Participants in the US-Islamic World Forum in Doha, Qatar see this summit coming at a crucial time in relations between the United States and the Muslim world.
U.S.-Islam Summit Comes at Delicate Time
A Religious News Service (RNS) story posted on BeliefNet
“Talk with as many people as you can.
Talk vertically, talk laterally.” That’s the advice of the Rev. Welton Gaddy, president of the Interfaith Alliance, for attendees of the US-Islamic World Forum in Doha, Qatar.
Gaddy went to last year’s forum, which drew big names like former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus, and dozens of religious leaders, military officers, politicians, journalists, technology experts.
“It helped put a face and identity and personality on a people that we only see in media portrayals,” Gaddy said.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is among those expected to attend this year’s forum — the seventh annual — which is scheduled for Feb. 13-15 and sponsored by the Brookings Institution.
The summit comes at a sensitive time in U.S.-Muslim relations. Following the attempted Christmas Day airliner bombing and other recent terror-related arrests, many Americans are increasingly worried about terrorism, and critics are accusing President Obama of being soft on Muslim extremists.