Tag: Feisal Abdul Rauf

They Surround Us – Sum of Change Takes on the Crowd at Glenn Beck’s 828 Restoring Honor Rally in DC

cross-posted from Sum of Change

We have already posted several telling interviews from our filming at Glenn Beck’s 828 Restoring Honor Rally, but we haven’t yet posted our most emotional, interactive, and intense experiences.  Towards the end of our day downtown, we stopped to chat with some folks from the crowd- as we did throughout the day.  When we began our interview with Madonna from Indiana, we were in the exact center of a circular cement area that is the entrance way to the World War II Memorial.  Our conversation started with Madonna, the only person in her group of 5 or so who decided to stop and chat with us.  Quickly, however, not only did several of her friends decide to join our discussion, but several onlookers decided that they belonged in our conversation as well.  Before we knew it, we were encircled by 30 or so rally goers who decided to engage us (verbally) in an effort to try and convert us to Glen Beck’s White Christian Civil Rights Utopia.  Below is the majority of the half hour experience in 6 parts and at the very bottom is all 30 minutes of our discussions unedited.

Gestures, Mosques, and Peace Talks: Interview with Professor Marc Gopin

cross-posted from Sum of Change

Professor Marc Gopin is the Director at the Center for World Religions, Diplomacy, and Conflict Resolution (CRDC) with the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University. You can follow his work by visiting www.MarcGopin.com. He has focused a lot of his work around interfaith conflict resolution, which is why we asked to speak with him about the controversy over the proposed construction of the Cordoba Mosque in lower Manhattan. Right after we scheduled the interview, news broke that peace talks among Israel, Palestine, and the United States would resume in September. This is an issue that Professor Gopin has been deeply involved with for a very long time now, so we included that in our line of questioning.

Highlight clips with partial transcripts and the full 40-minute interview below the fold…