Interfaith Dialogue Organization (IDO) organized a panel discussion on March 22, 2009 at W.T Young Library Auditorium. The panel was about the Common Word initiative in general and how we can use this opportunity to foster dialogue efforts in our community. We were fortunate to have Dr. Swanson from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago and Dr. Ismail Acar from Bard College, NY. Dr. Swanson emphasized how the Common Word initiative is timely, useful and promising for both Christians and Muslims. By referring to verses from the Quran, Dr. Acar demonstrated that Muslims have theological foundations to be involved in dialogue with Christians.

At the end of the panel, student government gave an iPod touch to one of the student among the audience. IDO is grateful to Student Government of University Kentucky for supporting this event. The event was followed by a reception at the library Gallery room where the panelists received more questions from the audience. At the end of the reception, Haydar Hatemi (Lexington based artist) gave two of his works to the panelists.  

You can learn more about the Common Word initiative at www.acommonword.com