Mike Ghouse is frequently introduced as ‘the first Muslim guy
to commemorate the Holocaust” with an appeal across broad religious
lines. The idea is to recognize what people have in common, regardless
of their differences as a way of lessening the conflicts, prejudices and
intolerance that have produced genocide. And to go beyond politics to
find common ground. On Sunday, a program attracting disparate groups
around the idea “Never again” is scheduled for Unity Church on Forest
Lane in Dallas, sponsored in part by Ghouse’s organization, the
Foundation for Pluralism. The event is entitled Holocaust, Genocides of Native Americans and Gujart Massacre.The theme: Sparks of hatred and how to extinguish them.
Mike Ghouse, speaker, writer and advocate of pluralism across religious lines
Ghouse says he hopes attendees will walk out better appreciating the
sufferings of others and seeing “the perpetrator in us” as a way of
building trust across social and religious lines.
“I called on my friends with the idea of commemorating the event, and
thus began this journey,” said Ghouse. “Education is the purpose; we
have to learn, acknowledge and reflect upon the terrible things that we
humans have inflicted upon each other, and we have to understand that
our safety hinges on the safety of all others around us.”
Ghouse says the conference is designed as a comprehensive event where
various human failings, massacres, genocides and the murder of 6
million Jews in the Holocaust will be addressed. The conference begins
at 3 pm with an American Indian genocide museum exhibit, then a program
between 4-6 pm.
“I have always believed, and I read the assessments of some of the
best brains, that if we can resolve the Jewish-Palestinian conflict,
i.e., security to Jews and justice to the Palestinians, most of the
world issues will collapse and a period of peace on earth will begin,”
said Ghouse.
“There is a shameless cruelty in us, either we shy away or refuse to
acknowledge the sufferings of others, worrying that it will devalue our
own or somehow it amounts to infidelity to our own cause,” he said.
“Shame on us that we justifying massacres by believing and propagating
that the victims deserved it or asked for it.”