My topic for this evening is the spiritual and educational movement associated with the name of Fethullah Gülen and the contribution that the members of Gulen movement are making to Muslim-Christian harmony in the midst of today’s tense and sometimes violent climate. I know that many of you are already well acquainted with this movement, but probably some of you do not know the movement very well. Let me begin with a bit of background and ask the indulgence of those who in some cases know the movement of Fethullah Gülen and his associates much better than I. The community inherited its commitment to interreligious dialogue and cooperation from the writings of Said Nursi, but this commitment has been renewed and given new impetus in the writings of Fethullah Gülen. In his speech in 1999 at the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Capetown, Gülen presented an optimistic vision of interreligious harmony: “It is my conviction that in the future years, the new millennium will witness unprecedented religious blooming and the followers of world religions, such as Muslims, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus and others, will walk hand-in-hand to build a promised bright future of the world.”

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