Transcripts For CSPAN2 Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20141231

So the next generation with this institution will go on. Last june we had a thousand students attend a fourday seminar offering 120 courses. They came from 80 countries with 60 teachers, mentors. And next year, we will have more than that because they recommend others. One of our Facebook Pages, poverty cure, has about 1. 5 million lakes on it. And why is this . This is because im the oldest person on our staff. They are pushing this forward. They understand the social media. We are not the whole thing here we are part of it. We try to bring the conversation together and enable other groups like the Steamboat Institute and other very good groups should do more is what we are doing to the foundations of the American Republic in things like that. So we are doing it. But our website act in. Org and see the scholarship in materials and curriculum or you can use in your churches then your study groups and organizations and i pray god when you go there, you will see its topquality staff. It is once am. Its fun. Its interesting, factual innovative and on the cusp. Father, it seems like one of the real dichotomies is to come back here. [laughter] between the liberals and conservatives are the republicans and democrats as the democrats really seem to believe that if we just have taxes higher and higher in order to take care of all the societal ills that would either goal and i would just like you to explain why we have an opposite goal. Yeah. Let me offer a few correctives to that. The first is that i would say that the opposite of that error would be the error to think that if all we did was obliterate government, that everything would be fine. That is not true either, right . After the social connection comes in. Government has its place. It should be modest here to should be the resort of last resort. The resource of last resort, not first resort. The other thing i would say in terms of engaging the question not just a bunch of conservatives talking about this because we get together and complain all the time. But to say, what is it that motivates the progressives to say we need more money . The best motivation as a creation im taught to always stride and i am in the confessional all the time because i dont do this. Is to try and believe that that person who is calling for the abolition of private property for something close to it really intends by it. So what are they concerned with . They are concerned with the vulnerable. They are concerned with the poor and disenfranchised. Here concerned with racism and a whole host of things. Are they inconsistent and that is why i may sometimes impervious they show that too much government to create vulnerabilities. Yes. If we can just take that intention on their part and speak to that intention, we can say to them Something Like it is not that we differ in our goals but we differ in the way to get there. We dont believe that bureaucrat are political entities know enough of what i needed. It is not the government is too cheap. It is that government is too. I am not saying that about individual people. What i am saying is human redone as addicts rices the gulf and a market when does price signals are free you really know what the needs are. If you cut the information flow that comes from the decision of thousands and thousands of people reflect in their subjective needs in the market, based on what they buy and what they sell, what they demand as consumers. If you count the free flow of information coming makes society much more stupid based on massively really doubt now. Too many size 13 shoes and not enough size 9. 5 which is what happened in every socialist experiment in history. So to speak lovingly, gently with good intentions to their intention and then try and show them out. When they dont listen then you shove the sense down their throat. [laughter] Something Like that. Joking, joking. For the progressives watching the sun span right now, just drop their chablis all over the couch. [laughter] father robert are you a judgment or diocesan wide im a diocesan priest and id see people for calling mia jones away. [laughter] my reputation is at stake. Thank goodness i forgot we have a jesuit pope. I am in trouble now. My question is this. Is barack obama a christian, jewish muslim, buddhist . I am not in any position to say that because i never heard his confession. Ive never even met him. If i had met him until within spiritually, i wouldnt be able to answer that question. Let me say as an outsider, just observing as best i can tell i think he is what the political demands call upon him to be at any given moment. That is what i think he is. I think thats what these dedicated to you. [applause] and i say that with all due respect to the president and deep concern for his immortal soul. [laughter] over here. You are laughing. I meant it. Over here. Why isnt that we dont hear more moral outrage from the Senior Leadership of the Muslim Community and particularly the inlaws. If there is a group of radical catholics that were hijacking the religion. There is. But it would be sung from on high from the pope and yet there is the occasional imam and im astounded there is not a bunch of it. Thats a good question i asked that myself. It may be and this may not be the whole answer. It may be a combination such as their hierarchical constructs doesnt provide for that. They dont have been the way the Catholic Church does for instance the magisterium, Teaching Authority, the one Teaching Authority is the book the curve on and the scholars can comment on that but it is very rare that you have scholars who get together and say things. Are you a five groups that are authoritative, they have been good innings and that they have called upon youtube right now there isnt a mom i forgot where, maybe you just end or whack the word literally crying for the killing of christians in his own country. It may be in certain circumstances they are literally afraid to do that because of the more radical element. Here is my admittedly untutored take on the whole islamic theme that is going on in our country and in our world and that is i desperately want to believe and from my own experience with muslims, to believe that the fast majority of them are trying to live good lives and want to live in societies where people can live in peace and certainly historic way we have seen that possibility. But what islam has not had and what the church did have four thinkers like a guest in and Thomas Aquinas who took the church and its teachings and its history and applied them to different successive generations, how to develop the churchs teachings. I think it leads is suggesting. It awaits its thomas. How that would come about i havent a clue. For muslims that would be considered heresy. I dont have a dog in that fight in the senate than i am not a muslim, so i am not able to make those determinations. But if a peaceful islam were heretical to what we are seeing with isis, then i would welcome the heresy. The other thing that islam doesnt have that at least christianity has is an equivalent statement to the one which he says full text du quoin with caesars head on it and says render unto god thereby setting up a distinction between authority and power. Power is the foremost constrained as its authority. They are both forms of constraint. But power is a form of constraint that is external to the person. In other words, you are coerced from outside. Authority is the form of constraint that is interior so that when someone corrects see how and you believe that what they are saying is true, even though you dont want to do it you do it because he believes in the authority of the argument or of the person. That is why we differ with mrs. Cheney in this respect. We should be able to tell people what is right and wrong. And you should be all to disagree with me for telling you that. This is the wonderful basis of tolerant and society. Tolerance not acquiescence for the lifesize you agree with. It is saying i dont agree with that. That is exactly when tolerance comes into play. I will not raise my hand against you. The line we have to draw complex as i write islam is that islam does not have this division between authority and power. It is admittedly the theocratic vision. It is the 30th of n. Must be. If i am understanding this whole thing. They have to come up with another way of nuance in their road theology so that the vastly outnumbering majorities of muslims who want to live in Peaceful Society can articulate out from within their own indigenous tradition and theology to make these kinds of distinctions. High, it really struck me when you said there is an assault on reason. The past few years i feel like ive been living in a parallel universe full text people say black is white and went back and and obama carefully is working. When you say black is black white is white and obamacare will never work, they look at you like you were nuts. How do you deal with that when somebody . [laughter] you could make fun of them. I guess that wouldnt be when im. Dont give validating here. Ive been on the left for many years. Im a revert my catholic faith. I was involved with the political left in california for about four or five years a new jane fonda, tom hayden. You know, you dont like that . Debut coloradans for like that i gave jane fonda adjoined in the back of the Community Center in hollywood because she said tom wouldnt let her keep it in the house during the campaign, to which i said fine effeminacy wire. [laughter] i know these people as people. Or i used to. I dont hang out with jane fonda anymore. I know that there are many good people and they may not quite dead the point on why obamacare not only isnt functioning yet. Its probably functioning as well as is going to function because it isnt completely unrolled. But to help them understand a little bit about basic economics and why if you just went to a Grocery Store without any prices on anything, all the good meet would be taken first and there it be nothing left. It would be no way to