20 governmental leaders or something like that showing up and his congregation were kind enough to indulge our need to say something and to be with them at thistime . it was such an uplifting evening and that kind of thing, the role that house of worship and religious leaders can play in the community as a convener is just absolutely invaluable so i'm so glad that we can look forward to doing more of that night and thank you for what you have done and will do and so many others in this room along those lines >> mike, i want to wait in. i want to say that those of you in the book that say religious freedom remains key to human dignity and flourishing and there's a lot that religious leaders could do or leaders of a moral conscience as well because it's important to think about those that have different world views andperspectives and this conversation . it's a lot that they can do but education is the key. as we were speaking and you were sharing your story imam, it reinforced the need for people to understand or have religious literacy intheir toolkit . so you can have a better understanding of religious identity because a lot of this happens because people do not know or are very ignorant to understanding religion and what religious beliefs are so when i think about that i'm thinking about how in public schools to think about it academically. to inform, to educate. that it's a farm of, religion is a part of history, it's a part of culture, it's a part of literature so all that needs to be taken into account and people need to spend time educating themselves or getting access to the tools that can help educate them about religious freedom and especially the first amendment about the religious liberty principles of the first amendment so i think about what is therole religious leaders can do ? i'm thinking about it from my perspective as someone who works a seminary to say we're not equipped to teach this part of it but we're going to partner with someone that can so i think about how i entered into this conversation and doing this, although my upbringing and my religious identity is very eclectic if i told you, but i won't but it's very eclectic but thinking about my history in terms of i was at a seminary. i worked at a theological institution, the practice school of theology and i was on staff as the graduate admissions person and director of the doctoral program they are. when one of the pressers professors of history, of christian history and religion, doctor adam bond invited charles watson who is in the room now from the bjc to talk about the work that the baptist joint committee does so i just happened to be -- i went to this meeting. why? at the time i was serving in the class as an interfaith leader so in that space people wanted to know more about each other's religions. where can we find common ground as it pertains to being in this interfaithspace , i'm going to say it like that when i sat there and i heard what charles had to say about religious liberty, i'm like this is something i need to take back to the interfaith community so they will become advocates around this area to so it's more than just having moments where were sitting together and understanding each other's religion but getting that civics piece in there to say this is the first amendment. this is what it says. this is why we should protect religious rights. one of the things we use as a framework is the charter, thinking about the fact that the three r's, rights, responsibility and respect. everyone has a right to religious freedom and we need to protect this right for everyone. not just those that have a religious belief but those that do not and at the end of the day we need to engage respectfully in how we talk about, how we engage in civic discourse about this topic so for us, we do our work based on those frameworks. the universal declaration of human rights is so important because at the end of the day , you have a human being sitting across from you so although there might be differences in terms of what your belief systems are that you have to do the work like the imam and the rabbi are doing, coming together and you have to bring the community with you. it just can't be the people top. >> one point i would make is we've got to develop the curriculum people can use because when i talk to teachers in the public school system they are scared to death to talk about this issue because they figure they're going to defend him body and if they get into religion, somebody's going to get pissed off. >> but that's the work we're doing at the religious freedom center. for three years now the religious freedom center has been in partnership with public school systems in georgia so it's about finding common ground and equipping educators with the tools and empowering them so they're not afraid to teach about religionacademically . if they're in the truck classroom trying to convert people that's a problem because that's not legal, it's unconstitutional for them to do so but if they're given the tools and resources to do so, then they feel empowered and feel better about it and the students get to learn. we have resources on our website that allow for parents to also be equipped with the tools to know more. right now there was a news story that came out about the 16-year-old in toledo that was wearing her job and she was disqualified because it didn't fit the attire. people need to have a better understanding about religion and religious freedom in the classroom and have to be available to assist them in that process. so it does happen because even in modesto california there has been curriculum that closer to that school system where students learn about religion but they need to know that there is access to the resources and religious freedom has those i want you to make a comment and what you the audience to havea chance to ask some questions . >> i want to add a couple of the denims. the first, the freedom forum was in part built on the work that charles haynes had done 30 years ago to try and develop curriculum materials that are still invaluable to do this work right and other entities, the adl and world of difference and other curriculums that have carried this forward. secondly your description, i'm thinking melissa, your description of kennedy speaking to the baptists, the texas baptists, we are here in part to acknowledge the difference that baylor has made in offering a broader context. >> can i put in a note that one both they published recently, whatwas the title ? a lovely book, totally recommended. >> all over the debt of gratitude to baylor and the work that it does here. imam magid, it seems twice i swallowed part of the lead so i want to pick up on what he was saying full before. there are thousands of interfaith entities. on the world scene