Sense where none seems possible
Many audience members arrived at the Harvard Divinity School (HDS) on Tuesday evening with an aching question: Why? Why would two young men attack innocent people in a country that took them in, educated them, and supported them? The answer, explored during an hour-and-a-half discussion, appears complex and complicated and may never be fully known or understood. But in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings on April 15, five panelists gathered to discuss “Religion and Terror.” Along with moderator and radio host Christopher Lydon, they grappled with the ways that religion can be used to justify terrorist acts, and examined how traditions of faith also can help people to heal. Jocelyne Cesari, a Harvard Divinity School lecturer on Islamic studies who also directs the Islam in the West Program at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, said that, despite some misleading press reports, the Islamic community is not responsible for radicalism. Instead,...