“Discerning the Signs of the Times 2010” will ask ethical and moral questions about critical issues confronting the world at the mid-term of the Obama administration. The leaders for this 22nd annual forum are uniquely equipped by experience and expertise to initiate a lively discussion on issues of justice and peace in a globalizing economy, women’s rights in Islam and how the United States is viewed by the world.

     Riffat Hassan, Professor Emerita, recently retired as Professor of Humanities at the University of Louisville where she had taught since 1976. She is known worldwide as a spokesperson for progressive Islam and for her work to raise the status of Muslim women. From 2002-2009, she developed and directed two major Exchange Programs funded by the U.S. Department of State focusing on peace-building between South Asian Muslims and Americans. They were regarded by the State Department as a model for all future exchanges between Muslims and Americans. After her retirement, Riffat intends to divide her time between her two homes—in Lahore, Pakistan, and in Louisville, Kentucky. 

In 1999, she founded the International Network for the Rights of Female Victims of Violence in Pakistan. She is currently involved with promoting leadership education and training for young Pakistanis so that they can create a progressive society which embodies the highest ethical principles of Islam.     

Her extensive involvement in inter-religious dialogue provided for her “the community of faith I had sought all my life. In this community I have found others who like myself, are committed to creating a new world in which human beings will not brutalize or victimize one another in the name of God, but will affirm, through word and action, that as God is just and loving so human beings must treat each other with justice and love regardless of sex, creed, or color.”    

Riffat will help us understand the fundamental teachings of Islam, particularly with reference to the Ethical Framework of the Qu’ran, Human Rights in Islam, Women in Islam, Perceptions of Islam versus its Realities, and significant issues in Contemporary Islam. 

     Alan Heil, former Deputy Director of Voice of America, spent 36 years at the nation’s largest overseas publicly-funded broadcasting network. During that time he traveled to more than 40 countries and lived for some years in Beirut, Cairo and Athens. His book, Voice of America: A History, published in 2003, was described by Walter Cronkite as celebrating “this nation’s dedication to the practical application of its democratic foundation—our freedoms of speech and press.” VOA reaches 135 countries and broadcasts in 45 languages.

Since retiring, he has written articles on the Middle East, Balkans and Africa, and he continues his efforts to develop deeper understanding of international reality among Americans. He was a member of Presbyterian peacemaking study missions to Bosnia and the Middle East and is an elder at Mt. Vernon Presbyterian Church in Alexandria, VA.

Alan’s topics will include discussions of “Truth vs. Propaganda”, “A Journalist’s Perspective on Obama and the World at Mid-Term,” and “The Humanitarian Role of International Media.”  He will discuss the ethical issues confronting a U.S. government-run global network that aims for accuracy and programming content that is honest, fair, probing, objective and comprehensive. In assessing Obama’s success, he will provide a scorecard on the impact of Obama’s commitment to dialogue rather than confrontation, how we might build on the successes and continue to intensify real dialogue in a troubled world, and what the limits are of America’s ability to influence events. Finally, he will lift up global broadcasting’s role in spotlighting issues of poverty, illiteracy, disease and injustices in our world. 

     Rebecca Todd Peters is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at Elon University in North Carolina. She is active in the ecumenical movement and currently serves on the World Council of Churches Faith and Order Commission.

“Toddie,” as she prefers to be called, received her PhD in Christian Ethics from Union Theological Seminary in New York and was a student of Beverly Harrison. She focuses primarily on environmental and economic justice concerns and describes her work as seeking “to promote peace and justice through addressing concrete structural injustices that contribute to exploitation, disease, hunger and conflict”.

Among the books she has written are In Search of the Good Life: The Ethics of Globalization (winner of the Trinity Prize in 2003) and To Do Justice: A Guide for Progressive Christians, published in 2008. 

She will present on the following topics:
          · Developing a Social Ethic of Solidarity, discussing solidarity as a moral norm for personal and communal action which offers the possibility of new policy directions for the Obama administration.         

         · Beyond the Financial Crisis: Rethinking the Moral Foundations of Political Economy. How can we move beyond thinking “How can we get out of this crisis?” toward thinking about alternative visions of economic arrangements?

          · Developing a Solidarity Economy. How does solidarity offer the possibility for shaping economic theory and economic institutions in ways that are more conducive to justice.

July 19 - 25, 2010   Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu

Registration fee: $350 + housing & meals
Before May 15: Save $100 

Online Registration Form - payment required.

 Abiquiu 2010 Registration Form 128.55 Kb - fill in and submit by regular mail.

The following letter was added in April, 2009. 

Course themes and presenters chosen by the late LEON HOWELL, a Washington-D.C-based, writer, author and editor of the late Christianity and Crisis.