coordinate the thing. That is the problem modeled with obamacare, but the Health Care System as a whole. There are other people present here who know much more about that. The question is a different question than the question of argumentation. The facts are the facts and we need to present those reasonably. It is a gentle way that speaks respect. It gets to core values where you can have a more fruitful conversation and maybe even a profound disagreement that need not be disagreeable, but sometimes become disagreeable. Brooklyn is that edge. I think we should at least try and do that. Okay. One question. Go to the side and then well come to you. Thank you. Many in the conservative movement, perhaps many in this room who believe conservatives need to call a truce on the social issues that because there but it rightwing conservatives religious right i should say have hampered our ability to win elections. I would be interested in knowing why imagine you disagree with that and i would like to know why you think it is important to talk about the social issues and in talking about them can you role model how we should do it taking perhaps abortion and traditional marriage as examples. Well, first of all the institute respects the labour and the conservatives in the mint and the bradley understood right side movement. For that reason medicine institute, we dont do a lot of those questions. On occasion i will sign onto something or i will speak to something in my capacity as a priest. But i feel there are so many groups that are doing such good work you should come as no surprise to you where i stand on samesex marriage or abortion. But in my work on them we deal with this lacuna that we see an economic understanding among religious leadership, broadly understood. I am not content i think the same thing applies to the social conservative movement as it does to the economic conservative movement in terms of the need for winston s. And respect for the people so that we need to speak with great love, especially on questions like abortion because women find themselves an arduous situations very often. Not the majority of women, but a lot of those women are having their third and fourth abortion. I think we need to speak with, you know, its really different as a priest when i get up and preach on abortion in my parish or cant true section, which i do and ive heard confessions on homosexuality, which i do. I have heard confections and i know people are struggling with these issues. I always have that in front of my mind was speaking about that. What we need to do is exactly what jesus did and im speaking from a theological point of view and i wont let you put it into your own daily wink. Jesus engages the woman who objectively has committed adultery and under the mosaic law, the penalty was stoning. Doesnt say dont stone her. First he engages the woman. Not directly at first. But she has the sense that he loves her and deals with her accusers and he establishes himself on her side and then he finally says to her but once i know more which makes the whole story. That is the hard thing. It is to hold it just is still permeated because Justice Without love becomes cruel teeth. That is what we need to do. How would you translate that into political want greek . That is your job to do that. I dont think was the points of fact that abortion is a losing proposition because all the polls indicate that more and more people are becoming at least to some extent more prolife than they were before. We are on a different curve with regard to marriage. We are in a different curve but i would apply the same thing to that, to engage people and to love people first and foremost and then try them over the passion and discuss these things reasonably. We are out of time. I wont answer too long. Dont provoke me. Very quickly, lets see if we can be a good team. How are we going to deal today with the alleged key progress says who are teaching our universities . We are going to uncover what they are doing. A lot of people dont know what that means. He just needs it uncovered. I think we need to respond politely because that is the antithesis of the entire tactic. You know it is poker. It is impolite. It did and thats why you have all of these kinds of incidents we see around the country where people are more and more of opera with one another with real stability. [applause] you will be in the hall signing books. Thank you father. The fact next let their religion, politics and social issues and how they relate today. This comes from the Danforth Center on religion and politics at Washington University who partnered with southern president ial history. Topics included a discussion about whether the u. S. Is a christian nation in the history of american muslims and the history of religious groups and immigration policy. This is an hour and 25 minutes. Good morning. Its a great pleasure to be here from st. Louis. I am worried nicely kid. The johns to Danforth Center on religion and politics at Washington University. And my job is to very briefly introduce our panelists for this fashion. Keeping the introductions very brief ive told them ive cut out the nobel prizes and other things theyve done just to make sure we get to their talks quickly. So here we go. Edward jay blum is professor of history at san diegos eight university. He will be our first presenter. He is the coauthor of call country of race in america 2012. The author of wpb deployed american prophet 2007. Henry forging the way for public, race religion and american nationalists in 1865 to 18982,005. Bloom has been awarded the good stuff award in the humanities by the council of graduate schools for the best first book i an historian published between 2002 and 2009. The Peter Seabrook award for the best civil war studies in 2006 and the woodward dissertation prize. His writings have been featured at cnn. Com, the atlantic newsweek and the new york times. This presentation for this morning is entitled in the bowels of a free and Christian Country. Our next presenter will be Rebecca Gascon associate professor at the history of new york university. They receive phd in 2006 from harvard university. She specializes in the history of race and slavery. She also has broad interest in the history of the Atlantic World and a comparative of the north america and the caribbean. She teaches courses at the undergraduate and graduate level in many early American History. Her first book the baptism of early virginia, how christianity created race was published in august 2012. Professor goetz is a crazy cat lady despite living in new york city remains a rabid red sox fan. Her paper for today is entitled Barack Hussein obama the first muslim president. Arthur presenter is arlene sanchezwalsh Azusa Pacific university where she is latino and latina church studies. Her first book latino pentecostal identity as evangelical faith, south bend society one hispanic book award in 2005. She has authored more than a dozen articles and book chapters on the subject of Latino Latina pentecostalism and it served as immediate expert for outlets such as the new york times, the wall street journal and on being with chris to take it. She also served as expert on Latino Latina religious history for the pbs series religion in america. Sanchezwalshs book on pentecostalism, in america and a monograph on race come at the city and prosperity gospel. Today she will be talking about immigrant sanctuary and defined borders. Finally kevin at altering the university of illinois chicago where he is associate professor of history, cat studies and religious studies and associate chair of the department of history. A native of Los Angeles Kevin and scholes teaches 20th century American History and has special interest in religion after he shall studies in American Intellectual and cultural life. His first academic monograph tristate america, how postwar cat and jewish held america to its protestant promise chartered the decline of the i. T. Of the United States as a christian nation and the subsequent rise of the notion that the country was premised on him being called judeo christianity. Dream for his current work examines life of william but lee junior and William Mailer as a way to understand the decade of the 1960s. He also is that essays appear in several flagship journals that in the journal of American History. The journal of the American Academy of religion in labor history as well as other distinguished outlets both popular and academic. This top court today entitled the blessings of american pluralism. Good day. Is the United States a Christian Country . Was that one in the past . Will it be in the future . If we look high and low near and far, we can observe americans asking, answering and debating these questions. They are disputed online, plastered on billboards mentioned during news programs and addressed by leading politicians. The questions and the answers to rattle with disagreement and with tension. Barack obama for instance, answers them one way before he was president and quite differently after. In 2008, he sold a group in washington d. C. We are no longer just a christian nation. We are also a jewish niche in a muslim nation, a buddhist nation, a hindu nation and a nation of nonlevers. Three years later now speaking as president obama and to a very different audience in turkey, obama explained we do not consider ourselves a christian nation or a jewish nation for a muslim nation. If both and embraces and pluralism had been reconfigured into a neither nor repudiation of particulars. Most political and christian conservatives share their disapproval of obama. That they are anything but united on this matter of religious nationalism. It is not hate speech credit radio and Television Host glenn beck to defend the United States is a christian nation in 2010. In the 2000 book, faith and politics, senator John Danforth named tamed some people of vastly whether america is a Christian Country. The answer must be no. To call this a Christian Country is to say nonchristians are some lesser order not fullfledged citizens of one