Can a faith-based or faith-inspired movement such as Hizmet lead people to fundamentalism?
Quite the contrary. What Fethullah Gülen started and the action of Hizmet can lead to a much sounder deterrence against religious fundamentalism than anything which the state has produced as a deterrent. The door Fethullah Gülen opened can give ordinary people the opportunity to live Islam peacefully within their own individual and collective identity. To enable people to do this, at the same time as securing peace and tolerance amidst diversity and pluralism in complex societies, faith or religion needs to be protected by contemporary peaceful thinkers and useful institutions. Gülen-initiated dialogue and reconciliation meetings and their positive outcomes have taught many people about this need and convinced them to cooperate for the greater good.
- Created on .