John Langan, Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University, sharing his experience in Turkey during a trip with RumiForum

 I am Father John Langan. I am a professor of philosophy at Georgetown University. I mostly teach Ethics in International Affairs but I am also actively involved in interreligious dialog. I have been thinking about making this trip for a while as Ali knows; he has been pressing me to do it. I was finally happy to do so, and I am very glad he has. I think in my own case moving along three different tracks. One is the track of coming to encounter a lot of good conscientious hard work of people who are facing a lot of very common problems of religion and education in contemporary society. For me that is just a very valuable experience to have. It is a lot of powerful corrective to cheap and negative stereotypes of Islam which circulate in largely parts of the West. So that’s one level of the experience. Another level is the tourism which is wonderful and impressive: the cultural and religious monuments, the Aga Sophia and Sultan Ahmet Mosque, and the in Ephesus.

That is all quite wonderful. Then thirdly, to be personal for a moment, as happens to me once in a so while the … and the practical kindness of Ali and the help that I have encountered at the Sifa Hospital in Izmir. It was very consoling and strengthening, and it is another reason for me to be grateful for this trip. I certainly hope that we can find future possibilities of cooperation through the Rumi Foundation through the many overlapping activities that we have at Georgetown.