nation. These recent debates and disagreements are not new. The problem of what it means to be or not to be a christian nation has been a touchstone of conversations about religion and politics for more than just entries. I want to take us back to the age of revolution and turn our attention to a cast of forgotten founders, a group of men who harnessed the language of Christian Nationalism in poignant and meaningful ways. This small and overlooked coalport of bostonians may offer some new ways for s. Today to consider what is at stake when we address, when we speak the vexed political problem of the nations religion. The year with 1777. The month was january. A petition on behalf of a great number of blacks was presented to the newly formed Massachusetts Bay state legislature. It was signed by eight men in the petition declared we are detained in a state of slavery in the bowels of a free and Christian Country. The bondsman they borrowed freely from the language of the declaration of independence itself was only six old. They have in common with all other men a natural and unalienable right for that freedom which the great parent of universe has bestowed equally on all mankind. They and others like them have been unjustly dragged to this land. They have been brought here to be sold like beast of burden. They saw happened among a people professing the mild religion of jesus. What these men experienced, they called worse than nonexistence. We can engage religion and politics in their petition from a variety of angles. Her description of the religion of jesus as child could lead us to consider the potent rice of methodism during the century and his musical invention of songs that gentle, meek and mild or what it means to have a mild faith in a time of war. The petitioners invocation of natural and inalienable rights could lead us to wonder about the theological tensions between deism and revealed christiachristia nity that animated so much of the revolutionary period. For our time, i would like to see her win on two word. Bowels and peace. With them the men of boston discussed politics and religion, not solely as abstract issues of ideas or beliefs, but also as concepts of flesh and bone. These were human activities that took place with, with thin and threw bodies. The rhetorical emphasis on bodies in compass the private and the public, the allegorical and the literal the biblical and the civil. So lets begin in the bowels. A hallmark destination of the default in enlightenment discourse. Dante structured or 14th century poem inferno as a journey that began with the stomach and culminated in excremental expulsion. They describe as safeguarding we are and. He didnt use the word rear end. Around the time john locke was putting together a second treatise on government, he was also pending an entire chapter on the importance of going to school regularly for some thoughts concerning education. When slaves situated themselves rhetorically in the bowels of the country come at the present of the nation as a body both christian and unlike the backdrops for this mapping. In first corinthians, the apostle paul told believers that is by once. We are all baptized into one body. Whether we be jewish or gentiles common bond or free. The body of hands and feet and eyes and ears is not one member but its many. Bodies are made of many parts. The pieces are equally valued and valuable within the one body of the faith family. In the age of monarchy, the kings body carried a variety of minions. European kings were thought to have two bodies. Physical to audience could decay, but the body politic that they symbolized was understood to be timeless, immutable and composite. The leviathan on presented the top half of the sovereign facing the viewer. But the top half of the father was actually hundreds of small individualized saudis. The books he was looked upon the face in the chest of the crown sovereign. They witnessed only the back side of the smaller depict a bodies, which we saw from the rear. Members of society face into the sovereign. They constitute and are absorbed into the sovereign and they are put into motion by the sovereign. It is a case of bodies within the body. The apostle paul never mentioned the bowels in his list of body parts. Hobbes did. When discussing those things a week and a commonwealth, he lashed out at the great number of corporations which are as the word many lesser commonwealth in the bowels of the greater. They are like worms in the ant trail of the natural man. Bowels were a terrible place to be no doubt but they were also a danger to the rest of the body. In colonial massachusetts and elsewhere slaves were often feared for poisoning their masters in ways that it said their bowels crippling and killing women and men slowly through ropers put into their mouths that they came out of other locations. What took place within emperor bowels good upset he entire body. Love the reference to bowels took us up in bodies, being sold by beast of burden drives us to consider what is being done with bodies. Dehumanization and cannibalization were crucial aspects of making us live culture. Linguistic strategies and visible activities oftentimes rendered to wave as akin to if not equal with domesticated animals. In response generation after generation of africanamerican stands for treatment as analogous to that of animals oftentimes pineal medical of enslavement was transformed human and two bs. Beasts of burden were particular entities in british law and husbandry. English poor laws for instance differentiated those individuals who traveled with one beast of burden or more. This was a way to construct a hierarchy of poverty, who should get help. Beasts of burden were generally recognized to do two things sometimes at the same time. They could carry loads on their backs and they could haul wheaty cargo. The massachusetts petitioners were the only ones using this beast of burden language and using it to speak about human relationships. Scottish minister and historian William Robertson when he wrote a history of the settlement of america native american man for treating wives is no better than a beast of burden. While the men later, the women are condemned to excessive toil. The King James Bible was replete with reference is to be semper or the book of genesis describes how god formed every beast of the field. In the book of isaiah, too heavy a burden is placed on catalan they were asked for idols. Therefore terrifying beast and buy the book of revelation, the beast was a leading figure in this beast was well known to colonial and revolutionary ministers. For earlier Massachusetts Church later caught and not there, not dared peacefulness was an embattled point that needed to be defended. Neither considered humane regard for the enslaved to be both right christian theology and effective domestic policy. Christianizing plays he wrote a lot label make better serve ends. It will render them afraid of doing anything that may displease you. Masters will have more work done for them and better done than this inhumane who use worse than their horses. The questions of whether have rational goals that are exploded come about the british insinuation he never whispered again. They are men and not beasts. The silliness, inhumanity, britishness. These are characteristics of slaveholders behaving badly not essences of the enslaved themselves. So for the petitioners, animal station was a general and particular. They are not simply beast, but these of burton. They carry emotional and physical weight, metaphorical and microwave that rested heavily on the consciousness of some free white cotton mather. It was a wake that the petitioners hoped they could leverage with the legislature. Cnn enclosed out of time, i want to sit as they taken the insights of these petitioners into our present, that it may provide for new bridges for us to cross the religious and political divide that fractured the contemporary United States. What if we began for the petitioners did in bodies connected to other bodies and the ideas about whether the nation is or is not christian or religious. From this Vantage Point starting with bodies, i would like to suggest that glenn beck senator John Danforth and barack obama stand together. They respect bodies. In faith and politics senator danforth expressed profound frustration with the use of terry schiavo, the florida woman who remained hospitalized for 15 years. To make political hay. Courts concern is for the sanctity of her body and the wellbeing of the bodies around her, family members friends doctors danforth was not interested in this case with the body politic that was the Republican Party. Glenn beck cherishes the founding others like George Washington in part because he sees washington as the defender of Jewish Americans and their right to religious freedom and that defending their religion is also about defending their bodies to practice that religion. Finally, it is clear that bodies were large and Barack Obamas personal imagination. His father is absent oddi the bodies of dead children abortion protesters, the bodies of religious communities animate the audacity of hope and other key obama writings and speeches. Obama danforth and back to disagree profoundly on the abstract notion of whether the notion is religious or christian or what that even means. But where they agree, where they could begin and what we may take from petitions of the 1770s the not just that everybody has a body to invoke Martin Luther king jr. But everybody is part of connected to other bodies. When we think a body sack in an abstracted ideology first we run the risk of putting intangibles before tangibles nonexistence before existence. That was a problem these massachusetts petitioners, their families and their friends, they knew all too well. It may be a struggle to see bodies before ballots, to see bodies before budget to see bodies before beliefs. What these forgotten founders of the 1770s they called their struggle it glorious struggle. It was one that you and needed every body. Thank you for the time. Thank you for your time listening