Explore the Roots of the Middle East Uprisings at the Scarsdale Adult School

The explosive news from the Middle East makes Professor Ron Brown’s course on Religion and the New World Order especially relevant today. Dr. Brown’s will be teaching at the Scarsdale Adult School for four Thursday’s, beginning on March 3rd and will focus on many of the issues that have driven recent uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, and Libya and clashes in cities around the world.

Topics for the sessions will include:

Religion in the News Today: Brown will explore religious inspired terrorism and wars in the Middle East, campaigns to outlaw abortion, oppose gay marriage, and return prayer to the schools in the United States, the Israeli ethnic cleansing of Jerusalem and settlement building in the West Bank and campaigns by African Christians and Muslims to divide religiously mixed into one-religion states.

Samuel P. Huntington’s Vision of the Religious Future of the World: In his book The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order Huntington argues that the future will be dominated by religious conflict between the nine major world religions. Regarding the United States, Huntington warns that the country must halt the inflow of new immigrants who do not share our historic religions and have no intent to assimilate. He argues that if we fail to close the gates the country will become a battlefield in the “Clash of Civilizations.”

The Religions of Today are not those of the past: Mass international migration has transformed local faiths such as Pentecostalism, Mormonism, Voodoo, Santeria, Islam, Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism, and Hinduism into global faith communities. In addition, the bulk of these migrants settle in mega-cities where they are often greeted with hostility. In response to these upheavals many migrants reinterpret their religions in ways their elders and religious leaders would never recognize.

Flushing, Queens as a Paradigm for the Future: Founded by the Dutch in 1644 as a refuge for exiled English Quakers, Baptists, and other non-conformists, the town of Flushing was proud of its religious diversity. But in 1657 Dutch Governor Peter Stuyvesant attempted to restrict their religious freedom of the town. They responded by sending the Flushing Remonstrance to Holland, which demanded religious freedom for not only all Christians, but Jews, and Muslims as well. The Dutch authorities instructed the governor to grant religious freedom to the town and soon Flushing became a beacon of religious freedom and tolerance. Can Flushing show the world the way to avoid Huntington’s “Clash of Civilizations”?

Dr. Brown holds degrees from Gannon University, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Harvard University, and the University of Geneva, Switzerland in history, world religions, and international relations. He currently teaches at Touro College and the Unification Theological Seminary in New York City, and has taught at universities in Jerusalem, Moscow, Budapest, and Prague. He recently appeared on the PBS special program, “God in New York City.

The class will be held four Thursdays, starting 3/3 from 7 - 9 pm at Scarsdale High School and the cost is $115.

To register, for information on all SAS offerings, and to view the full catalog, visit www.ScarsdaleAdultSchool.org . Look for your new spring catalog in the mail or at Village Hall and the Scarsdale Public Library. Questions? Call 723- 2325.