On January 14th, 2016, Pacifica Institute’s Orange County branch hosted a session of the “Around the Fountain” discussion series. The article discussed was entitled, “Muslims Must Combat the Extremist Cancer”.
“Muslims Must Combat the Extremist Cancer,” the lead article, was recently published in the Wall Street Journal (August 27, 2015). The article clearly posits that for terrorists who claim to be Muslims Islam is no more than a nominal part of their identity. Fethullah Gülen, the author of this article, does not only describe terrorism as a “cancer,” but he also puts forward possible solutions to stop it before it metastasizes.
The event was a great turnout and the intimate environment of the evening allowed the guests to feel comfortable in sharing their personal views on the subject at hand. Everyone who attended had an opportunity to speak about the topic and enrich the conversation with their input. The attendees consisted of many prominent members of the religious local community, thus every topic discussed and opinion share held a special importance. Topics discussed ranged from the manipulation of the Quran to be used for malicious activity- to combating Islamaphobia in our local communities, all springing from the main article being discussed ” Muslims Must Combat the Extremist Cancer”.
The informal atmosphere allowed for everyone’s ideas to be discussed thoroughly and questions to be asked freely, making it possible to learn from one another. At the end of the night, a plethora of information had been discussed and shared, all of which we hope will be put to good use whilst combating the modern-day cancer that is extremism.