PARTICIPANTS

Aaron Hahn Tapper
Abraham's Vision / U of San Francisco

The Founder and Co-Executive Director of Abraham's Vision, a conflict transformation organization working with Jews, Muslims, Israelis, and Palestinians, Aaron Hahn Tapper is an Assistant Professor in the Theology and Religious Studies Department of the University of San Francisco, holding the Swig Chair of Judaic Studies. He previously lived in the Middle East for five years—four years in Jerusalem and one year in Cairo—and traveled extensively in Jordan, Morocco, Lebanon, and Syria. Aaron received a BA from Johns Hopkins University, majoring in Psychology, a Master's degree from Harvard Divinity School, focusing on World Religions, and a PhD in Comparative Religions from the University of California, Santa Barbara. His doctoral dissertation, "From Gaza to the Golan: Religious Nonviolence, Power, and the Politics of Interpretation," explores the relationship between the socio-political context of Israel and Palestine, religious law, and power. His interdisciplinary research interests are comparative religions, the history of religions, the interplay between politics and religion, Judaism, Islam, nonviolence, and the relationship between power and religious authority.

Paragraph Statement

Question: What do you think is the most important issue involving religion that confronts international NGOs?

When future generations look back at our era, I believe they will see it as the beginning of the inter-group education movement. Whether framed as interfaith/inter-religious, conflict resolution, conflict transformation, or comparative conflict studies, we are now seeing a movement of inter-group education that is akin to the American civil rights movement some five decades ago or the green movement's awakening some three decades ago. As the twentieth century brought with it more death and destruction than any prior period, it should leave us with hope that we are now in a phase where people from a diverse range of religions, ethnicities, and nationalities are encountering one another, a time that brings with it both caution and optimism. From the standpoint of NGOs involved in this field, the greatest challenge involving religion and inter-group education relates to methodology. Is it enough for people from different walks of life to be brought together to talk? Or must NGOs be mindful of some of the challenges that undeveloped inter-group methodologies leave in their wake, at times arguably doing more damage than good? Don't NGOs have to address social relations? And if they do, what are the challenges this likewise brings with it.

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