International Language and Culture Festival as the festivities had come to an end with a mini performance at the White House for US officials.

GYV slams slanderous accusations seeking to link Hizmet to terrorist PKK

The Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV) has responded to a series of controversial claims and slanderous accusations that aim to associate the faith-based Gülen movement, also known as Hizmet movement, with the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), stressing once again that Hizmet rejects all kinds of violence.

Turkish Canadian institute presents peace and dialogue awards

The Intercultural Dialogue Institute (IDI), a group founded by Canadians of Turkish descent, has presented its first peace and dialogue awards at a ceremony in Toronto.

Pro-gov’t daily repeats Bharara controlled by Gülen movement, calls him ‘stupid’

One of the staunchly pro-government newspapers in Turkey, the Star, daily has repeated earlier claims about a US attorney, saying that he is controlled by the faith-based Gülen movement and “stupid.”

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

UN 59th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women

Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen condemns Paris attacks in strongest terms

Court imposes punitive fine on author for libeling Gülen family

Gülen’s Statement of Condemnation for Terrorist Attack Against the Coptic Christian Community in Egypt

Daily Trust Editorial: In Turkey, fresh affront on democracy

The era of dialogue will never be over

Representatives of Abrahamic religions meet in Iftar in Antioch

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News