to this body and my connections to lots of bodies here and elsewhere. Thank you. [applause] morning. And telfair reassembly i lived in Houston Texas and this is my first trip back. Its good to be home. There are approximately 3 million muslims in the United States. Somewhat controversial unofficial estimates and the u. S. Senate this is not count the population by religious affiliation. American muslims like every other religious group in the country are a Diverse Group here they follow a variety of islamic traditions. They are sunni shia off madeira they follow homegrown american islams such as the nation of islam. American muslims are also racially not equate averse. They are africanamericans of south asian Southeast Asian arab and west african descent and muslims identify as latino or white. Until september 11, 2 to 1, american muslims lived in relative obscurity of archly escaping notice from historians sociologists and policymakers. The advent of the war on terror catapulted american muslims into the public eye. The election of barack obama in 2000 made further spurred interest in the notoriety of american muslims. Obamas middle name, hussein his kenyan father and his judges spent partly in the muslim majority that obama himself is a secret muslim. Despite long history of islam in the United States and despite the enormous diversity of islamic elites and practices in this country both 9 11 and obamas election have proved to be focal points are often vicious critiques of islam. Islam and christianity have i done the north american content at the same time. Christopher Columbus Crew included converse muslims and chuichu had been conversing to christianity. Early in the 16th century, and saved my funds inflate conquistadors. Esteban echo was the slave north african in morocco who accompanied entrada into florida. As to monacos captors might not have thought of him as muslim and likely force him to convert christianity after his capture when he acquired his name which is stephen in english. Between 1571536, esteban bovo and three other survivors of the expedition walked from presentday texas from galveston actually to the Pacific Coast of mexico. Esteban bovo was no stranger to close row fluidity. His remarkable conquistadors he spoke highly survivors of the expedition across north america. In 1539 can esteban echo had another entrada into the american southwest amusing knowledge of native cultures and diplomatic pastimes to help guide spanish conquistadores. He was killed near sonora in 1540. Did he identify as muslim . Is a question that is impossible to answer. Spanish officials were suspicious of muslim converts to christianity or otherwise. Technically the new world was off limits to converse who were barred from making the journey. Your presence in the americas suggest this is a rule honored as the breach. The spanish continue to use and saved muslims. The settlement as a nod to stand contained many enslaved muslims in the late 16th century. In other words they were long before per minute to begin at jamestown in 1607. Most muslims who came into the americas before 18 nifty arrived as he did as enslaved people mostly from west and West Central Africa about all of from north africa. They at least several hundred thousand. Around 50 of enslaved people coming to mainland north america came from those areas of west africa where islam was either statesponsored or associated with the culture a significant minority. Reflecting the cosmopolitan religious lives of west africans to combine christianity, islam and traditional west african crack is a novel syncretic ways. The general problem is enslaved muslims for a more invisible minority within the invisible institution of slavery which in. As Edward Curtis has noted, when weiss observed africanamerican must own rituals, they often do not understand what was taking place right in front of their eyes. The historians recognize that enslaved muslims were everywhere and that islam was indeed a dais work religion. Though the lives of enslaved muslims remained opaque, scholars know a great deal about a few specific individuals. In 1788, soldiers from another ethnic group captured iraq man ive okemah and sold him to european slave traders. He lived us enslaved man in new orleans for decades marion and africanamerican baptist woman named isabella before writing a letter in arabic in 1826 asking for is freedom. He toured the United States and of raising money to buy freedom for himself and his children. Newspapers around the country chronicled his travels on my story. Colonization in bcs white americans who wanted to emancipate black people and repay straight and to west africa via colonization to see us hope that he was celebrated as a moorish print would aid in establishing diplomatic ties between the colony of three people in liberia and nearby african kingdoms as well as helping amber west africans to christianity. In 1829 he journey to liberia with his wife. Though he was unable to fulfill the hopes of captors and sponsors in the United States. He died shortly after his arrival there. We know about them in part because he was literate and also was able to advocate for himself and his family using american ideas about islam and muslims to get what he wanted. Must enslaved muslims were not so lucky. Similarly an educated west african enslaved in 1752 gained his freedom after 45 years as a slave to a mailin family. He moved to washington d. C. Where he owned property until his death in 1823. Interestingly there some archaeological investigating going on at that now. He had compelling biographies that often stand in for the stories of enslaved muslims. The fact remains that must enslaved most on this worry theyre not as rich or did not otherwise have the means to make their stories known. Most enslaved muslims were to keep their faith even in the face of persecution passing on their name in the rituals including prayers to their descendents. Retaining islam must enslaved people in a new world with the four members to send fan of selfpreservation. While the individuals suggest how enslaved muslims lived the devotion of most of these people went unrecognized and remembered as the americans who wants to be a is that enslaved muslims in the United States probably rose in the last decade before the close of the train slave trade. The sudanese chief todd across africa from east to west caught many african muslims and it met who were enslaved and ships to the United States which i drastically increased importations of enslaved people in anticipation of the closing of the trade in 18 away. Sometimes these enslaved muslims were parroted weatherwise blind white americans. Writing in 1842, presbyterian clergyman noted that the mohammed and africans remaining of the old stock of importations although accustomed to hear the gospel preached have been known to accommodate christianity to mohammeds to mohammeds son. God they say is all a in jesus christ is mohammed. Which in his same the Different Countries have different names. Jones observation signal i think some discomfort with africanamerican spirituality. Despite the visibility of african muslims, most enslaved muslims remain invisible to their captors. They cite there was the beginning of an array share the presence of enslaved muslims was opaque to their captors and remains largely opaque to historians. Refusal to recognize this part of the african muslim past contribute to an ideology in which islam is foreign of the United States. As americans do not learn from their enslaved property, they didnt learn about it through other means. European christians and north african ottoman muslims team into the extended contact with one another in the context of warfare violence piracy enslavement and travel. English privateer adventurer friends are straight carried some of slave turks away with him after his speech in india in 1586. Turk we should understand here was an allpurpose descriptor of any muslim person from north africa or the ottoman east. As a very broad descriptor in doesnt necessarily mean someone from present day turkey. One of these men come a turk named k9 o. Converted before they were sent him back to constantinople where they hoped he would facilitate any number of conversions from islam to christianity. Their hopes unfounded. Englishmen saw islam as a threat in competitor for one simple reason. English sailors, merchants, mercenaries and travelers said risk of being captured as you can converted to islam. An estimated one leading europeans are saved between 141800 in the ottoman fire in some of these people, mostly men converted to islam in order to gain freedom. Others hope for is the grandson them. They wrote to charitable organizations in england often at the insistence of the owners had hopes of redemption. Northsouth piracy threatened american shores as well. In 1690, virginia resident daniel tyler reported on happily taken by the turks and carried to algiers and hath not for having errors ben hur to so he is esteemed dead with his widow to probate his estate and remarry. The same english mercenary adventurer john smith thought the ottomans in the early 17th century and was taken as a prisoner of war and enslaved at the battle in 1602. Smith reported that his master ordered other slaves to poster. And shave his head and beard as a great ring of fire with a long stockpiled like a sickle riveted around his neck as he famously wrote in the third person. Eventually smith escaped after he beat out his masters brains with a bat. Despite the experience smith had little to say specifically about islam or muslim. After his escape covetousness traveled extensively throughout the north african state, and surveyed the wealth and power of the states and noting that the countries of fans and morocco are the best part about barbary abounding people eat well and have all good necessities for mans use. William strachey another virginia columnist drew on his experience as a clerk for the company and constantinople to draw comparisons between other than muslims and native americans. Some of the observations were relatively neutral. He