Programs and Presentations 2021

• 1) INTERFAITH STUDY GROUP (via zoom) meeting of members of The Salaam Network and All Peoples Unitarian Universalist Congregation Church, and Invited Guests on January 6, 2021. (Discussion on “Memories of Muhammad: Why the Prophet Matters” by Omid Safi).
• 2) INTERFAITH STUDY GROUP (via zoom) meeting of members of The Salaam Network and All Peoples Unitarian Universalist Congregation Church, and Invited Guests on January 27, 2021. (Discussion on “Memories of Muhammad: Why the Prophet Matters” by Omid Safi).
• 3) INTERFAITH STUDY GROUP (via zoom) meeting of members of The Salaam Network and All Peoples Unitarian Universalist Congregation Church, and Invited Guests on February 10, 2021. (Discussion on the movie “The Message”).
• 4) INTERFAITH STUDY GROUP (via zoom) meeting of members of The Salaam Network and All Peoples Unitarian Universalist Congregation Church, and Invited Guests on February 24, 2021. (Discussion on the movie “Islam: Empire of Faith,” and presentation on Islamic Calligraphy by Dr. Saleem Seyal).
• 5) INTERFAITH STUDY GROUP (via zoom) meeting of members of The Salaam Network and All Peoples Unitarian Universalist Congregation Church, and Invited Guests on March 10, 2021. (Discussion on the Edicts of Prophet Muhammad and Muslim-Christian Relations in early Islamic history by Dr. Brad Bowman).
• 6) INTERFAITH STUDY GROUP (via zoom) meeting of members of The Salaam Network and All Peoples Unitarian Universalist Congregation Church, and Invited Guests on March 24, 2021. (Presentation and discussion of “What It Means To Be A Muslim Today” by Dr. Riffat Hassan).
• 7) DISTINGUISHED GUEST LECTURE SERIES hosted by The Salaam Network (via zoom): PRESENTER: CHARLES UPTON (Poet, Sufi, Executive Director, Covenants of the Prophet Foundation). Presentation and discussion on the Covenants of the Prophet Muhammad with the Christian World, April 14, 2021. Read More
• 8) DISTINGUISHED GUEST LECTURE SERIES hosted by The Salaam Network (via zoom): PRESENTER: DR. CRAIG CONSIDINE (Scholar of Islam, author, filmmaker, faculty member of the Sociology Department of Rice University). Presentation and discussion on “The Humanity of Muhammad: A Christian View,” April 28, 2021. Read More
• 9) INTERFAITH STUDY GROUP (via zoom) meeting of members of The Salaam Network and All Peoples Unitarian Universalist Congregation Church, and Invited Guests on May 12, 2021. (Viewing and discussion of the movie “The Sultan and the Saint”).
• 10) DISTINGUISHED GUEST LECTURE SERIES hosted by The Salaam Network (via zoom): PRESENTER: DR. LEONARD SWIDLER (Professor Emeritus of Catholic Thought and Interreligious Dialogue, Temple University; one of the Founders of the Jewish-Christian-Muslim interreligious dialogue in the U.S. sponsored by the Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University, Washington D. C. 1978-1984; a co-founder and editor of The Journal of Ecumenical Studies). Presentation and discussion on “The Dialogue Decalogue,” June 9, 2021. Read More
• 11) INTERFAITH STUDY GROUP (via zoom) meeting of members of The Salaam Network and All Peoples Unitarian Universalist Congregation Church, and Invited Guests on June 22, 2021. (“Unpacking” of Dr. Swidler’s Ten Principles and suggestions by Group members about some changes re: authoritarian language as well as the content of specific Principles. The document would be circulated among the Group members for further reflection).
• 12) INTERFAITH STUDY GROUP (via zoom) meeting of members of The Salaam Network and All Peoples Unitarian Universalist Congregation Church, and Invited Guests on July 14, 2021 (A critical discussion of the movie: “Cities of Light: The Rise and Fall of Islamic Spain,” led by Dr. Gregory Hutcheson, Professor of Spanish, University of Louisville).
