Thursday, May 17, 2007

Pluralism, Politics and God?

I would present my paper in the following conference:
Pluralism, Politics and God?
An International Symposium on Religion and Public Reason
13-15 September 2007
McGill University, Montreal, Kanada

In his controversial Regensburg lecture, Pope Benedict XVI sought to re-frame the interaction of religious traditions on the principle that ‘not to act reasonably is contrary to the nature of God’. He also called on the universities, and on all partners in the dialogue of cultures, to rediscover this principle by engaging ‘the whole breadth of reason’ – appreciating its grandeur and repudiating reductionist approaches to reason.

This unabashedly hellenistic emphasis raises important questions about the relation between faith and reason, and about the role of religion in the exercise of public reason. Is religion necessary to sustain reason? Do different religions represent competing claims about reason and rationality as well as about revelation? Does religious diversity mean that public decision-making, even as regards moral or ethical matters or human rights, should seek to bracket the God-question? Or is that not possible without undermining the rational basis for deciding and acting?

Scholars from across North America and Europe will gather at McGill University to consider such questions, with presentations on a variety of related issues from Nicholas Adams (Edinburgh), Gregory Baum (McGill), Mark Cladis (Brown), Michael Ignatieff (formerly Harvard), George Smith II (Columbus School of Law), Janice Stein (Toronto), John Witte Jr. (Emory), and many others.
I will talk about the issue of:
Media Portrayals of Indonesian Public Sphere in Response to the Speech of Benedict XVI and the Visit of G. W. Bush
Al Makin is a lecturer of the State Islamic University of Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta, while completing a Ph.D at Heidelberg University, Germany. He wrote a number of scholarly articles in in the field of Islamic studies and Op-Eds in Indonesian newspapers such as The Jakarta Post. His books include: Anti-Kesempurnaan, Membaca, Melihat dan Bertutur tentang Islam (Unfinished, Reading, Observing and Telling about Islam, 2002); Nabi Palsu, Membuka Kembali Pintu Kenabian (A False Prophet, Opening the Gate of Prophethood, 2003); and Bunuh Sang Nabi, Pertarungan antara Setan dan Malaikat (Kill the Prophet, the Struggle between Satan and Angel)
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1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks for writing this.

12:37 AM  

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