Mawlana Hazar Imam has been a major champion for pluralism for many years, valuing diversity as a strength rather than a threat. He spoke on this topic in articulate detail as he delivered the LaFontaine-Baldwin Lecture on the 15 October 2010 in Toronto, Canada.
“What the Canadian experience suggests to me is that identity itself can be pluralistic,” said Hazar Imam before a packed audience at the Royal Conservatory’s Telus Centre for Performance and Learning. “Honouring one's own identity need not mean rejecting others. One can embrace an ethnic or religious heritage, while also sharing a sense of national or regional pride,” he explained.
Hazar Imam’s speech covered the history of pluralism in our world, the intensification of its challenge in modern times, and suggested a path ahead to best respond to that challenge.
“We are at a particularly complex moment in human history,” he said. “The challenges of diversity are frightening for many people, in societies all around the world. But diversity also has the capacity to inspire.”
“The world we seek is not a world where difference is erased, but where difference can be a powerful force for good, helping us to fashion a new sense of cooperation and coherence in our world, and to build together a better life for all.”
The full speech is available to stream or download now via the Gems of Wisdom podcast.
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