today there's never been a time where interfaith activities have happened the way there happening across the globe. it was an idea that never would have occurred for the last few generations. here in america it's become a norm of our communal and cultural life. what makes this different is there entities realizing we were involved and we got to deal with the top issues. because it was in the middle of the fight over theground zero mosque , real press and targeting of muslims for groups like peace people bought were muslims and the question was out of the religious community and actively to this resource in addressing and like today, the imam and i, with bob roberts, he deserves a lot of credit because he said i don't care what guys you all the time, muslims, jews, working with catholics and protestants, evangelicals are there because we don'tthink in those terms . we can't really evangelicals or pastors, we need here evangelical pastors. and it was a brave thing for him to do and he was taking a lot of heat and it's making a difference not just here with evangelicals around the globe . as well here. we're also involved in each one of these, stanford international georgia muslim alliance and active community saying jews, who in your community is driving some of these islamic yet and what are you doing about it and who in the muslim community is driving some of the anti-feminism. what are you doing about it because it's not easy, you know you're going to be getting to the crosshairs of people who really will jump on you and then they're going to make your life miserable to do so. they're really tough issues that are going on. but to return to my question, just said the following. every one of these hate crimes are not crimes against individuals, the whole purpose is to tear america apart . it is an attack on the pillars of what our democracy is in the sense of the commonweal and a satellite that holds us together, not the intent and every time over and over again there's not a single has been responded to interfaith coalitions standing in solidarity with those people. in political figures 2 and i will point out melissa and her book talks about what they should and shouldn't do when they stand in solidarity but i want you to think about this. in that work together we are modeling the kind of world we are trying to create area and i'm so proud of what i've seen the religious community doing in the face of these hate crimes. just i pray it will be the same. that we will never have another one it remains a source of immense part of america and about religious leaders how we stood in solidarity. and i think that spirit is captured in the book . >>. >> what a terrific conversation that we invite you now to join . and any of you if you want to add a question , >> julie schonfeld and i have the pleasure of reading the book in its entirety and also want to lend my endorsements for, it's tremendous power and its tremendous clarity. and i think that we can all do our best not only to share with our friends but to see the school and large groupsof people , churches, synagogues get to read it because it gives us so much practical advice . i would like to hear from people about how we think the faith community can be more effective in tackling the problems of how the media escalates hatred and division, clearly this is a problem for social media because we know that it's actually scientifically designed to do that. because anger, jealousy, hatred. we're about to read in the jewish tradition, cain and abel this weekend. so we know these are powerful emotions so people figured out they could make a lot of money keeping people on platforms, that they could connect them to those emotions get and sell their data but it's also traditional media. television, others. i'm just wondering how can we be more focused on tryingto address this problem that having such an impact on us ? >> that's a great question. one of the things, i'm so glad that we have c-span tv with us today to take these stories and to reflect then out to people, to show people what some models are, some best practices for faith groups coming together to defend one another and people of good conscience and goodwill to defend one another so i think we need to be more creative because we're certainly lagging behind in our efforts to get these messages out, these positive messages and i welcome a greater conversation about it but i think maybe we should do a better job of thinking about just even the stories that we service here today stories are so powerful that people can we do a better job of making sure that those stories about people because they really grab them in a way that just a dry rhetoric or a call to come together would not. so i think that's worth thinking about and i appreciate your question and also all your wonderful support. i know julie said stillworks in this field . >> i would say one of the things the freedom forum is through our museum education program, the upper media literacy media literacy was important for people to understand these courses that are sending out these messages that provide account or a narrative. one of the things that i love about, yc, interface you core is there campaign of better together. it helps to sell the myth of the other. by really being intentional about engaging someone that has a different perspective than what you have or worldview. when you have relationships, then you can provide a different narrative than what's going out in the media and for people to really use their power and influence the storyteller, to tell a story that is different from what is going out there in the media and addressing it through the right ways and the guidelines if you want to do so by creek presenting a counter narrative is so important. media literacy is equally as important when you're talking about issues that are disrupting the lives of many americans. that are dispelling so many myths and false statements about who people are. and again, i want to go back you it's over me point back to religious literacy. like, understanding that just because two people in aroom, i so identify as baptist doesn't mean they doso for the same reason . so that there is , there were around that. my colleagues have done work around that in markets about the 3-d framework and looking at behaviors and beliefs. it ties into it as well. that went a counter narrative is being presented that you have a perspective on that though a lot of times when i'm doing conversations or anything, i like to tell people this is how i enter the conversation. so you have a better understanding of who i am asa person . she where i'm going with the topic or with the discussion. >> a few other things to mention as well, religious communities have a lot of influence. but not so much with the media. it's really hard. we're always not being covered well by the media. 