noted, quote the indian string as the turks clearwater and the indian spread it not as the turks do a carpet for them to sit upon. The comparisons when discussing indias marital habit. He wrote that the paramount chief of tidewater virginia followed a polygamist practice but did not keep all of his wife says turk and wants to ride gioia warehouse. He theorized central helps as the turks became the indians body of politics. He used other comparisons as well, describing young indian boys played similar to one described in virgil. Islam was more than merely another point of reference for him. Physics here in the Ottoman Empire was both an idiom for comprehending the strangeness and foreignness of native people as well as a way of expressing disdain for native customs at the english due primarily from muslim countries such as polygamy. American ideas about islam became important for the emergence of the latterday saints who for some decades allow polygamist marriages. They opposed like the Latterday Saints Church as one and joseph smith to mohammed. They have the data at salt lake with joseph smith model followed as to exclude the pretension of herbage analogy and the foul revelations and there are many other commentators writing similar things dealing with what americans thought. The idea that islam and by extension the value of women and reverberates either into the contemporary discourses about the islamic world and the places in it. Both of the conservative bounds of the angeles Franklin Graham and the liberal Commentator Bill mark has used american notions about the status of one man and majority muslim countries to fueled islamic public rhetoric. It was a common interplay of the human experiences of the muslim accompanied by rumor. Americans have difficulty seeing the end slaves muslims in their myth and they had and continue to have no such trouble understanding islam as inherently as radical and misogynistic. Titling the talk brought americas first muslim president in the ways in which americans to the president s religious affiliation and use his suppose it muslim to demonstrate his unamerican miss. They engage in the longstanding discourse in the 15th and 16th centuries. As they have seen, its also had the effect of marginalizing other american muslims. [applause] good morning. Judging by the election a few days ago this is quite a good topic. How could an administration that began with such promise with regard to the sheer honest support that it received and so badly. How could one of the latino key issues promised to them in the first term agenda item to be tucked away until the second term and unless the congressional intransigence in opposition of the tea party simply be allowed to die. What made made a president obama think that he could possibly pass any legislation this time . Luckily we do not have to weigh in on that question of the political strategy but relegated the reform reforms of the second term. Perhaps the question is why would the news support president obama at all . Some wondered why after the field battles of immigration and over the continued support for the deportation they average 400,000 a year since 2008 with the continued militarization of the border and in 2011 around 18 billion from the drones stations why do they continue to vote for obama . And why do the representatives of the key religious groups support the integration efforts. And at the same time support him. There is a dysfunction between the part of the re election coalition. The push is to the extent that any religious organization can influence the way latinos vote which is questionable. The third religious organization that i wanted to examine here the roman Catholic Church, the latino protestant kind of catchall phrase and the latterday saints lobbied in one way or another for Immigration Reform. They were on a regional level in utah and the United Methodist and latino evangelicals lobby on behalf of the repeal of the alabama law and the activities also focused on local and National Levels to try to move the needle to worth getting there getting their rightparen to support the immigration he eforms before examining the cases just a brief history, because the problem with Immigration Reform, there is many but when you try to move the debate away from the rule of law and irritated jennet case it almost never wins, to focus on the compassion and mercy come you might want to offer some Historical Context at least thats what i want to do because this is how they find themselves in this place. Im going to argue it is an intractable narrative of immigration fused together with a another kind of missed narrative about the rule of law. That is what initially went south. Despite the religious organizations best efforts. Latino catholics and protestants and evangelicals and latterday saints all had a vested interest in passing Immigration Reform. They simply were incapable of overcoming this narrative that is comprised the history of latino immigration for centuries. The rule of law and the triumph of the civil religion over the compassion. The religious activists intended to representations that the representations of latino immigration by stressing the virtues, hardworking narratives and passed. The sanctities of family and how immigration and its narrative acts as a standalone monolithic of the country has been built. All were weaved by the activists became latino immigrants with dignity. With the groups didnt what the groups didnt take into consideration or if they did they didnt fully reconcile the need the dominant culture and the political surrogate in the Republican Party had in the securing their own narrative. The gop today is essentially a party angered by older whites, catholics, evangelicals, mormons and others and grassroots voters, not their leaders in terms of the religious group. They are activists out of touch with the Common People and these voters they are the ones that vote. The struggle for the immigrant narrative into the room with law begins in the colonies of the atlantic seaboard and the founding documents of the nation. It ignores what has been around longer than jamestown. This mythology rooted firmly in what is called Christian Nationalism or others view as a varying degree of civil religion is used effectively to preserve the sense of difference and diminishes the role of the what tina emigrants in building this country. Latinos have never been viewed as sufficiently american enough so to fill that vacuum the americans of criminality, contagion, all slowly lead to the erosion of the rule of law in this alternative immigration narrative. It is this fear that the american way of life is being abandoned. The rule of law is a signifying order that orders fairness and justice and it leads to the idea that to the american means to be lawabiding. Since many undocumented persons are technically breaking the law it is questionable whether they can ever be good americans. Briefly, the history to the United States after 1848 becomes much or complicated when crossing the border becomes an act of 1929. For much of the 20th century cut the history is one of mass deportation. Mostly to mexico and occurring when economic pressures dictated the pressure resources of local, state and federal governments to be used to support americans. The first such in the 1930s when only half a million are sent back to mexico. The next deportation occurs in the 1950s in the operation went back, not my word. Over 1 Million People were sent back to mexico. Todays deportation is nearly 400,000 since 2008 and like the 30s at the 50s beginning with economic downturns. So, these narratives from interwoven with the idea of the contagion and criminality has fueled the specter of something that happened recently in the clashes in marietta california and elsewhere where the protesters carried signs alleging that the women and the children in the buses were carrying diseases and that they were secretly harboring gang members. Others challenged the dominant challenge the dominant cultures ability to determine the american mythic representation of the era somewhere in the distant past that was free of criminal trespassers that trampled on the rule of law sensing the loss of the much cherished and misused trove of the law at the Tea Party Activists used to counter. Who for their own reasons decided that it was time to push once again for Immigration Reform right in the middle of another endless cycle of the phobia. Lets see the mormons. Probably know whether internal debate about the immigration demonstrates the clashes more clearly being the tensions that arose in the church. Over a specific tenet of the faith called article 12. One article that i found was interesting in the ironically named center for immigrant rights a group of very little interest in the rights but as a self identified. A member and former Foreign Service officer took to task the influence of the hierarchy and passing the amnesty bill in 2011 in utah. They quote the Church Doctrine that pledges that the members will be subject to the president s rulers and obeying honoring and sustaining the law. With the emphasis on the rule of law and as it is noted that the tradition holds that america is a Divine Mission and laments the emphasis on the wall and ineffective the loss of america. Its for the restoration of christ through church. Particularly problematic for the other members was that of the appalling reality of the church was allowing illegal aliens. They refuse to acknowledge they had an Immigration Reform policy. They are left to try to disturb this change means for the gospel but they have no. How the hierarchy works behind the scenes to secure the passage of that bill. The document has shifted his own narrative towards a social justice agenda. The loss of the rule of law demonstrates how far the church has moved from its american roots. The agenda seems to be guided by trying to patronize the large latino constituency. As the church found it more difficult to gain the converts the officials increasingly focused the missionary activity on illegal immigrant