Davos Panel Prep: Can Web 2.0 Reduce Religious Strife?

Jan 22, 2009

Preparing for another Davos session, in addition to the ones on Privacy and Asia’s digital ecosystems.

This panel features Tony Blair and I will be a discussion leader on new media’s role in helping religious dialogue.

Official title: How can new catalysts – such as the innovative use of technology and social media – stimulate new forms of interfaith and intercultural dialogue and how can they be replicated more widely to move society towards common goals?

This may be “anti Web 2.0″, but one point I would like to raise is that as much as social media is supposed to enhance dialogue and understanding, it can also be used as an avenue to promote hate.

The far right in France has loved the power of the Internet, since they received limited access to mainstream media and faced difficulty getting their message out. Now, with Web 2.0, they can play to their audience and keep out those who do not support their views.

The strength of the Internet in helping you dive deeply into a very specific question can help it become an instrument of intolerance and hatred when people limit themselves to a self-supporting silo of beliefs.

This is stretching the point, but could Web 2.0 turn into a modern-day version of Rwanda’s Radio des Mille Collines in promoting a genocide?

An analogy could be drawn to the nationalistic and anti-foreigner videos posted during the running of the torch.

Any other thoughts on Web 2.0 “helping interfaith dialogue”?

I have started a Delicious Tag: WebReligion

This is a 2-hour session with lead facilitator Jonathan Zittrain of Harvard Law school’s Berkman Center and author of the recently published The Future of the Internet – And How To Stop It.

I have not read Jonathan’s book, but I am quite sure it is excellent. Jonathan has long been a source of great insight for me when working on articles about the Internet.

My fellow discussion leaders:
Peter Bisanz, Director, Entropy Films, USA
Chris DeWolfe, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, MySpace.com, USA
Arianna Huffington, Editor, Huffington Post.com, USA
Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer, Facebook, USA

The Participants:

* Feisal Abdul Rauf, Founder and Chairman, Cordoba Initiative, USA
* H.R.H. Hussam Bin Saud Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Prince of Saudi Royal Family; Chairman, Zain Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia
* Khalid Abdulla-Janahi, Chairman, Ithmaar Bank, Bahrain
* H.H. the Begum Aga Khan, Founder, Princess Inaara Foundation, United Kingdom
* Fatih Alev, Chairman, Muslims in Dialogue, Denmark
* Kjell Magne Bondevik, President, The Oslo Center for Peace and Human Rights, Norway
* John Bryant, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Operation Hope, USA
* Lord Carey of Clifton, Archbishop of Canterbury (1991-2002), United Kingdom
* Mustafa Ceric, Grand Mufti of Bosnia, Bosnia and Herzegovina
* John J. DeGioia, President, Georgetown University, USA; Chair, Global Agenda Council on Faith
* Mark Ebert, Executive Director, Three Faiths Forum, United Kingdom
* Eduardo S. Elsztain, Chairman, IRSA Inversiones y Representaciones, Argentina
* Niall Ferguson, Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History, Harvard University, and William Ziegler Professor, Harvard Business School, USA
* Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister of the Environment and Water Resources of Singapore
* Shirley Ann Jackson, President, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, USA
* Ronald S. Lauder, President, World Jewish Congress (WJC), USA
* Berel Lazar, Chief Rabbi of the Russian Federation
* George W. Mallinckrodt, President, Schroders, United Kingdom
* Diarmuid Martin, Archbishop of Dublin, Ireland
* Abu Eesa Niamatullah, Imam and Executive Director, Cheadle Mosque, Cheshire & Prophetic Guidance, United Kingdom
* Matthieu Ricard, Director, Karuna-Shechen, Nepal
* David Rosen, Chief Rabbi, International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Relations, USA
* Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of Britain and the Commonwealth, United Kingdom
* Pavel Shashkin, Secretary Executive, Economic Council, Department for External Church Relations, Moscow Patriarchate, Russian Federation
* Awraham S. Soetendorp, Rabbi, Jewish Institute for Human Values, Netherlands
* Sadhguru J. Vasudev, Founder, Isha Foundation, India
* Jim Wallis, Editor-in-Chief and Chief Executive Officer, Sojourners, USA

Discussion

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View Comments for “Davos Panel Prep: Can Web 2.0 Reduce Religious Strife?”

loverevolver4

Unfortunately the internet has done more to promote hate then love, the only places that could be used to try and drive society towards common goals and salvation with any impact would be social networking sites like facebook.
nstanosheck

I do not think so, but maybe sites like http://ecumenicalbuddhism.blog... can.
Facebook User

One of the danger of religions seems to be that one "side" doesn't understand what the other thinks and feels, and that it's really difficult to find out. A Christian wouldn't normally go into a mosque to find out. A Palestinian can't easily talk to a Israeli, and vice versa. A Northern Irish couldn't talk to the other Irish Republican side, both Christians. Your own side would probably kill you as a traitor, the other side, well, because you are from the other side. That ignorance probably perpetuates prejudice and hatred, and opens one up to the irrational manipulation through unelected leaders that is at the essence of any religion.

One of the aspects of web 2.0, 3.0 (whatever, I hate those jargon catch phrases) an immersive virtual world allows a real-time dialogue between people who otherwise might or could not speak to each other. The fact that you can be in a space with others, and with a strong sense of "presence" although everybody is just an avatar, while being safe and not objected to physical threats or bullying, those characteristics allow to have a dialogue and to reduce from a shouting to a more meaningful communication.

I have experienced that in a mosque in Second Life (where participants who mostly didn't seem to be muslims were listening to and having a dialogue with a muslim preacher), and at a political demonstration of anti Le Pen protester at the SL office of the National Front. Both sides where initially "shouting" at each other, but as an avatar arriving I ended up having a meaningful dialogue with both sides.

Perhaps it's naive, but a member of one "side" is interested in finding out, through a real-time dialogue that allows to challenge and get to a deeper understanding, a virtual world might be a platform to do that. Should we give that a try?
Scott Ruffner

I should hasten to add that Craigslist's Rants and Raves seems to be doing it's damndest here to fulfill the mission of Rwanda’s Radio des Mille Collines. It's the stateside forum of choice for anonymous hate and fear-mongering propagandists.
Scott Ruffner

I think Jesus' General should be on that panel..

http://patriotboy.blogspot.com...