(Un) Holy Alliance of Religion & Politics: Gandhia
**Events may have been canceled or postponed. Please contact the venue to confirm the event.
Date & Time
Sat, Oct 12 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Address (map)
1407 Chapala St.
Venue (website)
Institute of World Culture
The (Un) Holy Alliance of Religion and Politics
A Gandhian Perspective Saturday, October 12, 2024
2:00–4:00 pm (PDT)
Live webcast and In Person, Free event
Concord Hall, 1407 Chapala Street, Santa Barbara, CA
Presenters: Dr. Veena Howard with Commentary by Dr. James TepferMahatma Gandhi’s famous quip, “I am a Hindu, I am a Muslim, I am a Jew, I am a Christian…,” mystifies those who perceive each religious tradition as confined within its exclusive dogmatic walls. However, Gandhi, while inclusive in his approach, identified himself as a “Sanatani Hindu.” Some of the contemporary religious movements of Gandhi’s time, such as Theosophy and Brahmo Samaj, emphasized the shared spiritual principles of religions, and Gandhi uniquely embodied moral disciplines and synthesized them with political actions. He also witnessed how the force of dogmas embedded in organized religions, when used on behalf of sectarian ideologies, can transform into weapons of oppression. When understood properly and used benevolently, spiritual truths and practices can be harnessed to eliminate all forms of violence, to create a society that values non-exploitation, harmony, justice, respect, and goodwill towards all. This presentation focuses on the ways Gandhi spiritualized his political actions in order to build equitable and just social systems, and to confront those who believed religious life and political pursuits should be mutually exclusive endeavors
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Veena R. Howard, Ph.D., is a Professor of Asian Religion in the Department of Philosophy at California State University, Fresno. She also holds the Endowed Chair in Jain and Hindu Dharma and serves as the director of the M.K. Gandhi Center: Inner Peace and Sarvodaya. She has written several books, iincluding “Gandhi’s Global Legacy: Moral Methods and Moral Challenges” as well as over three dozen peer-reviewed articles and a Ted-X talk. |
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James Tepfer, Ph.D., is a Gandhian scholar and life-long educator who received his doctorate in political philosophy in 1974 with a doctoral thesis on “Vinobe Bhave and the Bhoodan Gramdan Movement in India”. |
Webcast begins at 2 PM (PDT). Click the following link to view the program (video will also be available at this link for future viewing):
https://www.youtube.com/user/iwcinsantabarbara/live
Image of Nehru & Gandhi: Public Domain, Wikipedia