community. Both mainline and evangelicals try to append the alabama 56 law. I think what happened is pretty much the same thing that happened with catholics. They simply failed to see this narrative taking place. Both organizations. The United Methodists, episcopal and the groups that represent the evangelicals in the coalition and the National Hispanic leadership conference. Both organizations badly misjudged the extent to which the key Party Controls much of the agenda and debated contextualize their cause. That is stated in the literature that they failed to convince the pastors when they went down and visited them that this was an issue that should bring them together in terms of lobbying efforts and writing letters and doing that kind of grassroots work and they failed to contextualize what it means. If they had done that, they might have known the desire for the treatment and compassion are admirable but only when the narrative of the desirable support of imagined america latinos historically and today cannot fill that narrative. And calls to the goodness of people of the varied me to set them to secure the rights of marginalized groups in the country without a hint of those that do not support the reforms are going to pay either economically through boycotts or politically to be voted out of office. That certainly didnt work. Moving on to the catholics. Catholics, lds and latino protestants of all stripes understand they can count how many latinos are in the churches, and they can count and they can understand in the trope of democracy demography is coming to pass and that is part of the reason that historically theyve been very supportive of the Immigration Reform. Again contradict a presence known in the presence known in a very strong way in last debate. So what i did as they did a quick progress over the National Catholic reporter over the last few years to find parishioners involved in the debate in one way or another for years. For the grassroots there were lots of stories about the transitions and how some of them went well and the loss of the old european immigrant making an easy transition to the parishes. There was a few of the stories where it was successful and debated and laments the loss of their america and others rather than hand the parish over to be shared. They just left. What can you say black sports teams to be this interesting article mentioning the fact that this happened for about a quarter of highway 35 and they suggested people are getting worn down by the issue and they are tired of immigrants and theyve resigned themselves to the fact immigrants are here and they are not leaving because moving the needle towards the reform for insurance and work walls and things of that nature and with the stories suggest is when working in the Grassroots Level catholics will act on their own to implement the Church Teaching regarding the treatment of the documented it will not happen every time and certainly the Catholic Media promoted this idea that church is a welcoming and open place for immigrants. Okay. So come, in this local setting the church looks compassionate and the women are singing to the children from this minor crisis that happened over the summer and it gives a very personal level to the idea that you are helping a stranger and it lends a religious sensibility. Fullstop the personal levels of the catholic bishops and other clerical organizations are nearly uniformly for immigrant reform and will be extensively for it but it still failed and there may be one of many reasons why the most prominent politicians in congress, the speaker and speaker and paul ryan at least for one have done little to further the interest in Immigration Reform. The journalist with a good piece that autopsy is a failure of the reform and by conservative individual local support and were incapable of moving the host of action because Immigration Reform is not a salient issue. Like the gop, white evangelicals are largely walled off in any kind of religious gerrymandering or white evangelicals find themselves in churches in the suburbs and not in the neighborhoods populated by immigrants. Like the midgerrymandering districts they did interview the reform as important as anyone any one of a number of other cultural war issues. What are people listening to them . They are listening to people like this tea party writer and activist laying the groundwork for the conspiracy involving the department of homeland security, which according to west plan planned for these unaccompanied minors 65,000 of them with an eye towards their eventual resettlement for the office of Refugee Resettlement and she repeats the claim that they are gang bangers and drug runners and they are crushing our borders. She continues this explains why the bureaucracy acts to smash the culture of the town and the communities by dropping blocks of primitive hostile aliens on the next. All in the name of compassion just not for americans. She asked for the readers to look at a blog on the resettlement watch who tracks the resettlement such as the auspices of the religious organizations Catholic Charities can united refugees were they were on the grand and the conspiracy to bring in the cartels ended the trade country. One can see that despite the good intentions the groups were doomed from the start because the approach many did want a didnt get is not something thats talked about in the churches. They are cast as a class of foreigners the obvious Church Protestants and catholic leaders may have done well to lead their congregations into actions like the catholic bishops who helped mass across the border offering communion and crossing the border themselves to listen to their stories. Thank you. [applause] first i would like to think by fellow panelists and a light bulb was going off in my head with all i want to redo my paper but im not going to. Im lucky enough to teach at the university of chicago and the title of my paper is the blessing of american pluralism. Wang on august 6, 2009 the u. S. Senate voted to confirm the nomination to fill David Souters seat on the Supreme Court hardly anyone thought that it was loyal to catch her face. The reporters talk to great deal about the fact that she was the first latino ever nominated to the court or she seemed to be the living embodiment of whatever was left of the American Dream having raised herself from an impoverished childhood in the projects to rack up the unbelievably distinguished career in the world of law and even those that opposed her nomination for example 31 of the then 40 republicans in the senate didnt bother to mention her faith at all and instead criticized her for being an activist judge but hardly anyone pointed out that when she was sworn in two days later she would become the sixth catholic than sitting on the bench but only giving catholics a super majority on the countrys highest court but also, and this is what i find most striking, taking the spot of the last remaining protestant once she was sworn in all of the noncatholics on the bench were jews but nothing was really said about this. It wasnt a big deal evidently. Of the super majority catholics on the court cant for instance the bombastic and evidently watchful catholic conservative bill donohue said barely a peep was made and in history not a single protestants sat among the constituents of one of the three branches of the american government. Hardly anyone seemed to notice at all. Among the many transformations that happened in the rhetoric coming from the religious right, surely one of the most vital themes has to be the almost casual way in which the country has come to accept the religious pluralism. This will be combat time. Evidence is everywhere. Discrimination is down in the United States coming even has come even has risen sharply in other countries throughout the world. The u. S. Equal Employment Opportunity commission reported a sharp rise in the claims of the religious discrimination during the george w. Bush years right after 9 11 before noting a gentle decline starting in 2009. And in addition to this equal importance i think a large percentage of the claims were found to lack merit which suggests that there is more fear then there is a bona fide abuse. And so perhaps the most compelling piece of evidence for the lack of the strife in our day comes from the fact the loudest claims of religious discrimination these days have come from some of the largest as powerful religious groups in the country. Theyve been persecuted for believing what they believe. Theyve curtailed the rights of the larger groups from imposing their beliefs onto others. Its on obamas Affordable Care act that some catholic employers are asked to contribute to the contraceptive efforts of employees who might. Its just to honor the rights of others to practice there is. To the past years of the religious discrimination including the burning of churches, the denying of employment, certain people to live in certain neighborhoods depending on what the religious beliefs were coming this is the era that is marked not by a heavy brutalities based on discrimination. Always religious discrimination. The general acceptance of the religious pluralism is more ideological than demographic. That is to say this case is the idea that matters and not numbers. What i mean by that is there hasnt been any significant uptick in the number of religious minorities in the United States. And when one looks at the numbers come it is clear that the united United States democratic way speaking is still a profoundly christian nation. But it is somewhere in the range of 76 to 78 of americans all claiming to be either protestant or catholic and breaking this down even further it is about 50 of americans claim to be protestant. Among the nations of the world, the United States ends up religiously diverse and im not making it up the study from the 2012 ranks the United States as the 68th most religiously diverse nation in the world more than say iran or afghanistan and far less than vietnam or nigeria or new zealand for instance. Some might say that the preponderance of the diversity was a or secretion of the religious diversity lies on how we rank them in order to get to majority versus minority members but instead in the past diversity that we have among the nonchristians and on the one hand, there is some truth to that in our country you can find almost any faith if you go looking for it. But on the other hand, the sort of acceptance must be viewed with great caution. Consider for example that the vast majority of americas nonchristian population, the 25 are nonchristian the vast majority of those claimed to have no religion at all. A group that is approaching 20 of all americans and we will hear about this later from the professor. All of the other religious minorities put together jews muslims, hindus and on and on and on. When you put them all together they totaled 5. 