Guest speaker: John L. Esposito, University Professor, Professor of Religion and International Affairs and of Islamic Studies at Georgetown University. He is Founding Director of the Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding in the Walsh School of Foreign Service.

Many policymakers, terrorism experts and pundits have seen religion of Islam as responsible for global terrorism. Terrorist groups like al-Qaeda and ISIL reinforce this belief, beaming messages throughout the world that demonize the West as the enemy of Islam, responsible for all the ills of the Muslim world. Many speak of a clash of civilizations and inevitable all-out war between the West and 1.6 billion Muslims? But what have majorities of Muslim globally said?

With questions in hand, let the empirical evidence — the voices of a billion Muslims, not individual “experts” or “extremists,” dictate the answer. What does polling data tell us about the vast majority of Muslim: What is at the root of anti-Americanism in the Muslim world? What do Muslims say they admire and dislike about the West? Is democracy a desired construct among Muslims, and if so, what might it look like? What do Muslim women really want? With questions in hand, we let the empirical evidence — the voices of a billion Muslims, not individual “experts” or “extremists,” dictate the answer.

Registration by 20 May is mandatory.

Attention: the number of places in the University Foundation / Fondation Universitaire is limited.