Interfaith discussion of religion and extremism set for UNF this week

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A representative from the world’s largest Muslim-majority country will appear in Jacksonville this week on the University of North Florida campus to discuss religious extremism, international terrorism, ISIS, and more.

Ardian Wicaksono, the counselor for political affairs at the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Washington D.C., will be the featured speaker at the school’s panel discussion Thursday, titled “Religion and Extremism: A Cross-Cultural Conversation.” E-tickets are available here. 

Also scheduled to speak: Indonesian Muslim clerics Imam Shamsi Ali and Ustadzah Fauziah Fauzan; Dr. Ronald Lukens-Bull, UNF professor of anthropology and religious studies; and Dr. Julie Ingersoll, UNF professor of religious studies. The facilitator will be Dr. Parvez Ahmed, UNF professor of finance and a frequent writer about the American-Muslim experience.

Indonesia has the world’s largest Muslim population, with more than 200 million adherents. Very generally speaking, the practice and interpretation of Islam in Indonesia is a much less austere form than that followed throughout much of the Middle East.

 

 

 

 

Melissa Ross

In addition to her work writing for Florida Politics, Melissa Ross also hosts and produces WJCT’s First Coast Connect, the Jacksonville NPR/PBS station’s flagship local call-in public affairs radio program. The show has won four national awards from Public Radio News Directors Inc. (PRNDI). First Coast Connect was also recognized in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2014 as Best Local Radio Show by Folio Weekly’s “Best Of Jax” Readers Poll and Melissa has also been recognized as Folio Weekly’s Best Local Radio Personality. As executive producer of The 904: Shadow on the Sunshine State, Melissa and WJCT received an Emmy in the “Documentary” category at the 2011 Suncoast Emmy Awards. The 904 examined Jacksonville’s status as Florida’s murder capital. During her years in broadcast television, Melissa picked up three additional Emmys for news and feature reporting. Melissa came to WJCT in 2009 with 20 years of experience in broadcasting, including stints in Cincinnati, Chicago, Orlando and Jacksonville. Married with two children, Melissa is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism/Communications. She can be reached at [email protected].



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