3 of the population. So if almost every faith in the world can be found in the United States, america can still be little claim being most diverse in the world. Indeed it is 68th. Instead what is changing in the first year of the 21st century is that americans have become far more accepting of religious traditions that are not their own, including and i i find profoundly towards people who claim no religion at all so if America America isnt diversities nonetheless increasingly accepting of the idea of religious pluralism. We care about this idea of the pluralism that has a long history. There were some iterations of it in the earlier instances in history all the way back to the maryland toleration act to Thomas Jefferson to statute in 1777 to James Madisons memorial against religious assessments of 1785. Two two of course the First Amendment of the u. S. Constitution. But throughout the 19th century, the United States was largely controlled by what history david called a moral establishment that made that protestantism the regulated region of the land. People could be cited for blasphemy even if the show had no blasphemy law. The code of protestantism were somewhat not accepted as common law. And even though there were constitutional protections against establishing any religion of the law of the land they argue quite convincingly for me thats the protestant majority could affect its will through the court and through the culture. The first instance of the idea of americas religious portal as an takes place of some takes place in the first decade of the 20th century when the large immigration take the cast and the industrialization that was going on at the time created the urban flight. Protestants fashioned what came to be called the movement, came to be called the social Gospel Movement which was to meet the needs of the people at the time and much to their surprise somewhat shockingly they found on the street catholic and jewish groups doing much of the same work so they decided that it made sense to work together. For the first instance is working together take place in the field of pacific welfare filling sandbags during floods were feeding the hungry and in the times of economic recession. There is no need to overlap. And these activities bled into some of the first conversations of the religious goodwill. Many began to actually ponder and write down these thoughts which is great for is historians after world war ii the conversations pick up and i would like to say that its because everybody had a feelgood moment but it was in reaction to the rise of the open nativism that happened throughout the United States in the immediate postworld war i years when anticatholic, antisemitic racist ideas really continued to take hold in american life. This is what when they have the most dramatic revival when Woodrow Wilson is a busy segregating washington d. C. In the landmark immigration act of 1924 and the worst ones in 1929. So in response to the nativism several drive up to push back and among the most successful and i think the most successful of the movement is what is called the Goodwill Movement for the religious tolerance in america. Led by the protestants working together with catholics and jews and other organizations start popping up in the 1920s and the most successful National Conference of christians and jews. To focus it more fully on the general acceptance of the idea of the pluralism and especially the religious pluralism. America could honor the sort of timetested ideas of equality and liberty to matter which faith you dont buy. They sent a rabbi and priest and minister in the smalltalk is the country where theyve never seen a rabbi or priest. And they would do a sort of on stage shtick to dispel the myth about the minority faith. He also did media campaigns and wrote newspaper editorials all the time and they even went on to found the religious news service which is still active today. The biggest victory comes during world war ii. No surprise. With an enemy like hitler, the National Conference of christians and jews doesnt have to resort to make its point. Tv is making these arguments that we can no longer see the protestant nation because that is what hitler looks like comedies of the goodwill organizations are widely successful during the second world war. They were one of the two groups admitted onto every base in the country and on the world and the other being the red cross. In case the combat happened to be dieting and he was a different faith. So when the onesided the protestant at the backside catholic and jewish prayers. In the schools and city halls and social fraternities and colleges, nearly all aspects of american life, throughout the 1950s the groups of x. And jews the fraternities had to change and they could no longer appear on the city hall at christmas time unless some sort of modification is made we should either get rid of the crash or invite all states to celebrate on the city hall. And in the early 1960s, the court responded to court responded to this pogo stick vision of america. With the two court cases that out of all the force prayer and bible readings in the public schools, others can be interpreted in numerous ways and the overriding story of the case where the United States government should not paradise one faith over any other. Those words but pluralism had arrived. Its incredibly important because it was in 1965 that lbj president johnson ushered in Immigration Reform, which can nearly everyones surprise that voted for the bill actually allowed large numbers of people from africa, asia and latin america to come to the United States bringing with them their faith of course. In came the large numbers of the movement and the confucius and more. Hardly any of them when they came were persecuted for their faith. This is the kind of acceptance that is celebrated by the 2001 book that is called the new religious america. The country she argued had gone from a protestant nation in the first years of the century to this tristate to the wildly diverse nation by the end of the 20th century. And although the potential confrontations, the book is mostly a celebration. American diversity has come. Except of course as i told you earlier, it happened. The numbers just dont hold up to this argument. Less than 6 of all americans are of a faith that is not protestant, catholic or nothing. But what has wanted this idea that americas religious pluralism. Now although its operating in the roles of the social trend for his part president obama has played a role in this almost casual acceptance of the religious pluralism in the inaugural address from 2009 of course, which is literally minutes into his tenure as president obama becomes the first president to acknowledge a wide swath of faith including even the nones of no faith. We are a nation of christians and jews and non believers, he said before going on to honor the idea of the religious terrorism. Every language and culture and gone from every end of the earth and because we have tasted tasted the civil war and segregation had emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united we cannot help but believe that the old feature additional someday pass. As the world grows smaller our common humanity shall reveal itself. And the rhetoric here is what i call the Martin Luther king problem which is once you start quoting him it is hard to know where to stop. But in addition to the soaring rhetoric obama also immediately and this was within the week of becoming president , recruited president george w. Bushs office of faithbased initiatives in which he designed to funnel the money to religious organizations providing social services to the hungry or the poor but which quickly came under attack as a way for president bush to funnel money to his friends in the religious right. When obama comes into office in 2009, one of the very first acts was to broaden the number of recipients as well as establish an expansive Advisory Council to ensure that there is no favoritism and play in the groups to serve on this Advisory Council. Nowhere has this understanding of pluralism shaped the presidency more than in his dealings with predominantly muslim countries. A few months after he was inaugurated, obama sought to reconcile the relation with certain middle Eastern Countries especially turkey which was then applying in the european union. At a joint press conference that the president of turkey obama reflected on the similarities between the two nations. Specifically starting at the comment of timetested tradition of the religious pluralism. Although he said coming at you heard this before although he said speaking to the United States, we have a very large christian population. We do not consider ourselves a christian nation or jewish nation or as one nation. But what the professor left out is the last line which is this affirmation of the religious pluralism. We consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by the ideas and the set of values. Closer to home, and this is my concluding point, it is in 2010 when he supported the right of the Muslim Community to build the islamic Community Center to block from the site of the recently destroyed world trade center. As a citizen and a president i believe that muslims have the same