Center for Jewish Studies to Hold Discussion on Religion, War and Faith

by Paige Patton, coordinator of news and information, (254) 710-3321

The Center for Jewish Studies at Baylor University will hold a discussion on "Religion, War & Peace: Thinking and Living Our Faith" at 4 p.m. Monday, Oct. 9, in room 133 of the Marrs McLean Science Building.

Dr. Marc Ellis, director of the Center for Jewish Studies, said the idea for this discussion came from a conference at Southwestern University at which he will be a panelist later this month.

For information about the Southwestern conference, please click here.

"I think a discussion on this topic will be good for the Baylor environment to experience," Ellis said. "We will look at the Jewish, Muslim and Christian faiths and what each of their traditions say about war, peace, resistance, justice and reconciliation."

Panelists featured in this event are Rabbi Mordecai Rotem of Temple Rodef Sholom; David Oulalou, a member of the local Muslim community; Dr. Barry Harvey, an associate professor in Baylor's Great Texts program; Dr. Jonathan Tran, an assistant professor from the religion department; Dr. David Clinton, an assistant professor in the political science department and Dr. Brad Owens, an assistant professor from the journalism department.

"I wanted to be part of this discussion because with so many conflicts going on in our world, we should learn what different religions have to teach about these issues and try to draw some conclusions for our own lives from them," Rotem said.

Ellis said that several topics will be presented, but the nature of an open discussion will allow for related subjects to be broached.

"I want to believe that the conclusion from the audience will be that the three religions represented see peace as one of their most important teachings, and thus war is contradicting these teachings," Rotem said.

The discussion is free and open to the public, and refreshments will be served.