Correction appended
With a thick Turkish accent, Hakan Solak, a member of the Niagara Foundation, kicked off an interfaith dialogue with an Islamic perspective on the importance of interfaith interaction.
King David's Circle fraternity, a progressive faith-based fraternity, and Cornerstone Church hosted the Muslim-Christian dialogue at the Nebraska Union on Tuesday.
Solak, an education graduate student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln who is originally from Turkey, and Zhandos Utegulov, a chemistry researcher at UNL who is originally from Kazakhstan, promote interfaith education as members of the Niagara Foundation. The foundation is a widespread community-promoting global fellowship with origins in Turkey.
"Turkey is a country where Islam, democracy and secularism live together," Utegulov said.
Pastor Karen Moritz of Cornerstone Church spoke for Christianity along with Wesley Morrison-Sloat, a junior English major, and Josh Bourgeois, a junior advertising major, from King David's Circle.
Jerry Thompson, pastor of St. Mark's Episcopal Church attended the event because he believes interfaith interaction is necessary for all religions' future.
"I see interfaith dialogue as the next step for the Episcopal community to take, as well as the world."
Charles Holm, a junior history major at UNL, is not religious, but came because he believes it's important to understand multiple perspectives.
The dialogue began formally with the exchange of previously received questions. The Turkish and Kazakhstani Muslims educated the Nebraskan Christians about their faith and vice versa.
Religious history and the structure of holy texts were meticulously described, as well as beliefs about concepts such as the afterlife and the presence of angels.
When discussion got more in-depth, the diverse concepts of love, jihad and homosexuality were discussed.
Utegulov carefully uncovered myths about the meaning of jihad.
"In Arabic, jihad literally means striving, not war," Utegulov said. "It has two types, greater and lesser. The greater jihad is struggling against one's own carnal desires and evil inclinations. The lesser is self-defense."
Bourgeois said love is the most important Christian value in response to one of the Muslim panelist's questions.
"Through love for Him (God) and others, you can define sin," said Bourgeois. "Sin is not loving Him or others."
Speakers also touched on gender equality and the acceptance of homosexuality. The Muslim panelists addressed the common misconception that Islam favors men. The Qur'an provides equal rights for women, they said. Christian panelists addressed the homosexuality conflict.
"The biggest problem we see is that humans can't seem to just get along. We have to continually divide ourselves in smaller groups," Morrison-Sloat said. "It causes many problems and gets really confusing. We need to take to heart that all people are created equally."
Bourgeois echoed this, and expressed discontent with the segregation between homosexuals and religious people.
"It's a lot harder to reach out to homosexuals," Bourgeois said. "They might be from a background that condemned their orientation. It leaves a scar."
All religious representatives present said they believe supporting interfaith education, understanding and inclusion should be the paramount agenda of religious leaders.
It all begins with conversation.
"Just simple dialogues are important," Utegulov said. "There are a lot of misunderstandings."
ellenhirst@dailynebraskan.com
Correction: An incorrect verb tense was used in a quote.
is a member of the 
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