rights to practice their religion as anyone else in the country, he said a firming of the american pluralism. This is america and the commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable. Diverse or not american pluralism has triumphed in the age of obama and as with so much else president obama has grasped on to that history not as a leader but an effort to continue its success so despite all the clamoring from the religious right at the movement that is defined by my dad to bring america back to the time when christians were the sole arbiter of american war life. It is now the de facto mode of american self awareness. And then in small part d. Animosity and anger coming from the conservative christians today. Thank you very much. [applause] i think we have time for a few more questions. One of the things that struck me going through the papers this morning is the disjuncture between the myths and rhetoric versus reality came out strong in this last paper for instance, but i would like to address my question to the professor. You mentioned dot a. M. That i am biased but what about the conspiracy theories and she referred to the office of refugee settlement. Its interesting to me because in all of this rhetoric about the rule of law when we are dealing with the mass migration seemed to recognize that there is a law about refugees. So people talk about the wall that we should be protecting in the border and that is the role of law at work and so forth. But they seem to ignore the fact that the policy that would apply to some of the Child Migrants is also part of the rule of law. So im wondering how does this keep americans acting in this way. Are we continually deluding ourselves on the facts seem to show otherwise i would be interested in your comment. Its to suggest that they are a centrally the covers for gang members and in particular with the children that they are carriers of disease and that is not a new trove. Its been used several times before in the 20th century to enforce the Mass Immigration over the border were devastation all along this border here. They were mostly in the railroads and others along the border. So, you dont talk about the workers rights or talk about health walls. If you spend to say this is a matter of public health, then he essentially in the 1920s and 30s you have a right to fumigate the workers. While at university but he did bite people in particular going back and forth in the missions work. They are not refugees because because given the Refugee Status it creates a whole other set of legal problems that the Tea Party Activists would rather not talk about. They benefit greatly from maintaining the fact in the way that these are people of questionable means and criminals so why does it still work. I live in california. So we do things differently there. It is to an imagined america that never existed as my colleague will mention of pluralism. But its maintaining a protective order. And i think thats why it works very successfully for centuries. Ironically my question is in the Refugee Resettlement. I founded the committee within the Dallas United Nations Association many years ago in the asylum and other Service Providing agencies. I was interested in what you said about the rising antimuslim sentiment in the current Political Climate and ive noticed that here although most people are welcoming they are often protesters from various camps to claim the refugees who are coming are changing the face of the United States and they are taking jobs, you know the usual arguments. But another facet that i was interested in what your observations might be but the fact since most of the resettlement of our faithbased and although the major ones are represented here. They are questioned on their mission and sometimes they do interweave the and to leave the position of social services with federal and not so federal towards accepting to christianity along with the Refugee Resettlement process. So, im interested in any observations that you might have on the Refugee Resettlement. It is an intriguing site in terms of they dont like anybody, so he essentially catholic scum United Methodists, jewish groups, all are duped into grand conspiracy. It is the demographic fabric that this Refugee Resettlement that made its way is a money making scheme for the resettlement making money on the side of doing this work. And the point isnt really to provide evidence, it is to link to these other sites where the bus is coming and under peoples nose to ensure that we get massive unaccompanied minors is not an issue anymore. The latest issues in the refugee are immigrants from africa. That is also part of the plot. That is unusual logic to say the least. But if you are interested in kind of how your work is portrayed and i dont even call them the extreme right, it is basically the right. While gone to the Facebook Page and we will try to get some of your responses on the air throughout the day today. I had the great privilege of experiencing the American Dream here in this country, born in kansas my parents actually came to this country in the very early 50s, very early 50s. My parents came from mexico with no money and a very little education. My dad had an eighthgrade education and my mom had a fifthgrade education. And yet, they believed in the promise of the country. And they were seeking better opportunities for their children. Until they worked really hard and sacrificed as so many have done in this country because they wanted that better teacher for their children. Its taught us an important values that have been the guide for our lives for my six brothers and sisters. But they taught us the importance of family, faith, community, hard work sacrifice honesty, integrity, all of those were important values that they shared with us. Discussions on Climate Change and fresh water around the globe. First a Panel Discusses Climate Change explaining storm surges like hurricanes and he. There is a freshwater crisis in the u. S. And around the world. This is from the annual American Renewable Energy summit in aspen colorado. Good morning. I hope that you are ready for some Climate Science and i know that you are awake because those were great presentations and we are happy to follow that. And it is good that you are awake because im going to put you to work. Instead of just listening and said of me asking questions of the panelist at the end of the presentations, i want you to do the asking. I want you to be thinking of questions during the presentation. So please write those down and be ready to engage in the conversation at the end of the presentation. So, my name is cindy and i with the adversity corporation for Atmospheric Research and the United Nations foundation. Those are two institutions that are funding my project, which i would like to plug because i think it could be a good resource for all of you. Its called climate voices. The website is climate voices. Org and this is a network of scientists across the country in all 50 states that are going to the local communities and are willing to talk to any group within the local communities about Climate Science, Climate Change and about what can be done in the community. And they are ready to evolve with their fellows citizens. So please go to climate voices. Org and take a look at the developing and growing project. So, this morning im delighted to be here with three distinguished scientists. We are talking about Climate Science and the current state of knowledge. And as you well know, its not just the atmosphere that we are worried about. This is a real sort of jigsaw puzzle of land, water, atmosphere and two of the presenters this morning are going to address the state of knowledge of the science and then the final presenter will talk about a possible solution that addresses all of those. The land, water and us atmosphere. Greg is going to be the first speaker and as a scientist at the center for the Atmospheric Research in boulder colorado and academic career is in tropical meteorology with a focus on weather and climate extremes into the relationship between the two and you will hear from the accent but hes probably not from birkeland. Suzanne is going to be the second speaker. She is president and director of the Oceanographic Institution and we were lucky enough to have her on the panel. She was on one yesterday. It is no and suzanne used to work at the university of colorado in the administration and faculty member and then also at the institute for research and Environmental Sciences which she directed in boulder and those of us that worked with her were very sorry when he stole her to go to the cape. Dennis is going to be the final speaker. He is the chief scientist for the Research Center where he is responsible for oversight of programs for the formulation for several technological areas and dennis holds several conventions and has contributed much scholarly work on the area of biofuels and biomass as the Petroleum Replacement that he will be addressing today. Please remember to think of those questions and we will start with greg. Can i have a slight . I tell you what i will just have you go to the next one. I dont think that i will be able to live up to the expectations i dont give the science of the next five or ten minutes. [laughter] but i would like to do is make three points that is what is Climate Change into the second point is how are the extreme weather and climate systems responding because it is the extremes that really matter and third, how can we work with the society at large and have us working as a society atlarge both to become more resilient to those changes and also to actually let the scientists understand how they can do their job better. So to start with the first one which is Climate Change come if you look in the death most newspapers and things like that you see this lovely curve that goes up in the city in the linear basis of until about now it starts to go up like this. That is only partly true because if you look at the Carbon Dioxide in the air that is the Greenhouse Gas that is changing, it is going up like