The Gulen Islamic Peace Movement

 “The Gulen Movement: The Global Spread of an Islamic Peace Movement"
5:00 - 6:30pm 

The Gulen Movement is a moderate Islamic movement begun in the early 1970’s by Mr. Fethullah Gulen, an imam in Turkey. The movement stresses education, interfaith/intercultural dialog and “basic human values” and is now a global movement with schools, hospitals, dialog societies and tutoring centers in over 180 countries on five continents. Dr. Ebaugh will discuss the basic ideas of the movement and then talk about its global reach as one of the most-recognized global movements for peace in the world.

Helen Rose Ebaugh, is professor of Sociology at the University of Houston. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology from Columbia University in 1975 with specialties in organizational Sociology and the Sociology of Religion. In addition to five research monographs and two edited books, she has published numerous articles in scholarly journals. She served as president of the national Association for the Sociology of Religion, helped organize and served as the first chair of the American Sociological Association’s Section on the Sociology of Religion and is past president of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. Ebaugh received two consecutive research grants from the Pew Charitable Trusts to study religion and the new immigrants in the United States. With a major grant from the Lilly Endowment, she studied inter-faith coalitions and their provision of social services as part of the governmental faith-based initiative. Most recently she has published a book on the Gulen movement, a moderate Islamic movement that began in Turkey and is rapidly spreading around the world. The group focuses on interfaith dialog, peaceful coexistence and the importance of education and has built over 1000 schools in 100 countries around the world. For the past twenty years, Professor Ebaugh has been very involved in interfaith work in Houston and internationally. She routinely teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in the Sociology of Religion and the study of World Religions.

Access the flyer for this event here.

Parking is free. Signing up in advance is not required but is helpful; register via the link below or by calling Jerri Doctor at 713-797-0600.