• 13) “ISLAM AS A SOURCE OF INSPIRATION” – A Film directed and edited by Mehr Hassan, was shown and discussed at All Peoples Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 4036, Brownsboro Road, Louisville, on July 18, 2021. (This Film was jointly sponsored by the Social Justice Committee of All Peoples Unitarian Universalist Congregation and The Salaam Network).
• 14) On August 9, 2021, Dr. Riffat Hassan was the featured speaker at a zoom meeting sponsored by the World Affairs Council of Kentucky and Southern Indiana for participants of the Inter-Regional International Visitor Leadership Program sponsored by the U. S. Department of State Department on the topic of Women in Politics and Civil Society. Dr. Hassan spoke briefly about her history of international advocacy and told the participants about the setting up of The Salaam Network and its valuable educational programs offered free-of-charge to the community. After her presentation, international participants offered their comments and expressed the desire to continue the conversation with Dr. Hassan and The Salaam Network.
• 15) DISTINGUISHED GUEST LECTURE SERIES hosted by The Salaam Network (via zoom): PRESENTER: DR. MATTHEW PIERCE (Professor of Religion, Centre College, Danville). Presentation and discussion on “Dual Religious Identities,” August 11, 2021.
• 16) DISTINGUISHED GUEST LECTURE SERIES hosted by The Salaam Network (via zoom): PRESENTERS: DR. ROHULLAH AMIN and CHARLES PRINTZ (Dr. Amin is a medical doctor, a scholar of Islam, a human rights activist, currently teaching at Hamburg, Germany, Charles Printz is a human rights attorney based in New York). Dr. Amin talked about the ground realities in Afghanistan and about own perspective on the historical background of his people and country; Charles Printz talked about diplomatic initiatives underway to help at-risk Afghans, August 25, 2021.
• 17) INTERFAITH STUDY GROUP (via zoom) meeting of members of The Salaam Network and All Peoples Unitarian Universalist Congregation Church, and Invited Guests on September 8, 2021 (Discussion on the Introduction to the Original Edition, Introduction to the Vintage Edition, and Chapter One: Islam as News, of Edward W. Said’s classic work “Covering Islam – How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World”).
• 18) The Salaam Network educators Dr. Riffat Hassan and Jim Aalen participated in a zoom meeting sponsored by the Offices of Identity and Inclusion and Campus Ministry at Bellarmine University, Louisville, on September 22, 2021. The purpose of the meeting was to engage students in a conversation around Islamophobia, particularly in the wake of 9/11 attacks.
• 19) INTERFAITH STUDY GROUP (via zoom) meeting of members of The Salaam Network and All Peoples Unitarian Universalist Congregation Church, and Invited Guests on September 22, 2021 (Discussion on “Islam as a Source of Inspiration,” a Film directed and edited by Mehr Hassan).
• 20) Dr. Riffat Hassan made a presentation on “Muslim Women: Qur’anic Teachings Versus Cultural Practices” at a zoom meeting of Christian-Muslim Dialogue of Lexington, Kentucky, on September 25, 2021.
• 21) Dr. Riffat Hassan was interviewed via zoom by Edward Stourton for BBC Radio’s “Ethics and Religion” program broadcast on September 26, 2021. The topic of discussion was the current concern about education for women and girls in Afghanistan following the Taliban’s takeover of government and the Islamic theological perspective on this matter.
• 22) INTERFAITH STUDY GROUP (via zoom) meeting of members of The Salaam Network and All Peoples Unitarian Universalist Congregation Church, and Invited Guests on October 13, 2021, viewed Morgan Atkinson’s documentary film “Statues: What Do We Stand For?” This film is about race and public art in contemporary Louisville and explores its racial culture in general and a history of local public statuary including Barney Bright’s Derby Clock in the 1970s, the Ill-fated Ohio River Fountain in the 1980s, and the installation of a statue of York in 2003. A slave of William Clark, York made pivotal but ignored contributions to the success of the Lewis and Clark Expedition at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The central study richly narrates the heated and polarized debate regarding John B. Castleman On Horse in the Cherokee Triangle. The distinguished Louisville-based documentary filmmaker Morgan Atkinson was present at the meeting to answer questions and take part in the general discussion.