1 million plans leaned land safely, there's no story, one plane crashes itsworldwide coverage . the things we're doing it drives us crazy. we might get a paragraph on the religion page once a week buried in the last page of section b of the paper. but we do have influence when we focus it. in challenging them and pushing them and protesting things. so google is now playing with the way their algorithms work in terms of guiding people away. part of that happened because of the pressure from some of the people in the room with me when we went out to see a wonderful person, producer of a popular show that was extolling torture as an effective way of getting information, and it led to changes in the way the show was dealing with. there are ways to do it but the nature of this calls to abuse, if everyone knows a secretary who worked at the price white house might give us guidance about these things, we ought to think aboutasking him . >> that press secretary ta for the white house press corps on many occasions . but you know, the responsibility of people in government to address some of these issues and to step up and be accountable, which is now apparently ancient history, there's something to be saidfor that . and i think you've all touched on something, two things that are important to me. i think religious literacy and understanding and developing ways in which we talk about religion and understand it and see it as part of our history and the other thing i would say is civics education. we don't teach civics anymore in public schools and what does it mean to be a citizen? >> in our religious groups we have access at a time that their values are shaping in terms of social media also and how they talk about how they deal with bullying and how they deal with victimization and this is also the important responsibility the religious community. >> output a plug, a friend of mine in la times reporter alan miller runs up and called the news literacy project. and really developing ways in which the high school level, we can actually develop mechanisms to let people the, let kids understand what is credible information and what is zany, outside the box information. i think we need and we in the religious seer which you write about a little bit in the book. >> and we need governmental literacy inthese issues to . so that's a continuing, it is, a focus. >> when it comes to social media if you google islam, this, there's 50 books who seems our books that are negative on islam. therefore, it is really impactful at the end, personally i found out when i googled my name i was surprised it was on top . i do believe though we have have a counter narrative or method for counter narrative to stay away from counter narrative, i believe that's why we have to have better narratives of tolerance, acceptance, understanding. and if involve young people. involve young people, letthem tell the story . my children know more about social media that i do. therefore we have to have them to be the ones who are telling the story. that's what will change the narrative perhaps . >> let's see if we can get one or two more questions and i think we're going to run out of time. anyone? >> for comments. >> i keep everybody for this. i have a question for you. i sometimes fear getting asked about student that i talked to . and how do we talk about maybe foreign-policy as seems to be derived from religious favoritism. when we say this country is a country that believes in religious liberty for all, and then somebody may come and say well, how does our foreign policy on israel and palestine reflect religious liberty for all and how our policies are made and we stand behind in that way. help me with how we should talk about those questions. >> the confluence of religious freedom factors, in general for people who live in israel, there are constraints that get mixed together with security issues and other issues, it's always very complex when that happens but in the main there's a great deal of religious freedom that exists in israel and even in the territories . one of the oddities of all jewish history is that the only democracy today that is legal discrimination against a majority of jews is the jewish state of israel because of its disfavor in all other forms of non-orthodox . but in the mean, it gets messed with security factors. it gets messed with policies about the settlements and the general future of the west bank and what's going to happen so all of that gets messed together. those are always very complicated issues when they do because what's really about? is it about religious freedom or security or one subterfuge for the other? these are complex issues and obviously it's a painful issue. i think the vast majority of folks of all religions really are working for the day that there will be viable two state solution that will fulfill palestinian national aspirations. sure israel security and in doing so further the interests of all the democraticcountries of the world . in that region. at this time. and the religious communities, there's an umbrella group at a number of us have been involved with with for decades that have tried to have a unified religious view acrossmuslim, jewish , christian and some of the smaller religious populations in the united states, working together to have a common voice on these things . but it is as we sit today i have a period. >> i wanted to recognize charles is with the baptist joint committee where i got my start working on religious liberty and sherilyn pro, i saw him a minute ago. i appreciate your work so much and brent walker and the late james on were the first ones to give me a chance to work in this field and on forever in their debt. so thank you. >> i think we have come to the end of our time. unless anyone has a burning last question. >> it's a point of personal privilege, we have with us the woman who is holding the bullhorn in the photo, the reverend leslie copeland and i can't stop without recognizing her . >> she spoke eloquently that day and i am so glad she was on the cover of the book and can be with us and i'm grateful for each and every one of you and baylor and all my good friends here, thank you. >> one of the great covers of all time, i think. would you think rabbi silverstein and doctor dent, imam magid for a great panel, thank you. [applause] i think our biggest round of applause is for the author. [applause] >> thanks to mike mccurdy. >> thank you all. >> by the book. >> david, do you want to,? >> you're all invited to buy thebook . >> this is the cheapest you will ever see them on sale. >> tv asks representative buddy carter what are you reading? >> first of all, i finished the book that i enjoyed very much. it's written by thomas carlyle.