Pluralism, Religious Tolerance and Freedom - Indonesian Journalists

May 24-June 1, 2004, Washington D.C., New York, Memphis and Chicago
Washington Foreign Press Center Program Officer: Joe Bookbinder
Telephone:202-504-6354, Email: bookbinderja@state.gov

The "Pluralism, Religious Tolerance, and Freedom" tour for ten Indonesian journalists took the group to Washington, D.C., Memphis and Chicago. 

In the Washington D.C. portion of the tour, the group participated in roundtable sessions on "Tolerance and Ethnic Pluralism in America" and on the "History of American Muslims" with two scholars affiliated with Georgetown University's Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding: Dr. Osma Bakar, Malaysia Chair of Islam in Southeast Asia at Georgetown University and Dr. Sulayman Nyang, Professor of African Studies at Howard University.  The journalists also had on-the-record briefings with Jim Towey, the Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, and with David J. Young, Director of the State Department's Office of International Religious Freedom.

The Memphis portion of the tour included attending the Monumental Baptist Church's annual Heritage Celebration and meeting with the Church 's Minister, Reverend Billy Kyles, who was a civil rights leader who befriended Dr. Martin Luther King and was with Dr. King when he was assassinated.  The group also learned about civil rights and relations among religious groups through meetings with the National Council for Communicy and Justice, the Metropolitan Inter-Faith Association and the Gandhi Institute (headed by Mahatma Gandhi's grandson) and through a visit to the National Civil Rights Museum and a Memorial Day Barbeque with a diverse group of Memphians.

The Chicago program included meetings at the University of Chicago Divinity School, the Interfaith Youth Core and the Chicago Council on Human Relations.  The group also gained additional perspectives on religious tolerance from a Chicago-based Arabic-language reporter and a DePaul University Professor of Religious Studies.