• 23) Featured presentation by Dr. Riffat Hassan on “Understanding ‘Honor Crimes’ in Muslim Societies: Case Study of Palestinian Women,” (Film reviewed: “Women of Freedom” directed by Abeer Zeibak Haddad) at the Tafakkur Muslim Film Festival sponsored by International Center of Cultural Studies (1CCS), National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University in Taiwan (October 23, 2021).
• 24) DISTINGUISHED GUEST LECTURE SERIES hosted by The Salaam Network (via zoom): PRESENTER: ADELITA BEDZETOVIC BEWLEY (Member of The Threshold Society affiliated with the Mevlana Jalal ad-Din Rumi Foundation, trained as a Whirling Dervish, post-graduate student of Islamic Studies and Arabic). Adelita, a 28 year old Muslim woman from Bosnia talked about her experience of being a refugee first in Germany and then in the U.S., and shared her family’s memories of the displacement of Bosnian Muslims by Serbians and the massacre in and around the town of Srebrenica on July 11, 1995 , when over 8000 Bosnian men and boys were massacred. Adelita talked about her mixed feelings as a person with more than one homeland, who loved Bosnia though she had never lived there, and her struggle to understand and embrace her divided identity and heritage, October 27, 2021.
• 25) DISTINGUISHED GUEST LECTURE SERIES hosted by The Salaam Network (via zoom): PRESENTERS: DR. DENNIS NEYMAN and DR. FARIBA KASHAN (Dr. Neyman is Director and Community Outreach Coordinator of The Salaam Network who taught in Isfahan, Iran, from 1975-1979; Dr. Kashan is Iranian-American, Professor of Mathematics at Kentucky State University, and a leader of the local Iranian and Shi‘a community) Dr. Neyman and Dr. Kashan shared their American and Iranian perspectives respectively on the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and the taking of American hostages by Iranian students; they also discussed Edward Said’s criticism of the U.S. media coverage of these events, November 17, 2021.
• 26) INTERFAITH STUDY GROUP (via zoom) meeting of members of The Salaam Network and All Peoples Unitarian Universalist Congregation Church, and Invited Guests on November 17, 2021 (Discussion on Chapter Two on “The Iran Story” in Edward W. Said’s “Covering Islam – How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World; Guest Speakers: Dr. Dennis Neyman and Dr. Fariba Kashan).
• 27) DISTINGUISHED GUEST LECTURE SERIES hosted by The Salaam Network (via zoom): PRESENTER: DR. SYED ZAFAR MAHMOOD (Distinguished Indian government official and diplomat, Founder of many philanthropic organizations, God’s Grace School System and Interfaith Coalition for Peace; member of two South Asian Muslim delegations participating in peacemaking projects sponsored by the U. S. Department of State, dedicated scholar and author) Dr. Mahmood made a presentation on “The Preserved Tablet” mentioned in the Qur’an (Surah 85: Al-Buruj: 21-22) which he regards as “a strong directive for maintaining interfaith affection.” This event took place on December 2, 2021.
• 28) INTERFAITH STUDY GROUP (via zoom) meeting of members of The Salaam Network and All Peoples Unitarian Universalist Congregation Church, and Invited Guests on December 15, 2021 (Discussion on Chapter Three on “Knowledge and Power” in Edward W. Said’s “Covering Islam – How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World;reference will also be made to “The Return of Islam,” and “The Roots of Muslim Rage” by Bernard Lewis, and “The Clash of Civilizations?” by Samuel Huntington).

(28 Programs which include 1 Film)