{"id":1106,"date":"2007-06-25T11:56:24","date_gmt":"2007-06-25T11:56:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/idolchatter\/2007\/06\/mighty-heart-panel-discussion.html"},"modified":"2007-06-25T11:56:24","modified_gmt":"2007-06-25T11:56:24","slug":"mighty-heart-panel-discussion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2007\/06\/mighty-heart-panel-discussion.html","title":{"rendered":"‘A Mighty Heart’ and the Need for Dialogue"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"mighty-heart_idol.jpg\"Walking into the Sherry Lansing Theater at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles last Thursday, I knew it wasn\u2019t going to be an easy evening. While looking forward to the screening of \u201cA Mighty Heart<\/a>\u201d–as I had read the Marianne Pearl memoir it was based on about three years ago–I dreaded the expected feelings of despair and anguish from viewing the tragedy surrounding the kidnapping and death of Wall Street Journal writer Danny Pearl.
\nIt can\u2019t be denied there were moments where that theater chair felt uncomfortable, but the film was captivating, as humanity, and at times the lack of it, was eloquently depicted. From the Pearls\u2019 love story to the account of the investigation by the then-pregnant Marianne with colleagues from the WSJ and Pakistani and American officials, I was intrigued almost as much by their interactions as how the search was conducted.
\nThe latter because it was ultimately the point of the evening: To see how a Buddhist, Christians, Jews and Muslims came together to search for Pearl and how that unity could be built upon now.
\nThat was literally expressed after the film with a panel discussion titled \u201cBuilding Unity and Understanding in Today\u2019s World,\u201d and event co-sponsored by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Progressive Christians Uniting, and Paramount Vantage, and which featured the following panelists: producer Dede Gardner, CAIR\u2019s Hussam Ayloush, Jews on First\u2019s Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak, and PCU\u2019s Reverand Peter Laarman with Lisa Smithline from Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace moderating.
\nWhile it wasn\u2019t unique to have a panel discussion after a film viewing, the five-minute break that included a prayer option outside the building was.<\/p>\n


\nAfter the break, Smithline began the Q&A session by asking for a discussion on the choices one should make when faced with tragedy and fear, to which the panelists agreed that dialogue should always be the choice over violence. For example, on the subject of torture, Laarman said that members of the Christian community had to look at their own endorsements of torture. Ayloush added that at times in the film, certain characters gave the impression that torture was okay–but really it never is, and there is a need for change.
\nIsolating the voices of fanatics within the communities of Christianity, Judaism and Islam was part of Rabbi Beliak\u2019s ideas of change. So, it was made clear by all the panelists that extremists in any religion don\u2019t speak for an entire community.
\nBut more importantly, when one from a religious community makes an extreme comment, it is up to the moderates to speak out against their co-religionist, said Laarman. Because ultimately, Ayloush added, this issue is a collective problem of the world and that everyone should strive together to reduce, if not eliminate, the root causes for violence that could be based on political, economic or religious reasons.
\n\u201cEveryone has the same pain based on the same root causes,\u201d Ayloush said. \u201cWe can help in the end.\u201d
\nWhat remained unanswered at the end of the evening, especially after such an emotionally intense film, was tangible ways that everyone could really help. The panel was understandably under a time constraint of roughly 20 minutes, given it was getting late in the evening. At the same time, it didn\u2019t seem to get any great new ideas on how and why everyone could develop more intra- and interfaith dialogue out.
\nI don’t mean to pick on the panelists, but these calls for dialogue aren’t really new and have been heard numerous times at interfaith occasions throughout the country. Of course there is some impatience on my part–in not wanting violence as a solution but wanting more action from conversation.
\nWith what is happening in Darfur, Iraq, Israel and Palestinian territories and so on, I still wonder: How do moderates engage in successful dialogue with extremists who believe violence is part of the divine?
\nSee clips from the film and read Beliefnet’s interview of “A Mighty Heart” here<\/a>.
\n—Sara Shereen Bakhshian<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Walking into the Sherry Lansing Theater at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles last Thursday, I knew it wasn\u2019t going to be an easy evening. 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